Bloomberg: Sony wants to release its own Xbox Game Pass counterpart for PlayStation

Sony is reportedly planning to release its own Xbox Game Pass equivalent for PlayStation. As with the Xbox Game Pass, the subscription codenamed Spartacus gives customers unlimited access to a catalog of video games.

The service is to merge existing subscriptions for PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now, an anonymous source told Bloomberg. The medium also managed to obtain documents about Spartacus. The service is rumored to be released sometime in the spring of 2022.

Spartacus would offer three tiers. The cheapest option is similar to the current PlayStation Plus, where customers can access Sony’s online services. This also includes free games every month. The second option also gives users access to a ‘large library’ of PlayStation 4 games and eventually also titles for the PlayStation 5. Finally, buyers of the third and probably most expensive variant will also have the option to stream games, play demos for longer and access to classic PlayStation 1, 2, 3 and PSP games.

Sony has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of a game subscription. Earlier, a CEO of the Japanese company, on the other hand, said that directly releasing brand new games through such a subscription is “financially illogical”.

The alleged structure of Sony’s Spactacus somewhat resembles the Xbox Game Pass from competitor Microsoft. Customers of that subscription can choose from unlimited access to a fixed game library for PC or consoles. In addition, an Ultimate variant of the subscription is available that includes all platforms including smartphones and also offers Xbox Live Gold and Cloud Gaming.