Sony's upcoming overhaul of the PlayStation Plus subscription service may sound a bit like Xbox Game Pass, but there's one important distinction: first-party exclusive games will not be added to PlayStation Plus on the day they release (at least not yet).

Talking to GamesIndustry.biz, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan said: "[In terms of] putting our own games into this service, or any of our services, upon their release... as you well know, this is not a road that we've gone down in the past. And it's not a road that we're going to go down with this new service. We feel if we were to do that with the games that we make at PlayStation Studios, that virtuous cycle will be broken. The level of investment that we need to make in our studios would not be possible, and we think the knock-on effect on the quality of the games that we make would not be something that gamers want."

That makes it pretty clear: God of War Ragnarök will not be available day one on PlayStation Plus. Nor should we expect brand new games from the likes of Naughty Dog, Insomniac, or Guerrilla to arrive on the service the day they launch.

At least, not for now. Ryan said, "I don't want to cast anything in stone at this stage. All I'm talking to today is the approach we're taking in the short term. The way our publishing model works right now, it doesn't make any sense. But things can change very quickly in this industry, as we all know."

While it is a marked difference from Game Pass, Ryan's reasoning is understandable, given that Sony's first-party outings currently have a tendency towards being self-contained single player games with little in the way of microtransactions (which remain a way to make money in a service like Game Pass). However, with the company looking to make "more than 10" live service games by 2026, it's possible we'll see that stance shift.

Sony has just today announced the new version of PlayStation Plus, which will offer three different subscription tiers. The basic is the same service we have today, but higher tiers will offer hundreds of PS4 and PS5 games, as well as access to retro games from previous PlayStation generations across both downloads and streaming.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.

Sony has finally announced its revision of its PlayStation Plus subscription service, effectively combining PS Plus and PS Now, alongside adding premium tiers that look likely to compete with Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass. There's a brand new three-tier structure to the service, Essential, Extra, and Premium.

The Extra tier will cost $14.99/month, and includes up to 400 PS5 and PS4 titles, while the Premium Tier will cost $17.99 a month and include all of those games, alongside an extra 340 additional games from PS3, PS2, original PlayStation, and PSP. The membership tiers will officially come into place starting in June, with a phased approach across Asia and North America, before making its way everywhere else.

How Much Does the All-new PlayStation Plus Cost?

We've included a detailed breakdown of the costs just below here, but putting it simply, if you want to remain on your basic PlayStation Plus subscription, you're looking at PS Plus Essential.

This costs $9.99 a month, and includes all the benefits you're already used to, including online multiplayer access, cloud game saves, monthly free games, and more. PS Plus Extra and Premium are what many will compare to the Xbox Game Pass model.

PlayStation Plus Essential

• United States: $9.99 monthly / $24.99 quarterly / $59.99 yearly
• Europe: €8,99 monthly / €24.99 quarterly / €59.99 yearly
• United Kingdom: £6.99 monthly / £19.99 quarterly / £49.99 yearly
• Japan: ¥850 monthly / ¥2150 quarterly / ¥5143 yearly

PlayStation Plus Extra

• United States: $14.99 monthly / $39.99 quarterly / $99.99 yearly
• Europe: €13.99 monthly / €39.99 quarterly / €99.99 yearly
• United Kingdom: £10.99 monthly / £31.99 quarterly / £83.99 yearly
• Japan: ¥1,300 monthly / ¥3,600 quarterly / ¥8,600 yearly

PlayStation Plus Premium

• United States: $17.99 monthly / $49.99 quarterly / $119.99 yearly
• Europe: €16.99 monthly / €49.99 quarterly / €119.99 yearly
• United Kingdom: £13.49 monthly / £39.99 quarterly / £99.99 yearly
• Japan: ¥1,550 monthly / ¥4,300 quarterly / ¥10,250 yearly

What Games Will Be on PS Plus Extra and Premium?

If you subscribe to the PS Plus Premium membership tier, you can expect around 700 games in total to be included with the subscription. Sony has stated at launch they're expecting to have games such as Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal.

Games from PS3, PS2, and original PlayStation era titles will also be available via cloud streaming and direct downloads, but this will definitely differ depending on what game you're trying to play.

What Happens to My Current PS Plus Subscription?

With PlayStation Now transitioning into the new PlayStation Plus service, Sony has stated PS Now "will no longer be available to buy standalone." Any current PS Now subscribers will have their membership converted to PS Plus Premium at no extra cost at launch.

There is no current word on how those who have stacked months or even years of PS Plus membership will be able to upgrade and convert their current time into Extra or Premium tiers. Moreover, what about those who have both PS Now and PS Plus? No clear answers yet, but Sony is expecting to reveal even more about the new PlayStation Plus very soon.

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

Sony has finally announced its revision of its PlayStation Plus subscription service, effectively combining PS Plus and PS Now, alongside adding premium tiers that look likely to compete with Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass. There's a brand new three-tier structure to the service, Essential, Extra, and Premium.

The Extra tier will cost $14.99/month, and includes up to 400 PS5 and PS4 titles, while the Premium Tier will cost $17.99 a month and include all of those games, alongside an extra 340 additional games from PS3, PS2, original PlayStation, and PSP. The membership tiers will officially come into place starting in June, with a phased approach across Asia and North America, before making its way everywhere else.

How Much Does the All-new PlayStation Plus Cost?

We've included a detailed breakdown of the costs just below here, but putting it simply, if you want to remain on your basic PlayStation Plus subscription, you're looking at PS Plus Essential.

This costs $9.99 a month, and includes all the benefits you're already used to, including online multiplayer access, cloud game saves, monthly free games, and more. PS Plus Extra and Premium are what many will compare to the Xbox Game Pass model.

PlayStation Plus Essential

• United States: $9.99 monthly / $24.99 quarterly / $59.99 yearly
• Europe: €8,99 monthly / €24.99 quarterly / €59.99 yearly
• United Kingdom: £6.99 monthly / £19.99 quarterly / £49.99 yearly
• Japan: ¥850 monthly / ¥2150 quarterly / ¥5143 yearly

PlayStation Plus Extra

• United States: $14.99 monthly / $39.99 quarterly / $99.99 yearly
• Europe: €13.99 monthly / €39.99 quarterly / €99.99 yearly
• United Kingdom: £10.99 monthly / £31.99 quarterly / £83.99 yearly
• Japan: ¥1,300 monthly / ¥3,600 quarterly / ¥8,600 yearly

PlayStation Plus Premium

• United States: $17.99 monthly / $49.99 quarterly / $119.99 yearly
• Europe: €16.99 monthly / €49.99 quarterly / €119.99 yearly
• United Kingdom: £13.49 monthly / £39.99 quarterly / £99.99 yearly
• Japan: ¥1,550 monthly / ¥4,300 quarterly / ¥10,250 yearly

What Games Will Be on PS Plus Extra and Premium?

If you subscribe to the PS Plus Premium membership tier, you can expect around 700 games in total to be included with the subscription. Sony has stated at launch they're expecting to have games such as Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal.

Games from PS3, PS2, and original PlayStation era titles will also be available via cloud streaming and direct downloads, but this will definitely differ depending on what game you're trying to play.

What Happens to My Current PS Plus Subscription?

With PlayStation Now transitioning into the new PlayStation Plus service, Sony has stated PS Now "will no longer be available to buy standalone." Any current PS Now subscribers will have their membership converted to PS Plus Premium at no extra cost at launch.

There is no current word on how those who have stacked months or even years of PS Plus membership will be able to upgrade and convert their current time into Extra or Premium tiers. Moreover, what about those who have both PS Now and PS Plus? No clear answers yet, but Sony is expecting to reveal even more about the new PlayStation Plus very soon.

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

Sony has finally revealed its Xbox Game Pass competitor, an "all-new PlayStation Plus" that brings together the existing PS Plus and PS Now into a three-tier subscription service that includes up to 700 games and access to retro games at the top tier. It will open for some markets in June and roll out worldwide regionally after that.

