Here are what PlayStation blog calls "a selection" of the games.

EDITED TO ADD:

Ubisoft plus classic is also going to be bundled in with the two higher tiers. Not the full Ubisoft Plus but a decent selection.

As a long time PlayStation owner I own almost all of these games in one form or another. The only one I want to play but don't own PS3/4/5 is Ape Escape 1, and I think I have a physical copy that should play on my PS3.

I imagine most people who have been with the ecosystem for a while either own them or decided not to buy them because they were not interested.

The classic game selection is especially anemic, but for a service that costs about as much as Game Pass it is not bringing anywhere close to the value. I get multiple games released each month on Game Pass that I want to play, not even including the first party releases I get free, like Psychonauts 2, my game of the year last year.

I would be curious what others think. Is this appealing in its current form? Will it do well?

The list of PS4/PS5 games is pretty solid if you're new to PlayStation and haven't already built up a library of most of those titles over the years.

However, the "classic" library is embarrassing. It seems to mostly just be what they could get with little to no effort, with a big chunk of the offering being games that were already for sale on PSN. Most of the heavy-hitter games and franchises from the PS1/PS2 eras are completely absent.

@chaser324: As I said I agree it's not bad if you're new to the ecosystem, but even if you've only been around a few years with a PS+ subscription you've gotten a lot of these games just off that. And most of the rest have been dirt cheap on PSN. It's a pretty good collection if you're just joining, but some of them are also in the already available PS4 collection.

I have no idea what the deal is with the classic games. They had literally hundreds of them available on PSN for the PS3 era, and among the handful of PS1 games are a bunch that have aged horribly. Mr. Driller is a great game but Mr. Driller Drilland is way better and has been very cheap on PSN. I can't imagine trying to play Syphon Filter 1 in the year of our lord 2022. That's a game that was interesting for the time. Good luck playing Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 on streaming!

This catalog will grow over time and I assume that's part of why it's so tiny, to allow them to drip feed games and look like they're providing value, but they could have at least brought out some heavy hitters that hadn't been released for a while (I.Q. Intelligence Qube is a cool game, but that was on the PlayStation Classic mini console and will only appeal to die hard PlayStation fans anyway.)

Just seems like a poor showing if you're trying to induce long term PS+ subscribers and PlayStation players to join the service. And if you're not going for them why even bother with having classics? Is any new player signing up to play the original Hot Shots Golf? Are they excited about Jumping Flash!? Because let me tell you, if you're not a long time gamer with nostalgia or at least a retro enthusiast...you should not be excited about Jumping Flash!

Do note that the given list is just a selection, the full list is not yet revealed

@bakedpony: They say that, but I would bet that it's the vast majority of the list. This thing is launching in under 2 weeks in Asia, and if they had a lot more games to show, and more impressive games, why would they release that list of PS1 game? Congratulations you get 2 Worms games and Mr. Driller. Subscribe today!

It's possible that there are going to be a lot more games available but I bet it will only be a few more. If that's wrong then whoever prepared this list should not be in marketing.

@bigsocrates: no doubt the "biggest" games are already in the list. However a lot of titles that are in psnow are not there, so expect those to be in the final list.

The classics lineup definitely need improvement

@bakedpony: Have they committed to porting over the whole PSnow lineup? I didn't see that they did. And games cycle in and off of that service. They are converting PSnow to PS Plus premium so it makes sense, but I haven't seen that commitment and it isn't listed here.

Regardless, this is their attempt to attract subscribers so I'd be pretty surprised if they've hidden much of value. When you're touting Lost Planet 2 you likely don't have a lot of dry powder, but we'll find out soon.

I really don't see how the higher tiers of PS plus are justifying themselves. As has been stated the catalog of recent games are those that any playing PlayStation in the past couple of years are probably going to have already have played/owned. The classics sections is just bad and I have little faith that Sony will properly update the catalog with more PSX/2 games in the coming years. I'll be sticking with PS Plus Essential for the foreseeable future.

The truth of Game Pass is it's ONLY made possible by Microsoft's near "infinite money" as a trillion-dollar corporation--one of the wealthiest on Earth. Anyone expecting parity from Sony (a literal fraction of Microsoft's size and wealth) is out of their mind.

