Topic: PlayStation Plus | OT |

So I took advantage of the weekend deal for 1 month of PS+ Premium as I haven't subscribed to Extra/Premium before. First of all, I'm glad that I tried Premium this way since I've come to the realisation that it really isn't for me. I've already played most PS3 games you can play through Premium. There are some I haven't played but I have them in my backlog (either on PS3 or 360). Furthermore, I don't care much for game trials and in terms of PS1, PSP and PS2 classics, most don't interest me and those that do, e.g. The Legend of Dragoon and Wild Arms 2, I'd rather just buy since they are long JRPGs.

What is more compelling though is the offerings of PS+ Extra. I've already started playing Stray and I got Matterfall, Transference, Trials of the Blood Dragon, Erica, Bound and Disaster Report 4 lined up. Most of these games are short experiences that I've been interested in playing (for a long time now actually) but I've not felt like buying them, so this is a great way for me to experience them. Disaster Report 4 is a longer game but I think I'll have time to play it within the coming month. It looks so interesting and different to other games.

There is one PS3 game though that I want to play and that's Papo & Yo. I doubt anyone has heard of it but I remember wanting to play it back in the day but I never got around to doing it. Hopefully I'll have the time to do that now.

In short, I think I might subscribe to PS+ Extra in the future but definitely not Premium again.

I have one question regarding save features on PS+. I know there's cloud storage if you're subscribed to the service, but how do I upload all my save data to the cloud? I want to upload everything from my system's storage at the same time, but from what I can see, you can only upload one save file at a time from the menu and you need to have the game application on the menu. In other words, it doesn't seem like I can upload everything at once. I genuinely don't feel like spending hours popping in game discs just to upload their save files, so I really hope that I'm wrong in thinking that there's no way to upload everything at once.

@LtSarge
On PS4:
Settings>Application Saved Data Management>Saved Data in System Storage>Upload to Online Storage>Press Options then Select Multiple Applications - check all the ones you want to upload your then hit upload

On PS5:
Settings> Saved Data and Game/App Settings>Saved Data (PS5 or PS4)>Console Storage>check boxes of one's to upload>hit upload to cloud storage.

Hope that helps

@sorteddan Huge, huge thanks mate! I completely missed that as I was looking under Storage instead.

This is great though as I lost my save files back in 2018 and I haven't backed anything up since then, so I have hundreds of files that need to be uploaded. Even if my PS4 doesn't die, I can still take advantage of this feature whenever I buy a PS5 and I want to transfer all my PS4 save files there. At that point I won't have any more use of my PS4, so I'm really glad that I'm doing this now. Anyway, thanks again for the help!

@Kidfried (I figured I’d respond over here to keep from detracting from the trophy thread)
I’m glad I could bring the PS+ option to your attention. HFW was recently added so it’s no surprise that it may have gone unnoticed.

I’m still buying some games too, but the Extra catalog is quite impressive, with HFW being an standout new-ish inclusion. It looks like 1 year post-release is going to be a rough timetable for when first party games will be included. I’m sure it will depend on if the game is still selling or not, but I do think HFW was probably still selling, although certainly has dropped off substantially over the last few months.

I’m also sure the tactic is to squeeze out a little more awareness within the ecosystem before Burning Shores DLC releases in a couple weeks. Based on what I’ve heard about the game, the base experience is really long on its own so I don’t expect I’ll need the DLC for a while. Because incidentally, I also have HFW on my “to play soon” list. I think I’ll need to play one or two shorter AA or indie games first before I commit to starting it, but hopefully within the next month or two.

And I’m more than willing to drop $20 for Burning Shores if I’m thoroughly enjoying HFW when I finish it. Something tells me that I’ll probably be fine with just the base game though.

Just a fair warning about the Extra upgrade however, should you choose to go that route — once you upgrade to Extra, I don’t think you can go back to Essential tier until your subscription runs out. So for example if you want to stack another year onto your subscription when PS+ subs next go on sale, you can’t stack a PS+ Essential sub onto your subscription if you’re currently at the Extra level. It’s a minor annoyance, but I’ve been happy with Extra and they keep adding great games on it (they just added the PS5 Legacy of Thieves collection for example which I was going to buy later but now will just play this way. Not to mention the charming looking Tchia, etc.) so I have been fine with stacking Extra subs whenever the PS+ sales occur. I think I added a year of it for $70 when it was last on sale during Black Friday or Days of Play or whatever promotion it was.

Well I've now wrapped up my month of PS+ Premium. I got it during the weekend sale they had where one month only cost €5 and it was so worth it. I managed to finish nine games during this month, which were:

• Stray
• Matterfall
• Transference
• Papo & Yo
• Onee Chanbara Origin
• Trials of the Blood Dragon
• Here They Lie
• Bound
• Erica

Most of which are games that I've been wanting to play for a long time. The highlight from that list is definitely Stray though. Such a great game!