After months of reports, and even longer being speculated about, Sony finally revealed the new service today. It consists of three tiers, PlayStation Plus Essential, PlayStation Plus Extra, and PlayStation Plus Premium. As part of the move, PS Now will be closed down, with members migrated to the Premium tier, with no change to prices at launch.

At its top tier, the new PS Plus will offer more than 700 games for streaming or download (including streaming on PC), and the library will be "regularly refreshed". PS3 games will be available as streaming-only titles, while PS1, PS2 and PSP games will come with download or streaming options. Sony has made clear that (at least for now) first-party exclusives will not be launched into the service for any tier, unlike Xbox Game Pass.

The service will launch with the likes of Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal. Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan told GamesIndustry there's a diverse line-up to come: "Whether it's indies, whether it's big games, or things that celebrate our heritage... all sorts of games. We are going to have all of it, and hopefully a line-up that ticks all sorts of boxes."

The new service will roll out regionally, beginning in "several markets in Asia" in June, followed by North America, Europe and the rest of the world. No specific dates have been offered as yet.

You can see full details and pricing for each tier below:

While Sony says it's looking to increase coverage for cloud streaming across the world, regions without access to it will instead get a different tier, Deluxe, which removes streaming (and thus all PS3 games) from the Premium tier, but comes in at a lower price. Deluxe will seemingly not be available outside of those regions.

While the new PS Plus bears similarities in approach to Game Pass, there are multiple differences – not least in how exclusives are handled. Xbox Game Pass has arguably been one of the most important decisions Microsoft has made about its gaming business in recent years, offering a rotating selection of games (including first-party titles on launch day) as part of a subscription, and tying in Cloud Gaming and other perks at the more expensive Ultimate tier. It's been an enormously popular move, and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer previously called a PlayStation response to Game Pass an "inevitability".

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Sony has finally revealed its Xbox Game Pass competitor, an 'all-new PlayStation Plus' that brings together the existing PS Plus and PS Now into a three-tier subscription service that includes up to 700 games and access to retro games at the top tier. It will open for some markets in June and roll out worldwide regionally after that.

After months of reports, and even longer being speculated about, Sony finally revealed the new service today, which is likely a response to Xbox's wildly popular Game Pass service. It consists of three tiers, PlayStation Plus Essential, PlayStation Plus Extra, and PlayStation Plus Premium. As part of the move, PS Now will be closed down, with members migrated to the Premium tier, with no change to prices at launch.

At its top tier, the new PS Plus will offer more than 700 games for streaming or download (including streaming on PC), and the library will be "regularly refreshed". Sony has made clear that first-party exclusives will not be added to the service at launch, unlike Xbox Game Pass.

The service will launch with the likes of Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal.

The new service will roll out regionally, beginning in "several markets in Asia" in June, followed by North America, Europe and the rest of the world. No specific dates have been offered as yet.

You can see full details and pricing for each tier below:

PlayStation Plus Essential

Essential is the same PlayStation Plus service that currently exists, with no changes to pricing. It includes Two monthly downloadable games, discounts, saved game cloud storage, and access to online multiplayer for most games.

PlayStation Plus Extra

The Extra tier includes all Essential benefits, and adds a catalog of around 400 PS4 and PS5 games that can be downloaded at any time. It includes first-party and third-party games (although earlier reports have said that exclusives will not launch into the catalog).

In the US, it will cost $14.99 monthly / $39.99 quarterly / $99.99 yearly, and in the UK it will cost £10.99 monthly / £31.99 quarterly / £83.99 yearly.

PlayStation Plus Premium

Premium includes all the Essential and Extra benefits as well, and adds 340 extra games for download, including streaming PS3 games, and PS1, PS2 and PSP games for streaming and download. Streaming can be carried out on PS4, PS5, and PC. Premium members will also receive time-limited trials of some games.