Microsoft has the limitless resources to run all of the Xbox division (including Game Pass) at a loss for as long as they want (or shareholders / the CEO will allow). This is the current model of Game Pass: give away everything for almost nothing to drive long term adoption and market share.

Game Pass is an all-in "Hail Mary" for Microsoft because they simply can't compete traditionally with Nintendo, Sony, Valve, etc. in the market, so they're leveraging their biggest (and easiest) universal advantage in business: near infinite resources / spending money.

What's more, the entire business model for all streaming services is only profitable currently for two companies: Netflix (who just raised prices... again, and is having their own problems with "infinite growth" / subscriber retention / stock price) and Spotify (as of 2022).

Every other major streaming service is financially propped up by a massive corporation behind it (some of the wealthiest on Earth), e.g. Disney, Amazon, Google, Apple, etc.

https://gamingbolt.com/new-game-pass-subscriber-number-report-raises-questions-about-services-long-term-viability

Tl;dr: Microsoft desperately wants to have a spending war / "money fight," but anyone with half-a-brain is going avoid that lopsided beatdown at all costs, especially Sony.

Now, if Sony had the same or equal resources as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Apple, etc., that would be one thing... but the simple fact remains Sony aren't and they can't.

If you're invested in the Playstation eco system or not, that list of games is pretty anemic in comparison to Gamepass. I hope they improve it and get the classic games rolling as that was a primary use case of the service for me, hopefully all the people in the comments screeching "This is just some games! There will be more!" Are right. I just can't imagine Sony leading with two Worms games if they had more stuff available or coming.

I don't think there's a ton they can do to make PS1/PS2 interesting to me since there are good quality PC emulators available for those games and it's trivial to download anything you want. Not a big fan of streaming games, so the PS3 library is probably a no.

PS4/PS5 is somewhat more compelling, but unless they start including first-party games at launch, it's a pretty difficult value proposition.

This is about what I suspected. They've done little more than just bundle up Plus and Now together. The only things I see hear that even slightly peak my interest are the Death Stranding Director's Cut, and maybe that Guardians game, but not so much that I'd pay for a higher tier of subscription.

There are plenty of games here that I will be able to play much cheaper than just buying them so yeah it’s still appealing.

@nameredacted: Really hard to feel sad for a multi-billion dollar company because it's competing with another multi-billion dollar company.

@nameredacted: I don't want to get too deep into the Microsoft stuff because it's a little off topic and we don't actually know how Game Pass is doing (I would bet it is still losing money but not as much as you think) but it's only relevant because it's the obvious comparison. I don't think Sony would be doing this at all if not for Game Pass and its success (it may not be making money but it has helped make Xbox attractive again to some people and it certainly has a lot of subscribers.)

But moving past Game Pass, my main point is that this product is not attractive on its own to the people who are most likely to be interested in it. Long time Sony Fans have all this stuff available and aren't itching to play old versions of Worms anyway (because nobody is itching to play old PlayStation versions of Worms.)

New fans aren't interested in old games and if they are PS5 owners with PS+ they have access to a big library that contains many of these games through PS+ (maybe that's going away) and have gotten others through PS+ over the last couple years.

So who does that leave? Non-subscribers, who you are now asking to pay a higher fee to access some old games, or the newest purchasers, who are likely to be your least engaged audience, especially for the older stuff.

I am not saying Sony should necessarily put all their first party games on the service immediately, or splash out big cash for third party day-of launch deals like Xbox has. But they have been very stingy even with properties they own. They have a massive back catalog of classic games that they own the licenses to because they are selling them right now, today, on the PS3 store. Legend of Dragoon is one example. They already have the PS1 emulator up and running so it would be easy to offer that, and RPGs age better than many other genres.

They also have relationship with third parties who have the rights to many of their most classic PS1 and PS2 games. There are talks about Sony buying Square, and the companies have a good relationship. How hard would it be to get Einhander and a few non-Final Fantasy RPGs? Couldn't be that expensive. NAMCO is still around and you're already doing business with them for Tekken 2, so why not grab some of the Pac-Man World games to bulk out the service? I can't imagine they would be super costly since NAMCO isn't doing anything with them.

That kind of thing.

I think it's awesome that rain and Tokyo Jungle are on there; those are two PS3 classics that deserve more love. And they should stream relatively well. But there are a lot more games of that ilk.

The whole model just seems very much like Nintendo and their Switch Online deal that everyone kind of hates.

