It's been an odd month for PS Plus subscribers. Not only were the PS Plus free games for August 2021 a bit subpar compared to other months, but there was also the news that PS Plus subscriptions are down compared to last year too. That comes as a shock, given the sheer hot streak PS Plus has been on, but it's not all bad news. While down compared to last year, it's up compared to the previous year, but still, Sony said it might act on this new information.
One way that it may reportedly act on this is a new premium tier for PS Plus that comes with added benefits, like Crunchyroll. All of this remains to be seen, of course, but if Sony is considering shaking up its PS Plus approach, there's one lesson it should learn from Xbox Game Pass and the Epic Games Store.
PS Plus Free Games: Monthly vs. Weekly
On the one hand, PS Plus is perhaps most comparable to Xbox Games with Gold, as its service allow for premium games to be played online and offers a handful of free games monthly. On the other hand, Xbox Games with Gold doesn't have a strong reputation for giving away solid games. That's because, compared to Xbox Game Pass, Games with Gold is looking more like a relic of the past. PS Plus, meanwhile, has kept the similar approach but offered higher quality games to stand out. Outside of unfair comparisons, one reason Xbox Game Pass and Epic Games Store beat PS Plus week-to-week is that they offer a weekly approach.
PS Plus subscribers get to claim their games for a whole month, which is likely beneficial in some ways, but having games released week to week keeps PS Plus more relevant in ongoing discussions. Epic Game Store releases new free games every Thursday, with the next set also revealed on the same day. Xbox Game Pass reveals a slew at a time, but usually there's a couple of games coming every week. PS Plus should mimic this and move away from a monthly-based free game selection to a weekly.
Overall, this means offering more games, as PS Plus should at least target two a week. But there's clearly something in there it could do, perhaps offering one PS5 game for the whole month and adding one big game and one niche game every week to keep subscribers checking in and downloading games. This approach would also prevent it from burning out on big games so quickly. The downside would only be that all the free games can't be claimed in one month, but it stands to reason that subscribers download the games they want as soon as they can. Either way, it would make PS Plus more comparable to Game Pass and Epic Games Store than Games with Gold, and that would likely be a good thing.
PS Plus subscribers get a handful of free games every month.