In the US, it will cost $17.99 monthly / $49.99 quarterly / $119.99 yearly, and in the UK it will cost £13.49 monthly / £39.99 quarterly / £99.99 yearly.

While Sony says it's looking to increase coverage for cloud streaming across the world, regions without access ot it will instead get a different tier, Deluxe, which removes streaming (and thus all PS3 games) from the Premium tier, but comes in at a lower price.

Xbox Game Pass has arguably been one of the most important decisions Microsoft has made about its gaming business in recent years, offering a rotating selection of games (including first-party titles on launch day) as part of a subscription, and tying in Cloud Gaming and other perks at the more expensive Ultimate tier. It's been an enormously popular move, and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer previously called a PlayStation response to Game Pass an "inevitability".

Breaking...

Warning: This story contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Andrew Garfield is avoiding questions about The Amazing Spider-Man 3, because he knows no one will believe his answers about playing Peter Parker again.

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 38-year-old former Spider-Man was asked whether he could give an update on his potential return.

“No update from me,” he said. “No one's going to believe anything I say ever again. That’s my problem.”

Of course, Garfield recently wowed Marvel fans as he returned in Spider-Man: No Way Home alongside current Spider-Man, Tom Holland, as well as original big-screen Spidey, Tobey Maguire.

His return was so well-received that it even caused ‘Amazing Spider-Man 3’ to trend on Twitter alongside the hashtag #MakeTASM3. Even Tom Holland supported the return of his Spider-Bro as he admitted he wants to see Garfield back for another Spider-Man movie.

“I would love to see The Amazing Spider-Man 3,” Holland said. “I think what was so wonderful was how Andrew was able to kind of make amends with the character and the studio, you know, to kind of win the general public back.”

Garfield originally starred as Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man alongside Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey. He soon became a bit of a fan favorite, but his stint as the legendary web-slinger was cut short after the poor performance of its sequel.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 may have cemented his retirement, but Garfield thankfully returned in No Way Home due to the multiverse shenanigans of Doctor Strange.

Although it’s unclear what’s next for the multiverse, we are expecting even more crossovers with the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So, perhaps it’s not the last time we’ve seen Garfield’s Spidey – especially with the likes of Venom and Morbius out there. But for now, we’ll have to wait and see.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Warning: This story contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Andrew Garfield is avoiding questions about The Amazing Spider-Man 3, because he knows no one will believe his answers about playing Peter Parker again.

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 38-year-old former Spider-Man was asked whether he could give an update on his potential return.

“No update from me,” he said. “No one's going to believe anything I say ever again. That’s my problem.”

Of course, Garfield recently wowed Marvel fans as he returned in Spider-Man: No Way Home alongside current Spider-Man, Tom Holland, as well as original big-screen Spidey, Tobey Maguire.

His return was so well-received that it even caused ‘Amazing Spider-Man 3’ to trend on Twitter alongside the hashtag #MakeTASM3. Even Tom Holland supported the return of his Spider-Bro as he admitted he wants to see Garfield back for another Spider-Man movie.

“I would love to see The Amazing Spider-Man 3,” Holland said. “I think what was so wonderful was how Andrew was able to kind of make amends with the character and the studio, you know, to kind of win the general public back.”

Garfield originally starred as Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man alongside Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey. He soon became a bit of a fan favorite, but his stint as the legendary web-slinger was cut short after the poor performance of its sequel.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 may have cemented his retirement, but Garfield thankfully returned in No Way Home due to the multiverse shenanigans of Doctor Strange.

Although it’s unclear what’s next for the multiverse, we are expecting even more crossovers with the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So, perhaps it’s not the last time we’ve seen Garfield’s Spidey – especially with the likes of Venom and Morbius out there. But for now, we’ll have to wait and see.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Motorsport Games has today confirmed that rFactor 2 will become the official sim racing platform of Formula E, the world’s leading all-electric, open-wheel motorsport series. This partnership comes as an extension of the existing agreement between Motorsport Games and Formula E.

