PlayStation Plus is changing – very soon. On Thursday, Sony’s revamped three-tier version of its PS Plus games subscription offering arrives in India and Europe, completing a rollout that started a month ago in parts of Asia. (For market and operational reasons, Sony considers India to be part of “Europe” and not “Asia”. I know it’s confusing, but all we can do is accept it and move on.) As of June 23rd, PlayStation Plus, as we’ve known it for over a decade, will not cease to exist. Instead, it’ll end up as a much smaller part of the newer PS Plus – one that’s better designed to compete with its biggest rival, Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass. One that is now divided into PlayStation Plus Essential, PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Deluxe.
If you did a “Wait, wait, what?” or “How do I choose?” then you’ve come to the right place. While one of them is quite simple to digest – I’m talking PS Plus Essential – the other two have a lot to offer. I don’t just mean in terms of traits, but also in terms of choice paralysis, as you’ll find out later. So how exactly to choose between PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Deluxe? What PS4 and PS5 games are available with the new PS Plus? Which one lets you play classic PlayStation, PlayStation 2 or PlayStation Portable games? And is PS Plus now better than Xbox Game Pass? We will soon have dedicated articles for some answers, but we’ll discuss the rest here.
PS Plus vs Xbox Game Pass: Who’s the Big Dog of Game Subscriptions Right Now?
With that, here’s everything you need to know about the revamped PlayStation Plus.
PlayStation Plus Essential: Benefits and Price in India
It’s the easiest to explain, so let’s delve into it first. PS Plus Essential is essentially – sorry I had to – what you know PS Plus to be, albeit with a new name. This includes online multiplayer access, 100GB cloud storage, extra game discounts, exclusive game content, and two PS4 games and one PS5 game every month. Plus, you get access to the PlayStation Plus Collection, a small library of PS4 hits only available on PS5.
And, naturally, PS Plus Essential remains at the same price as the old PS Plus. That’s Rs. 499 per month, Rs. 1,199 quarterly, or Rs. 2,999 a year. An annual subscription offers savings of 50% over the monthly plan and 37% over the three-month offer. PlayStation Plus has always been more affordable in India, with the same plans costing $9.99 (around Rs. 780) per month, $24.99 (around Rs. 1,950) quarterly and Rs. $59.99 (about Rs. 4,680) per year in the US. US prices also exclude tax.
PlayStation Plus Extra: Benefits and Price in India
Welcome to the first new level of the new PS Plus. And going forward, aka PS Plus mid-tier. PS Plus Extra is also the first real Xbox Game Pass competition, as it offers hundreds of PS4 and PS5 games – such as Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Demon’s Souls, God of War, Returnal, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla – as part of a game catalog that will be continually updated. Some games are courtesy of Ubisoft+ Classics, included with PS Plus.
Expect first-party PlayStation titles to stick around forever, just as games like Halo and Gears have always been part of Xbox Game Pass. Sony says that new titles will be added twice a month, at the beginning of the month and then in the middle of the same month. In addition to the game catalog, PS Plus Extra gives you access to all the benefits that are part of PS Plus Essential.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is available with PS Plus Extra/Deluxe
Photo credit: Sony/Insomniac Games
How much more do you have to pay for the privilege of that catalog of PS4 and PS5 games? PS Plus Extra costs Rs. 749 per month, Rs. 1,999 for three months, or Rs. 4,999 for one year. An annual subscription offers nearly 80% savings over the monthly variant and 60% over the quarterly option.
And just like Essential, PS Plus Extra is more affordable in India than it is in the US, where it costs $14.99 (about Rs. 1,170) per month, $39.99 (about Rs. 3,120) for three months and $99.99 (about Rs. 7,800) for a year. Again, US prices do not include tax.
In fact, the price difference is so great that three months of PS Plus Extra in India (Rs. 1,999) is roughly equal to three months of PS Plus Essential in the US ($24.99).
PlayStation Plus Deluxe: Benefits and Price in India
And that leaves us with the third and main layer, which has a dual identity. First, let’s get into the benefits. In addition to everything we’ve already listed in Essential and Extra, PS Plus Deluxe offers access to limited trials — ranging from one to three hours — to some of the latest games like Horizon Forbidden West, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.
Plus, PS Plus Deluxe gives you access to hundreds of classic OG-era PlayStation, PS2, and PSP games. This includes games like inFAMOUS 2, Tekken 2, BioShock: The Collection and Borderlands: The Handsome Collection. As you can see, PS Plus Deluxe offers better competition to Xbox Game Pass, which also offers OG Xbox and Xbox 360 games.
