Sony Expected to Unveil PlayStation Subscription

Sony Group could introduce a PlayStation video game subscription service “as early as next week,” Bloomberg reported Friday (March 25).

The subscription service — which was given the code name Spartacus — has been in development and represents Sony’s answer to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, which is a Netflix-style suite of video games with more than 25 million subscribers, according to the report.

Sony’s subscription service will include a slew of hit games from the past several years, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources, and will bring together Sony’s PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus services. Customers will choose from multiple tiers, including modern games and classic PlayStation selections.

The most expensive PlayStation video game subscription service tier will also allow players to access extended demos and stream games over the internet, the report stated. A Sony spokesperson didn’t respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment.

There have been more PlayStations sold than Xboxes in recent years, but Sony is behind Microsoft when it comes to streaming, according to the report. Sony’s new service is not expected to include its biggest titles on the day when they’re released. The upcoming God of War Ragnarök, for example, is probably won’t be available on the streaming platform right away.

In May, Sony was charged in a class-action lawsuit brought by gamers for allegedly behaving in an anti-competitive manner by denying digital download codes of PlayStation games by third-party vendors, including Amazon and Walmart.

Read more: Sony Could Face Class-Action Lawsuit Over PlayStation Game Exclusivity

The lawsuit accused PlayStation of limiting game downloads exclusively to its in-house store in 2019. As a result, Sony’s PlayStation Store was the only place to obtain digital PlayStation games, and users paid some 175% more for downloadable games than the disk equivalent.

A Sony spokesperson said at the time the move to sidestep third-party vendors was intended to “align key businesses globally.”