Project Spartacus or should we Sony’s Game Pass has been in rumors for quite a while now.
On 1 June 2017, Microsoft launched Xbox Game Pass, a video game subscription service providing users access to a roster of premium titles and services. Soon, Game Pass blew up in popularity, while its competitor, Sony, seemingly just watched. That is, up until now.
That’s right. Speculations are rife that Sony is all set to launch its own ‘Game Pass’, codenamed ‘Project Spartacus,’ or possibly, ‘PlayStation Infinite.’
Whatever the case may be, speculation suggests that Project Spartacus promises exciting and fresh features, titles, and much more. These come mainly from the new complementary nature of PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus memberships.
Last November, when Sony’s President Jim Ryan was being interviewed by TASS about Microsoft’s Game Pass and their strategy to compete, he said ‘There is actually news to come, but just not today.’
Read on to find out all about it.
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PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus Merge Into One Membership
Many NeoGaf posts have alleged that renewing a PlayStation Plus subscription or obtaining a new one now guarantees a PlayStation Now subscription for the same subscription period as well. Meaning if you obtain a 1 month PlayStation Plus subscription, you automatically get a 1-month subscription with no extra charges.
On the other hand, gamers who have a subscription to both PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus seem to be experiencing a glitch. Instead of having two individual subscriptions to both of the services, they now see two subscriptions to PlayStation Plus. Both of these changes apply only to those who have a subscription to at least one service or have renewed their subscription.
To substantiate these claims, IGI Italia decided to conduct its own experiment. They took an existing PlayStation Plus membership and purchased a month of PlayStation Now subscription. They discovered that the PlayStation Now subscription was extended till their existing PlayStation Plus membership. They also seemed to accept the guess that Project Spartacus is expected to release soon.
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Project Spartacus/PlayStation Infinite
Let’s get into the juicy details of Sony’s latest projects. Project Spartacus is more or less an improved version of PlayStation Plus, which gives gamers access to title downloads, online multiplayer gaming, and other features. This service will be divided into three tiers, which are:
- Essential: 10 USD/month
- Extra: 13 USD/month
- Premium: 16 USD/month
The Essential tier offers essentially the same services as PlayStation Plus. Users are given access to online multiplayer games and two downloads per month. The Extra tier provides the same services but boosts the number of titles subscribers can download to 300. Coming to the Premium tier, it gives access to cloud streaming and classic games.
Another exciting and unexpected move by Sony is the potential introduction of backward compatibility to Project Spartacus. Around the mid-Jan of this year, PlayStation 3 games, like Dead or Alive 5, started appearing on PlayStation 5’s store. This led to the now-general assumption that Project Spartacus will include backward compatibility.
Jordan Miller, a games journalist at VGC News, published a tweet pointing out this occurrence, leaving the door open for speculation.
There’s the possibility of this being just a glitch and nothing more, of course. Sony could’ve been tweaking to the PlayStation Now service. But gamers choose to ignore this.
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Exclusive Games for Project Spartacus
In an earnings call in early 2022, Hiroki Totoki, Sony’s chief financial officer said that their company plans to launch ten separate live service games by 2026. In addition, Naughty Dog is also allegedly working on a live service title for PlayStation consoles.
It’s very likely that these, and any other special titles that Sony’s working on are planned for Project Spartacus. Seeing that this is in direct competition to Xbox Game Pass, Sony will try to bring their A-game.
Project Spartacus Release Date
No official announcement has been made about the possible Project Spartacus release date. However, seeing all the clues, it is a pretty strong guess that it will release soon, even as soon as spring of 2022.
As far as the name of Sony’s Game Pass is concerned, there are rumors afloat it is likely to be named PlayStation Infinite and maybe not Project Spartacus. Be that as it may, the name won’t change the exciting and promising services and features Sony’s about to bring to the table.
However, one point needs to be borne in mind. Until Sony makes an official announcement in this regard, it is advised to take all this information with a pinch of salt.
We will update you with the new information as soon as it comes out, so keep following Gamevro.