Horizon Forbidden West is part of PS Plus Deluxe game testing
Photo credit: Sony/Guerrilla Games
The competition is arguably even stronger if you’re in a market that has PlayStation Now, Sony’s cloud streaming game subscription service. PS Now is being bundled with PS Plus Premium, the equivalent of PS Plus Deluxe in territories that support cloud streaming. This allows PS Plus Premium to offer various games from the PS3 era, which otherwise cannot run on modern PlayStation consoles.
Of course, there is a cost to these upgrades. PS Plus Deluxe comes in at Rs. 849 per month, Rs. 2,299 for three months and Rs. 5,749 annually. The annual subscription offers 77% savings over the monthly variant and 60% over the quarterly option.
PS Plus Deluxe can’t be compared directly with US prices as it doesn’t exist there. In fact, because of the missing cloud streaming variable, PS Plus Deluxe is priced lower than PS Plus Premium to justify the omission. For example, PS Plus Premium costs $17.99 (around Rs. 1,400) per month, $49.99 (around Rs. 3,900) for three months and $119.99 (around Rs. 9,360) annually. Again, taxes not included.
So while there is a 20% price difference between PS Plus Extra ($14.99 per month) and PS Plus Premium ($17.99 per month) in the US, the difference between PS Plus Extra (Rs. 749 per month) and PS Plus Deluxe (Rs. 849 per month) in India is just over 13%.
Now that we’ve gone through all three – nay, four – new PS Plus tiers, it’s time to condense this down into an easy-to-read table. Here is a direct price comparison of PS Plus Essential, PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Deluxe in India.
| PlayStation Plus India Pricing | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Level | A month | Quarterly | Annually |
| PS Plus Essential | LOL. 499 | LOL. 1,199 | LOL. 2,999 |
| Additional PS Plus | LOL. 749 | LOL. 1999 | LOL. 4,999 |
| ps plus deluxe | LOL. 849 | LOL. 2,299 | LOL. 5,749 |
Which PlayStation Plus tier is best for India?
Oh yes. The question we set out to answer. Unfortunately, unlike the service it’s trying to compete with, choosing between PS Plus’s three new tiers isn’t a straightforward, easy task. (With Xbox Game Pass, the big question is, “Do you play online?”) Though it’s definitely easier in India than in countries where PS Plus Premium is the most expensive tier. Allow me to explain.
If playing online is the only thing you care about then I’m not sure how you got so deep into the article. Let me put it on a tray for you. Stick with PS Plus Essential, which is exactly what you got with PS Plus. No new features, no change in cost. (For the best prices, wait for the traditional “Black Friday” sales that offer deep discounts on PS Plus.) There you have it. Have a great year.
Now, on the other hand, if you’re interested in the Game Pass-style features that PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Deluxe offer, this is where it gets interesting. The cost difference between Essential and Extra/Deluxe is stark, as you can see in the table below. Whether you pay quarterly or annually, PS Plus Deluxe is nearly 92% more than PS Plus Essential.
| PlayStation Plus India: Essential vs Extra vs Deluxe price difference | |||||||||
| against | PS Plus Essential | Additional PS Plus | ps plus deluxe | ||||||
| A month | Quarterly | Annually | A month | Quarterly | Annually | A month | Quarterly | Annually | |
| PS Plus Essential | – | – | – | -33.3% | -40% | -40% | -41% | -47.8% | -47.8% |
| Additional PS Plus | +50% | +66.7% | +66.7% | – | – | – | -11.7% | -13% | -13% |
| ps plus deluxe | +70% | +91.7% | +91.7% | +13.3% | +15% | +15% | – | – | – |
At the same time, the difference between PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Deluxe is minimal. On a monthly basis, Deluxe is around 13.3% more expensive than Extra. When switching to quarterly or annual plans, you will need to pay around 15% more. Of course, if you’re planning on subscribing for the long term, then you shouldn’t consider monthly plans, given the cost savings I mentioned earlier – with the yearly option saving between 77 and 80% on Extra/Deluxe.
For that extra 15%, PS Plus Deluxe offers access to limited game trials and the classic game catalog — PS1, PS2 and PSP — on PS Plus Extra. It might not sound like much but if you are going to pay Rs. 4,999 (PS Plus Extra annually) for a game subscription service, my argument is that you should shell out Rs. 750 extra and just get PS Plus Premium (Rs. 5,749 annually). The difference is too minimal to miss out on the other benefits.
Of course, my guidance might change if Sony offered discounts on PS Plus Extra plans and left PS Plus Deluxe alone. But for now, PS Plus Deluxe and Extra are too close together to recommend the mid-tier. In fact, this serves as an indictment of Sony’s own three-layer model.
The multi-tiered approach feels like a relic of Sony’s previous subscription models, where PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now had nothing to do with each other. These two offerings had their own separate revenue streams and it looks like Sony is trying to soften the (financial) blow as they are brought together. It may have put the internal demands of the business first, instead of thinking about its consumers.