All 11 official teams and all 22 drivers and cars from the currently underway Formula E season are available for rFactor 2 on PC starting today. The platform now features every season of Formula E since 2018.

“Formula E is one of the fastest growing motorsports series and we couldn’t be more excited and honored to bring it to life fully within rFactor 2,” said Motorsport Games CEO Dmitry Kozko in a statement published alongside the announcement. “rFactor 2 continues to be the best-in-class simulation platform in the marketplace. This addition to its robust offering of motorsport series will greatly enhance the experience and offerings available to our players. With our expertise on creating authentic racing simulations and remarkable esports events coupled with Formula E’s surging popularity, we know that our partnership will reach every goal in place between our teams.”

Formula E will also be launching an esports series powered by rFactor 2’s in-game competitions platform. This comes in the wake of previous esports experience gleaned from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Formula E was one of several motorsports to temporarily pivot to esports as a replacement for real-world racing. The Formula E Race at Home Challenge was nine-week esports competition held in 2020 featuring all the teams and drivers of the 2019-20 Formula E season.

Motorsport Games has a number of ongoing partnerships with racing organisations, including NASCAR, BTCC, and an exclusive “long-term license” with IndyCar that should see a new game released in 2023.

Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office. You can chat to him on Twitter @MrLukeReilly.

Crunchyroll caused a stir over the weekend when it announced that it will no longer be offering simulcast episodes on a free, ad-supported basis. Some users took that to mean that Crunchyroll, which was acquired by Funimation in August 2021, would become an entirely premium service. However, that’s not the case, Crunchyroll says.

Crunchyroll does plan to offer “seasonal samplers” for select simulcast shows debuting in the Spring 2022 season. The samplers will feature free, ad-supported releases of the first three episodes of each show, which will be available a week after their subscription-only premiere until May 31.

Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs (April 3)

Tomodachi Game (April 6)

The Greatest Demon Lord is Reborn as a Typical Nobody (April 6)

The Dawn of the Witch (April 8)

Spy x Family (April 9)

Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie (April 10)

A Couple of Cuckoos (April 24)

“Crunchyroll makes more than 1,000 hours available for viewers to sample free of charge through our ad-supported tier, and will continue to offer free content going forward,” Crunchyroll said in its blog post.

Earlier this month, Funimation was folded into Crunchyroll to create a new “anime super-service” with popular shows including My Hero Academia, Tokyo Ghoul, and Cowboy Bebop. Crunchyroll will be the main platform going forward, and will be the home to new anime debuting in Spring 2022.

For a guide on what to expect, check out IGN’s top 10 most anticipated new anime for 2022.

The Gotham City Police Department has seized The Riddler’s secret website.

If you’ve been following along with The Batman's promotional tour, you’ll know the team launched an ARG website www.rataalada.com to give various updates on The Batman. This site was used to announce a new Riddler comic book written by Paul Dano, and more explosively, reveal a deleted scene from the movie with the Joker.

Now, however, GCPD has seized the domain meaning the Riddler’s posts might be slowing for now. But with a Gotham City spinoff show in the works at HBO Max, this might not be the last we see from the URL.

The official Batman Twitter account announced rataalada’s latest update in a tweet writing, “Must all games come to an end <?>” which could mean the end of Riddler’s updates. But the question mark at the end leaves this space potentially open for new announcements later on, possibly related to the upcoming Gotham City spinoff.

HBO appears to have full confidence in Matt Reeves’ version of Gotham City and has already announced two spinoff series. One will star Colin Farrell’s Penguin, the other was announced as a Gotham City PD show, but will now focus on Arkham Asylum.

Reeves is focusing on these two spinoffs, especially the Arkham Asylum series which could potentially include Barry Keoghan’s Joker. The series was originally announced as a GCPD show, following the police who serve Gotham City. But director Matt Reeves later said the show "evolved" into a series focused on Arkham Asylum. Rather than a police procedural, this series is now more like "a horror movie or a haunted house that is Arkham."

Check out IGN’s review of The Batman here.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.