PlayStation's "Spartacus" is an Xbox Game Pass Rival, Expected in Spring 2022

No first party games at launch for the first bit of this service is no go. And knowing Sony when they have a market lead, it's probably going to have some ******** that makes it worse then Game Pass.

What makes me curious is how Sony is going to court indie devs and smaller companies for this, considering most indie devs have migrated to Microsoft in droves because of the benefits of Game Pass in getting the word out, and Sony has frustrated indie devs because their program is labrythine and impossible to get contact established with Sony.
 
PS1-3 and PSP games? I assume this is through PS Now streaming and not actual emulation (which would be far, far better), but it's nice to see PSP games getting some love again. I wonder if we'll see GTPSP again? And hopefully we'll have Sacknana in 4K.
 
What makes me curious is how Sony is going to court indie devs and smaller companies for this, considering most indie devs have migrated to Microsoft in droves because of the benefits of Game Pass in getting the word out, and Sony has frustrated indie devs because their program is labrythine and impossible to get contact established with Sony.
The majority of indie devs is still releasing their games on PSN. In fact, there are quite a few indie games available only on PS and PC. Some of them were even released day one on PS Plus, like Fall Guys, Maquette, Oddworld: Soulstorm, First Class Trouble, Operation Tango, Hunter's Arena and Hell Let Loose.

If Spartacus is real, I assume Sony'll invest even more in deals like that to compete against Gamepass.
 
PS1-3 and PSP games? I assume this is through PS Now streaming and not actual emulation (which would be far, far better), but it's nice to see PSP games getting some love again. I wonder if we'll see GTPSP again? And hopefully we'll have Sacknana in 4K.
PS1/2/P emulation should be easy, and I could potentially see them do that. I really doubt we'll see PS3 emulation, and it will just be streaming as we currently have with PS Now
 
Personally one want old games in my PS Plus, since my taste is very strict I do not need all of those current AAA and other games, but for sure missing oldies so much.
 
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Well this is interesting indeed. The pricing is gonna be interesting I’m assuming it’s gonna be like purchasing a deluxe edition game or something with the final tier or maybe an ultimate bundle price. PS Plus 12 months is $70 bucks or something like that in Australia it used to be $50 in PS3 days. So how much more will it be for the whole package now. That is the question I’m curious about. Well I’m looking forward to hearing more on this soon.
 
I was/am hoping for a cheaper tier 0.5 that only gives access to multiplayer. Some of the "free" games are OK but I could happily live without them.


“I am Spartacus!” 😉
That would be great if they do because I don't care for the free games to much as long I can access multiplayer and get a discount from sale games I am good.
 
Anyone expecting PS3 emulation on PS5 is dreaming. It just isn't going to happen. The PS5, while powerful, isn't powerful enough to emulate the PS3 reliably. There is a PC-based PS3 emulator out there. It requires a beefy rig to run properly. And the games run from okay to terrible to not at all. We're probably one more generation (not a "Pro," half-gen update) away from being able to run PS3 games emulated. PS3 just had such a whacky architecture.

More on-topic, depending on what the pricing looks like for this, I'm probably in. I already have PS+ and PS Now. I wonder what they'll be doing for people that have stored up multiple years of PS+ subs and already have PS Now subs.
 
I just hope they don’t pull a Microsoft and try to charge more for PS plus because of this. This kind of service is not for me.
 
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When did they change the price for Xbox Live Gold?
I was referring to when they tried to double the price to push people towards the game pass. That idea did not go down well and they changed their mind pretty quick. I just hope Sony doesn’t try and pull the same ********.
 
Not really interested in subscription devices but interesting how they will play this one, certainly hope they don't raise the standard ps plus price to include some sort of streaming service I have no interest in.
 
I was referring to when they tried to double the price to push people towards the game pass. That idea did not go down well and they changed their mind pretty quick. I just hope Sony doesn’t try and pull the same ********.
Literally didn't notice this at all. So in short, it never happened? Sound's ok if that's the case and lends more to them actually listening to a playerbase, so that's good.
 
service not available in Italy

pt-BR
 
This is a make or break thing in supporting whether I buy a PS5 next year. Game Pass is not only great value in my opinion, but how it works is also second to none. The problem when I used to use PS Now when I had a PS4, was the streaming was limited and not very good. I know they expanded it eventually to include the ability to download certain games but it wasn't enough and was still limited in scope there.

If they're planning to challenge Game Pass then everything needs to be downloadable as a minimum, every first party Sony title or exclusive from PS4 and 5 needs to be there day 1, no exceptions. It needs to be priced fairly, or at least competitively with Game Pass and in an idesl world they need a 3rd party tie up like MS have got with EA for EA Play. If Sony got the same deal with EA for EA Play to be part of the package or even introduce UPlay to consoles as part of it, that would significantly help.

Where Sony have an incredible opportunity to not only gain subscribers very quickly, but also poach from Xbox, is in that aforementioned backwards compatibility segment. PS1 and PS2 are so beloved by all areas of the gaming community, they have a real opportunity to knock that out the park. Again, ideally in a downloadable format but I know the emulation might not necessarily be there or capable to do that. So as long as the streaming aspect works well then that would be acceptable, in return for a comprehensive library line up.
 
How is this different than PlayStation Now?
It's literally in the article.

PS Plus = access to online multiplayer, free games monthly, demos etc.
PS Now = game streaming service

"Spartacus" base = PS Plus (equivalent to Xbox Gold)
"Spartacus" mid-tier = PS Plus + downloadable game library (equivalent to Xbox Gold + Xbox Game Pass)
"Spartacus" top-tier = PS Plus + PS Now (equivalent to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate)

Although that's just the reported functionality; nothing is finalised at this point.
 
It's literally in the article.

PS Plus = access to online multiplayer, free games monthly, demos etc.
PS Now = game streaming service

"Spartacus" base = PS Plus (equivalent to Xbox Gold)
"Spartacus" mid-tier = PS Plus + downloadable game library (equivalent to Xbox Gold + Xbox Game Pass)
"Spartacus" top-tier = PS Plus + PS Now (equivalent to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate)

Although that's just the reported functionality; nothing is finalised at this point.

Thanks for the response! Sorry I should have clarified as I did read the article. I was mainly wondering why they aren't just ramping up PS Now instead of this secret project Spartacus business.
 
PS1/2/P emulation should be easy, and I could potentially see them do that. I really doubt we'll see PS3 emulation, and it will just be streaming as we currently have with PS Now
In an ideal world (for me), PS3 and maybe PS2 (I'm not sure how good PS2 emulation is nowadays, and I've only played one emulated PS2 game on PS4) backwards compatibility would be through an accessory (think of the GameCube Game Boy player but with CELL) that connects to the PS5. That way I wouldn't have to deal with game streaming and have to pay a monthly fee to rent a game I already own. Luckily the PS1 is very easy to emulate so the PlayStation Player wouldn't be needed for it, but I'm not sure about PSP emulation. But really, would PSP games fit on the PS5? The graphics are so bad, especially on big screens, that it just would be more appropriate to have PSP games running on mobile phones or even a PSP2. Or the Switch. :lol:
 
Being able to play new releases would have made this subscription a lot more attractive for me. I also despise the fact that game trials are locked behind this paywall.
 
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