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PS Plus Premium Game Trials Could Be a Game Changer

The rumored addition of timed game trials to PS Plus' Premium tier could help the service become an essential part of the PlayStation ecosystem.

After months of speculation and fan-theorizing, details on Sony’s plans for PlayStation Plus are slowly starting to emerge. In terms of official press releases, the platform holder has announced that the subscription service’s new multi-tiered format will roll out in select Asian markets from May 23. From there, the rest of the world’s PS4 and PS5 owners will gradually get access to the new Essential, Extra, and Premium tiers throughout the month of June.

While a sense of cautious anticipation has started to build thanks to Sony’s official reports, several alleged insider leaks regarding PS Plus’ future have stolen the publisher's thunder. Hints from a South Korean rating agency that point to Syphon Filter’s return via the service have especially gotten fans excited. News this week that the rebooted subscription service will seemingly offer select game trials as a bonus perk shouldn’t be ignored, though. If the report turns out to be accurate, the concept could become a key selling point for the new-look PS Plus.

Game Trials Explained

Considering how there’s been no official confirmation from Sony itself yet, the report that suggests games trials will be a part of PS Plus should be taken with a pinch of salt right now. In recent months, reputable leaks regarding the future of PlayStation trophies have yet to materialize into reality, for example. If the sources at the heart of the leak are eventually proven to be right, and Sony goes ahead with its plan, the addition of game trials to the subscription service could become one of its centerpiece features.

It appears that at some point in the future, Sony will allow subscribers of PlayStation Plus’ Premium tier to access select game trials. These extended trials are said to last for at least 2 hours, which should give players enough time to become acquainted with what each game offers on a fundamental level. What’s more, every studio that creates a title with a wholesale value of over $34 will be mandated by Sony to allow a trial of its game to be available via PS Plus within 3 months of its initial release.

The wholesale part of that stipulation could prove to be significant, as in most cases, that number is far lower than what consumers are eventually charged at retail. In any event, most AAA games should still fall under Sony’s new PS Plus requirements. Crucially, it should be noted that older games and PS VR titles seemingly won’t be forced to comply with the change in policy, though. If a follow-up leak is to be believed, