According to a senior Sony executive, the service’s aim has moved to a three-tier subscription model.

Shuhei Yoshida is now Sony Interactive Entertainment’s chief for externally developed indie titles, having handed over the PlayStation Studios headship to Hermen Hulst, formerly Guerrilla Games’ head (Killzone, Horizon). Nevertheless, he has remained close to the PlayStation brand, and his views cannot be ignored, as he shared with Gamesindustry when he spoke at GI Live: London.

According to Yoshida, games launched on PlayStation Plus out of the blue, such as Rocket League in the past and Stray this year, are exceptional cases. Sony continues to believe that its games should get a “premium” (i.e. paid, full-price) release first, and only then can they be considered for their subscription service. Sony sees PlayStation Plus as applicable when the games’ sales slow down.

“For [PlayStation Plus] Extra, we like to help the publishers with lifecycle management. I was managing first-party, so I know that it’s like in the movies – a movie comes out at the theatre first, then goes to pay-per-view, or a subscription service, or free TV, every time generating new revenue and reaching out to a broader audience. In the same kind of way, we believe in the premium release of a title at launch and after maybe six months, or three months, or three years, when the game’s sales come down, inclusion into this service, PlayStation Plus Extra, can help introduce these games to new, broader audiences,” says Yoshida.

Yoshida highlighted that Sony is actively encouraging publishers to use PlayStation Plus to manage the lifecycle of their games. However, it may not be the right way to go about it. After all, Microsoft is putting all Xbox Game Studios (i.e. in-house) games on Game Pass immediately from the day of release.

Source: PSL