There are plenty of rumors making the internet rounds regardingPlayStation’s “answer” to Xbox Game Pass, Project Spartacus. The current report, according to Bloomberg, is thatSony will be replacing its PS Plus and PS Now subscription serviceswith a tiered system that merges the two while also providing other benefits. It seems to be generally agreed upon by multiple sources that Project Spartacus will include the ability to play classic PS1, PS2, and PS3 titles.
If Project Spartacus truly wants to compete with Xbox Game Pass, however, it will need to include first-party titles the day they release, just like Xbox does with its IPs. Unfortunately, it seems extremely unlikely that Sony would ever consider doing that, at least for the time being given the differences between the ways that the two companies market their consoles and their first-party titles. It’s certainly possible that Sony could throw a curveball and include them on day one with the revamped service, but, based on how it’s handled things with the release of thePlayStation 5, fans shouldn’t get their hopes too high.
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Sony’s First-Party Studio Prestige
It could be that Sony seesXbox’s devotion to launching its games on Game Passas devaluing them, which is something that it would likely want to avoid given how much emphasis the company has put on its experiences being seen as prestige gaming. There’s nothing wrong with either approach, but it does seem to indicate which way that Sony will lean when it finally comes time to reveal Project Spartacus and its stance on first-party launches.