This doesn't have to be Game Pass but Sony could make it much better than this without breaking the bank.

And if you're not going to make it better why do it at all?

@bigsocrates: PS Plus Deluxe is pretty much going to be for enthusiasts and how good its is will not be determined by the day one list, but by how often they add titles and the emulation quality.

The Extra tier seems really good value being only £20 extra per year ontop of the usual Plus price, its in why the hell not territory. Demon's Souls & Returnal alone are worth the extra.

It should be pointed out that, at the initial announcement, they said there would be "up to 340" classic games. They have listed 57 of them here, so there obviously will be a lot more. We just don't know if it'll be ~340 at launch, or if it'll build up to that number over time.

These pretty awesome news bits were buried in the blog post too (but, interesting that PS2/PS3 are left out of it?):

PlayStation Plus Premium/Deluxe members will have a selection of popular classic games to play, with some titles that will show improved frame rates and higher-quality resolution compared to their original launch versions. For select original PlayStation and PSP classic games, members will also enjoy a new user interface with menus that allow you to save your game at any time, or even rewind the game if you want a do-over.

Also, players who have previously purchased the digital version of select games from the original PlayStation and PSP generation will not have to make a separate purchase or sign up to PlayStation Plus to play these titles on PS4 or PS5. When these titles are released for PS4 and PS5, players can head to PlayStation Store and download a version for the consoles at no extra cost if they already own the digital version of the title. Some of the titles will also be available for individual purchase.

Personally, I don't care much for classic games. Extra seems pretty good, but my issue is that I've already bought most of the games there that I was interested in, and my backlog is massive. I'd be more tempted if they will have day one (or very recent) indies on there, but they haven't really said that. I have a bunch wishlisted that I'd love to see here, like Chicory, Toem, Lake, Stray, Unpacking etc.

Also, there is the biggest problem that no subscription service will ever solve: I DON'T HAVE TIME TO PLAY SO MANY GAMES. I mean, I have a full time job but not much else going on, and I still struggle to get through my backlog.

@peffy: If they plan to have that many at launch then their choices were strange. The stuff about not having to re buy old games is good (though it should be noted that the PS2 games appear to be the PS4 versions of those games, which are already playable on PS4/5, and there are a lot more digital PS2 games stranded on PS3). But I do have a digital version of Syphon Filter I bought for 99 cents in 2014, so I'll be able to not play that on 2 additional platforms. Seriously, though, it's good they are making PS1 and PSP games playable on PS4/5, I just hope they include more games that people actually want to play in 2022 (2D and RPG games from 1997 have aged better than 3D games.)

In terms of the backlog issue...I don't think there is a solution for anyone. I personally just like having more options and I sometimes get in the mood to play weird stuff. Like I would love for them to move Xevious 3D/G over to the PS5 because I have a weird love of that game.

N2O: Nitrous Oxide is another one that was on PS3 and that I personally enjoy playing every now and then.

Note that I am not suggesting either of these games would move even 1 subscription, I'm just saying that even with a big backlog of modern games and better games sometimes it's nice to go back to an old game and experience a different style of game and a different time. The PS1 and PS2 eras were so creative and weird, and that doesn't really show through in the list.

The PS1/PS2 classics feel like a Jim Ryan curated list. A list made by people who don't especially care about older games. It is what it is. Jim Ryan said it himself a few years ago, so I'm not surprised this list is underwhelming. I will be sticking with the base tier of ps plus for the foreseeable future.

Multi-trillion dollar company competing with multi-billion dollar company. But yeah i get the point.

I have to assume more of those games that where already on PS Now will show up. Unless there are legal reasons, because this is a new service that they have to go back to all those companies again and make another deal. They had over 800 games on Now, and this list is not worth the $120 asking price. But getting a PS1/PSP emulator out of it is cool with me. I just hope they can bring most if not all of those PS1/PSP games that where already being sold on PSN over. But for now im sticking with the basic PS+.

Me personally, I'm happy with it, and as some have pointed out Sony directly stated that this isn't everything that'll be on the service. What am I supposed to do, be mad at myself for buying Red Dead Redemption 2, the Uncharted franchise, Death Stranding or Dead Cells when they were new and had a rippin' good time playing those games and being a part of the conversation? Of course not!

