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26th Mar 2022

PlayStation’s rival Game Pass service could launch next week

Danny Jones

Playstation's Game Pass service could launch next week

Project Spartacus could be just around the corner

PlayStation‘s Game Pass competitor could reportedly be arriving as early as next week, according to insiders close to the project.

As per Bloomberg‘s Jason Schreier and Takashi Mochizuki, people close to the plans – known only by the codename ‘Spartacus’ thus far – have intimated that the subscription-based set to rival Xbox’s highly popular Game Pass could be inbound any day now.

Speaking anonymously on the confidential project, sources state that Sony’s equivalent will debut with a “splashy lineup of hit games from recent years” which will combine its two current subscription-based offerings, PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus.

While PS Plus has essentially become a necessary purchase for online PlayStation gamers in the past decade (Sony switched from free online multiplayer to a system similar to Xbox Live in 2013), it is fair to say that the availability of titles on PS Now is no way near that of Game Pass, which boasts more than 25 million users.

Moreover, Documents obtained by the outlet in 2021 showed the most expensive tier of PlayStation’s rival subscription service will also give players access to extended demos and the ability to stream games over the internet.

A spokesperson for Sony refused to comment on Spartacus at the time but rumblings of its development back in December and many players have been crying out for such a service for some time.

While it is expected that Sony will not drop its biggest upcoming exclusives like God of War: Ragnarök and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, nor are AAA third-party titles expected to be made immediately available – the same often goes for Microsoft – the service will help match one of the selling points may feel the Xbox has over the PS5.

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