Chris Jecks
Explaining PlayStation Plus Essential, Extra & Premium Tiers
Before we can dive into which is the best PlayStation Plus tier, it’s important to understand what each one offers, and how much they cost.
PlayStation Plus Essential
Price
United States$9.99 monthly / $24.99 quarterly / $59.99 yearlyEurope€8.99 monthly / €24.99 quarterly / €59.99 yearlyUnited Kingdom£6.99 monthly / £19.99 quarterly / £49.99 yearly Japan¥850 monthly / ¥2,150 quarterly / ¥5,143 yearly
What’s Included
Provides the same benefits that PlayStation Plus members are getting today, such as:Two monthly downloadable gamesExclusive discountsCloud storage for saved gamesOnline multiplayer access
Sony claims here that there are no changes for existing PlayStation Plus members in this tier. However, it should be noted that currently, players get three monthly downloadable games as part of their PlayStation Plus membership. Whether or not this is a typo or an actual change remains to be seen, but we thought it best to note it here so you’re aware of it.
PlayStation Plus Extra
Price
United States$14.99 monthly / $39.99 quarterly / $99.99 yearlyEurope€13.99 monthly / €39.99 quarterly / €99.99 yearlyUnited Kingdom£10.99 monthly / £31.99 quarterly / £83.99 yearly Japan¥1,300 monthly / ¥3,600 quarterly / ¥8,600 yearly
What’s Included
Provides all the benefits from the Essential tierAdds a catalog of up to 400* of the most enjoyable PS4 and PS5 games – including blockbuster hits from our PlayStation Studios catalog and third-party partners. Games in the Extra tier are downloadable for play.
PlayStation Plus Premium
Price
United States$17.99 monthly / $49.99 quarterly / $119.99 yearlyEurope€16.99 monthly / €49.99 quarterly / €119.99 yearlyUnited Kingdom£13.49 monthly / £39.99 quarterly / £99.99 yearly Japan¥1,550 – monthly / ¥4,300 – quarterly / ¥10,250 yearly
What’s Included
Provides all the benefits from Essential and Extra tiersAdds up to 340* additional games, including:PS3 games available via cloud streamingA catalog of beloved classic games available in both streaming and download options from the original PlayStation, PS2 and PSP generations Offers cloud streaming access for original PlayStation, PS2, PSP and PS4 games offered in the Extra and Premium tiers in markets** where PlayStation Now is currently available. Customers can stream games using PS4 and PS5 consoles, and PC.*** Time-limited game trials.
Which PlayStation Plus Membership Is Best?
Ultimately, it comes down to what you’re looking for from the service. If the extensive library of PS1, PS2, PSP and PS3 titles appeals to you, then you’ve only really got one option in PlayStation Plus Premium. You also get time-limited game trials included here, but whether they’re worth paying the extra cost remains to be seen at the time of writing. If you’d like to gain access to a catalog of up to 400 PS4 and PS5 titles, while also retaining the basic PlayStation Plus benefits such as being able to play online, getting your two free downloadable games and cloud storage for saved games, then you’ll want to opt for the Extra tier. Finally, if you just want to be able to play online, get a couple of free games each month, and get online cloud storage for saves and exclusive discounts on the PlayStation Store, you’ll want to stick with the Essential tier. Ultimately, which one is best for you comes down to a few things. Will you actually play the older titles from PlayStation consoles? As great as it sounds, if you tend to only play new PS4 and PS5 titles, then the top-tier membership may not be worth the extra cash. It also depends what you’re happy on paying each month/ quarter/ year for your PlayStation Plus subscription. $119.99 a year is a lot of money, compared to the $59.99 of the Essential tier. That’s twice the price, so if you’re not going to be playing a ton of those games, you can save some cash here. Finally, we still don’t know what the games are in the catalog on both the Extra and Premium tiers outside of a handful like Death Stranding, God of War, Spider-Man, Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11 and Returnal. That’s only six out of 400-740 titles that you’d be paying for, and if you’ve already paid for (and beaten) these, it might be worth holding out and seeing what the library of games looks like before you put your cash down. Which PlayStation Plus membership do you think you’ll be going for when the service rolls out in June? Let us know in the comments below.
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