It's got a few offerings I've hovered over multiple times in the past like the Jak & Daxter remasters, I know the original inFamous game like the back of my hand so that'll be a useful test case for how well the PS3 streaming tech works for me, and I've talked so much smack about the Assassin's Creed franchise since bouncing hard off the first game and faring no better years later with Freedom Cry that, hey, why not give Valhalla a shot and see if the new direction the franchise has taken deserves a different take from me?

And if you're just getting a PS5 this holiday season, after two generations of 360/One life? This offering looks like nirvana, with just about every quintessential Playstation exclusive represented, most of them comprehensively. We knew we weren't seeing Horizon Forbidden West or Gran Turismo 7 on this list, but as a catalog this is still a really generous shelf of first party titles for a yearly fee and a no brainer for anyone late to the Playstation party.

Introductory list with new games each month. Already a few on there I'm interested in, and a bunch of great newer games for people that haven't played them before. About what I expected at launch.

It's a start. It'll improve as we go. I've never played a game over streaming so that's my only concern so far.

I'm neutral about this but we will see on what it will have in the near future.

I thought I saw something that the new PlayStation Plus was launching in June with “700+ games”. That would mean way more games than listed in the link, right? Or did I misunderstand something?

@htr10: Nope they said that.

If these are the highlights I wonder what the lesser classic games are going to be. Rascal for PS1? Bubsy 3D? Masters of Teras Kasi? I actually enjoyed Masters of Teras Kasi. My friends and I had fun doing stupid Star Wars things with it.

i got a PS5 in Feb and only own Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West, so i'm pretty stoked on it. the classic games are whatever to me- but for the price of the middle tier sub i'll get to play

• Death Stranding Director’s Cut
• Demon Souls Remake
• Ghost Of Tsushima Director’s Cut
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
• Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
• Mortal Kombat 11
• Returnal

i was waiting for sales/discounts anyway, and i already have base PS+, so for people like me it seems worth it for at least one year and then we'll see what comes after.

I mentioned this in another thread but it kind of sucks for folks that might just want to play old games. PS NOW didn't require PS Plus unless there was some online component for a game. Now you have to pay for Plus and then some just to get access to those games. I can see why Sony did this, but it would have been nice for those that want it, and don't need Plus, to offer a retro only tier.

As someone who've had both services for a couple of years and of course will renew for this year, the lineup is an improvement to how things are currently. I'm looking forward to trying Demon Souls Remake because I was never going to outright buy it, and of course Ghost of Tsushima: Directors Cut is a game I've been meaning to play but never got around to it. So this is promising. But the other games from PS3 downward seems as lackluster as before with a couple of additions. Time will tell, but I'm still looking forward to it overall.

@spacemanspiff00: Actually PS Now would let you play the catalog of games online even without PS+. You would get cloud saves because how else would you save progress when you streamed, you just couldn't download/upload saves, or get the monthly games. It was a stupid good deal for $60 if you didn't own most of the games you wanted to play on there. It really sucks for people who only had Now because its basically $120 now for the same deal, but now you are forced to pay for PS+ which you didn't even need before. I wish they just added the $40 tier as an option for PS+ for the download only games and kept Now the way it was. But hopefully this gets us better/newer games.

I used to sub to PS+ for multiplayer but these days all I play online is bursts of FFXIV. I've bought all the games I'm interested in (same's true for Gamepass) and I'm not paying a recurring fee just to demo games I'm not interested in.

I don't doubt there's value here for some but I'll never get on board the subscription train.

This isn't a Microsoft or Sony problem, this is a streaming service problem. I think people "subscription fatigue" is growing, I think old and new service of tv and movies will fall first, but like dominos they will be taking services like GamePass and PlayStation Plus with them.

Eventually people will look at their credit card bills, especially in this economy, and they will start cutting. And, once some people start to cut, more people will cut, and it will be a bloodbath. Most visual media makers needed to accept that their content isn't worth more than the penny on the dollar that Netflix, HBO, or Prime was willing to paying them. When everyone tries to grab a slice of the pie, what occurs in up with 200 messy fingers and no edible pie!

I'd like a PS5 before I even consider subscription tiers thank you very much. But yeah I'm already swamped with games.

After just receiving a PS5 last week, I’m pretty stoked about the list of PS5 games since I put like 80% of them in my wishlist. Just gonna subscribe a few months to check out those games and then make a real decision if its worth it.