I also got to play some PS5 games through PS+ the first day when I got my PS5, like Returnal and Demon's Souls, which made my first week of having a PS5 even more memorable. It allowed me to transfer all my save files from PS4 to PS5 as well. So I'm really glad that I bought a month. But now I'm also glad that I can return to tackling my physical backlog as it has been growing a lot lately lol.

So, regarding PS++, I’m having a hard time understanding the pattern of first party game inclusion. I’m not sure I follow the logic of what games end up on the service. I thought I had it figured out — My theory has been that Sony would extract max sales from a first party game, and would place it on the service when either:
A) a game’s popularity drops such that it’s not selling, and/or
B) a game has a sequel, DLC, or some kind of microtransaction revenue coming out that offering it would increase potential for the add-on content, and/or
C) PS+ needs a shot in the arm to drum up new subscribers, so needs to make a splash with a big game.

If those are the main reasons, I’m not sure why Spider-Man is being pulled. Perhaps they think that the IP is popular enough that there are still a lot more sales to be made as we approach Spider-Man 2 in a few months and that it doesn’t need the PS+ promotional kick to add awareness.

I had suspected that first party games would probably live on the service in perpetuity after they go on it. But apparently not. I mean, I guess when you insert a huge game that’s only around a year old like HFW, you gotta pull a big game off to keep balance.

It makes no difference to me since I’ve platinum’d both Spidey games already. And otherwise most of the games that have been taken off the service have been low profile and the only games that are on the extermination list for this month that I wanted to try are Last Day of June and Kingdom Come Deliverance. Mostly bummed about KCD but who knows when or if I was ever going to get to it.

@Th3solution I commented on the article that it has made me rethink on trading in my copy of Horizon Forbidden West, as although I've completed it, I may at some point like to try The Burning Shores.

This is one of the negatives of subscription services, but we will just have accept there will some games that will be missed out on. Realistically I'm never going to get round to play all the games I'm interested in that are on the service any way.

@JohnnyShoulder Yeah, there’s dozens of games on the service that I want to try, but I have them prioritized. Like if they said they were pulling Stray or The Quarry then I’d just go ahead and hurry and play them before they get pulled. I do appreciate them giving us a month advance warning.

Some of my comments and campaigning for the value of PS+ Extra haven’t aged well after yesterday’s price increase announcement. The math is now less black and white on whether a subscription is worth it.

I had calculated that if I played at least 3-4 games from the service per year that it was a wash as far as cost. Now that number calculates closer to 5-6 games per year. That’s right at the limit of my current rate of utilization. I’ve played 7 from the service in the last year, and I calculate the cost of having bought those to $150. Given that I actually bought my last sub on sale for around $75, I clearly came out on top. But now… it’s a much smaller potential margin with an annual sub price of $135.

Of course, the value of online play, cloud saves, and the occasional member discount is also in the mix.

Ugh, I think I’ll go ahead and grab another year today for $100 before it goes up to $135. Then I can be more sure that I get solid value.

If Sony puts GoW Ragnarok or The Last of Us Part I on the service soon, then all is forgiven. Or heck, announcing something like Helldivers 2 or Stellar Blade coming to Plus day 1 would be really nice but I seriously doubt that.

@Th3solution
You talked it up
For me, a Brit, the increase isn't so extreme as other regions, around 20%
As I need Essentials for MP Sony have me by the short n curlies, the increase on top of Essentials for the Extra tier is an additional £6. Sony pricing with regards to currencies is really quite strange, games are same as dollar, that Project Q is more in sterling than dollar and PS+ (and PS5, Vr2) are less. (I'm referring to number of dollar v sterling, not that the actual amount when converted).
I'm paid up on Extra till late 24 so they have time to demonstrate their improvements although I suspect there won't be any, servers will still be turned off on a whim (Killzone, Drive club for example).

I will add that one thing I like about the PlayStation community (and this website) is that people don't just accept it, we moan and some take action. Quite interesting that article about the increases, someone said "here are the defenders" and yet there wasn't one single comment, that I read, defending the action.
At the end of the day, the gaming sector needs competition and at the moment Sony do not have that.

@Th3solution I can’t remember paying full price on my sub for years; I tend to tip it up around Black Friday when it can almost always be picked up for around 20% off.

It's a 7 quid increase I believe for a year of Extra in the UK, which I'm fine with and still think offers good value. So I will mostly likely sub again, grabbing a deal in the black Friday sales.
My spending on video games has decreased drastically, and I don't think I've bought one game this year. So am happy to continue with the subscription if I will still be using the service.

The price increase to Premium does seem a bit drastic though, so I wouldn't be too happy if I was subbed to that. But as the benefits hold little interest to me, I doubt I'll ever be subscribing to that service.

I was quite glad my annual subscription renewed last week. I've dropped back to essential after upgrading to Premium for a fiver earlier in the year. Aside from the two games I wanted to play through Premium, it really is utter dross for the price it is and the price increase does it no favours.

Extra isn't bad value for money, I suppose, but I've not been playing anything on it to warrant another annual subscription at that level. Truthfully, if I didn't need PS+ to play games online, I'd unsubscribe from the service altogether. I'd happily pay a lower amount for a lesser subscription that is solely for online play and nothing else.

