PlayStation executive reiterates stance to release games as Premium titles first

A PlayStation executive has reiterated the platform’s stance on releasing its games as premium titles first.

• READ MORE: New PlayStation Plus launches in Europe – here are the biggest games available

This summer, the revamped PlayStation Plus tiered system launched in Europe, Australia and New Zealand – its last regions to go live – with Essential, Extra and Premium tiers offering a number of differing benefits that stack the higher players go.

As part of the launch, Essential subscribers get the current PlayStation Plus offerings, whilst Extras will also get a number of PS4 and PS5 games, with Premium subscribers getting game trials and classic games on top of that.

After discussion about what tier new games would initially be released through, PlayStation’s Head of Independent Developer Initiatives, Shuhei Yoshida, shed some light on the situation during a recent talk.

Speaking at the GI Live 2022 event last week (September 21), Yoshida said: “We believe in the premium release of titles at launch.

“The new PS Plus has tiers and essentially it’s like the old PS Plus, we still release two or three new games every month, and a new tier, Extra, has a catalogue of hundreds of games for people to play. For Extra, our approach [is] we like to help the publishers [with] lifecycle management.”

He added: “I was managing first-party [at PlayStation] so I know that it’s like in the movies — a movie comes out at the theatre first, then goes to pay per view, or a subscription service, or free TV, every time generating new revenue and reaching out to a broader audience.

“In the same kind of way, we believe in the premium release of a title at launch and after maybe six months, or three months, or three years, when the game’s sales come down, inclusion into this service, PS Plus Extra, can help introduce these games to new, broader audiences.”

Yoshida concluded: “Some people might have missed these games when they came out and it’s a great chance to play and generate word-of-mouth or if there’s DLC or a sequel going, we can help elevate interest to a broader audience about the franchise. So we are encouraging publishers to make use of these services in managing the lifecycle of each title.”

Read NME‘s guide to the free options on PS Plus for September 2022 here.

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