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A new report claims that PlayStation is planning a new subscription service codenamed Spartacus to take on Xbox Game Pass.
The news comes from Bloomberg, who cite “people familiar with Sony’s plans and documents”. They say the service will allow subscribers access to a library of modern and classic games. According to them, the service will run across both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 and is aiming for a Spring launch.
The report also claims that Spartacus will merge PlayStation’s current subscription offerings. That covers both PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now with a regularly updated library of games via the Cloud or download. It’s said while the PlayStation Plus branding will remain, the name PlayStation Now will likely be phased out as part of the plans.
According to documents reviewed by Bloomberg, the Spartacus service will offer three tiers. The cheapest, it says, would operate as PlayStation Plus does now. That would mean access to multiplayer and a small number of free games. The second tier would then offer the larger library of PS4 and PS5 games. The top tier would then add “extended demos”, game streaming and a library of older titles from older consoles PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP.
Sony are yet to comment on these reports, so make of it what you will. With a Spring launch, it may be a little while before we get confirmation so we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, Bloomberg also claim Sony is looking into efforts to expand its cloud gaming offering, following Microsoft’s successful service which recently expanded to Xbox consoles just last month.