PS Plus is a subscription service that is constantly flipping through patterns, but one of its most consistent comes alongside the March. Sony's PS Plus free game patterns in the past have included one big game and one niche game for releases, PS5 games being available for two months' time, and a lot of really good games ahead of the PS5's release. However, due to the nature of the subscription and the industry, these usually last for a few months before Sony moves on. But the fan-dubbed PS Plus "Big March" pattern has lasted at least since 2018.
In fact, while fans can currently claim a superb lineup the PS Plus free games for January 2023 (Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Axiom Verge 2, and Fallout 76) and a whole slew of games were added to PS Plus Extra and Premium, they may not hold a candle to what Sony offers in March.
The PS Plus Free Games for March Pattern
The PS Plus 'Big March' pattern is pretty self-explanatory. Not only does Sony release big, sometimes genre-defining games on PS Plus every March, but they tend to be among, if not exactly, the very best offer within that calendar year. This can be traced back to 2018, meaning the pattern has held strong for four years and could be coming to five now. March 2018, for example, stands out because it added 6 games, with Ratchet and Clank and Bloodborne. If nothing else, Bloodborne is one of the most beloved games in FromSoftware's catalog and is considered by many to be the best game of the PS4 generation.
March 2019, a year later, offered Call of Duty Modern Warfare Remastered and The Witness. The latter ranks in the top 5 percentile of games scored on OpenCritic, while the former had timing to its advantage. Not only is Modern Warfare itself a solid game and beloved entry in the longrunning franchise, but it was a hype train for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) later that year. The headlining game for March 2020 was Shadow of the Colossus, the Bluepoint Games remake, which itself gathered a plethora of great reviews and saw a renewed push for Bluepoint Games' remake skills to be applied to other games.
March 2021 came in with a wide variety of PS Plus games to claim, with perhaps the biggest being Final Fantasy 7 Remake. It's hard to compete with Cloud, but the month featured Farpoint VR for those who enjoy VR games and Remnant: From the Ashes, which is a third-person shooter that some have called "Dark Souls with Guns." This month may have had a little extra on top of it, but its inclusion of Final Fantasy 7 Remake made it one of the best PS Plus months of 2021. Then, 2022 followed the same high-spectacle, variety approach with the PS Plus games including ARK: Survival Evolved, Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, Ghostrunner, and Team Sonic Racing. All of these games speak for themselves, with the only real improvement that could've happened is including the entire Ghost of Tsushima experience instead of just the multiplayer counterpart.
Why the PS Plus Games for March 2023 Have to Raise This Bar
Whether it was an individual game that catapulted the month, like Bloodborne or Shadow of the Colossus, or a month when the quality and variety outshined all competitors (like 2021 and 2022), March has a pattern of being one of the best PS Plus months every year. However, this year is different. Because the new PS Plus tiers released in summer 2022, March had already passed, so this year will be the first set of PS Plus Extra and Premium releases with the 'Big March' pattern in mind. It's hard to imagine how Sony could outperform itself with these release, as every month features a ton of strong games, so it's possible that Extra and Premium see the end of this pattern. They could also be largely ignored and still focus on releasing great free games for the PS Plus essential tier.
On the other hand, if Sony somehow raises the bar for this pattern yet again, the PS Plus games for March could go down not just as the best month of the year, but the best month in the past several years. It has that potential, at the very least, as Sony made waves with 3-6 games. The 3 PS Plus free games given away in March, combined with the double-digit releases of Extra and Premium, could truly make March 2023 one to remember, but for now, all fans can do is wait and see.
PS Plus subscribers get a handful of games every month.