@CaptD Yes, it has been a fairly universal outcry. I do think Sony may be feeling the heat from this, but they continue to rock in sales though as PS5’s are flying off the shelves. You’re right about a strong Xbox (and also Nintendo, to a lesser degree) is a good thing to put pressure on Sony to stay competitive. I think GamePass has been having decreasing value as well, higher fees and lower quality output. So Sony seems to be following suit.

But yeah, the international pricing is unbalanced, especially with the lack of taking into account the inclusion of VAT over there as opposed to the addition of our taxes at the point of purchase. So there’s an additional 8-10% added when we check out in the U.S.

Furthermore the British VAT is actually 20%, isn’t it? So it you you take that into account, then to know what Sony actually makes from each sale you subtract 20%. So in the example of the PS+ Extra (easy to use this as an example because of the round number) UK players will pay £100 but Sony only receives £80 and the UK government gets £20. Whereas in the US, we pay $135 (£106) all of which goes to Sony. The government’s share is added later. So Sony makes £26 more per subscription from the US consumer.

And I know to an extent it’s not always apples to apples as far as living in the US vs UK or Europe, obviously. And we can’t account for all economic variables. But as a US consumer I can’t help but feel like I’m subsidizing because the VAT is so high, which has nothing to do with me. 😅

@Thrillho Yeah, I also top off my sub during sales. Usually I’ve got a year for $70-80, which as you say is typically around 20% discount. But since the price is going up 35% I reckon topping off now will still be cheaper than the BF sale price in a few months. (Again speaking as a U.S. customer. I think y’all’s price increase is closer to that 20% mark)

@Th3solution
I don't know about the subsidising aspect but I do think other regions are much worse done by then the UK, in this instance. The reason I mentioned the regional pricing was to highlight the inconsitencies with their pricing, when games went to $70 they went from £50 to £70 for us limeys and from €60 to €80 for those in the Eurozone....their pricing structure is all over the shop.

@KAIRU Totally agree.
I do enjoy Extra but if it wasn't for having to pay for Essentials then I wouldn't be subscribed at all

Oooh it is really serious now, it has even made it onto Sky News...
https://news.sky.com/story/cost-of-living-latest-sky-news-blo...

Well count me in as another who will definitely be downgrading their subscription. I was subscribed to PS Now before it became part of PS+ and as part of the move got put on PS+ Premium. As I haven't really been making the most of it I actually planned to move down to Extra when my renewal comes round in Nov.

I usually buy a year when Black Friday comes around as it's typically been the cheapest time to get it so passed up the opportunity to get a discount during the days of play sale, mainly because I can't stack a year of Extra whilst I have an active Premium sub. I was basically going to let it lapse and then pick up a year of Extra at a discount however now even with a discount that will be the same price as if I renewed Premium now.

So I'm pretty much thinking why the hell wait till November to pay the same for a year of Extra as I would be paying to renew Premium now, and in fact as I feel that it's taking the pee a bit I'm just going to not bother with Extra at all and drop down to Essentials with a Black Friday discount and then just go back to buying the games I want to play in a sale at some point. Shame really as I thought their pricing was pretty good up to this point, and really I can't imagine their costs have increased by as much as these price rises suggest. Happy to be proved wrong if they suddenly start to put bigger games on the service but I can't see that happening.

Given the Jim Ryan era history, the prices will go up and nothing will change for the service. Similar, if you like, to the £30 increase in the price of a PS5 that we were forced to suffer in the UK.

I'm on PS+ Extra til Dec 2024 so I'll check out the lay of the land when that approaches. I've loved the PS experience from the original up to and including the PS4 but The Tub o' Lard (my PS5's system name) just leaves me cold. Booted it up the other day, got depressed by the vile UI and turned it off again!
My Pro on the other hand with the PS2 theme just welcomes me every time I start it up.

There was an interesting question posed on SS — whether Sony’s new live service only games which are releasing day 1 on both PC and PS5 will require PS+ to play online. The PC players will have full online functionality without a subscription, so it would be controversial if PS5 will have to be subscribers.

There’s been a precedent that F2P games don’t require PS+ to play online, but any regular purchased game does require it, so with PC in the mix now, it’ll be interesting.

Of course we don’t know which of Helldivers 2, Concord, Fairgames, Marathon, etc. will be actual purchased games or F2P. But I think they all are coming to PC day 1, if I’m not mistaken.

Anyways, it just furthers the quagmire that Sony finds itself in with PS+. Of course, Microsoft has set the precedent with their games and apparently they require Gold membership to play their paid games on Xbox, but not on PC, so I’ll assume Sony follows suit. Not to mention 3rd party games have been this way too, I guess, so maybe it won’t be a big deal.

I do suspect, based on a lot of comments I’m seeing, if Sony would offer a lesser tier of PS+ that is simply ‘online access only’ that many people would downgrade to that (especially now after the price hikes) and Sony would lose a lot of revenue. So it’s not likely to happen.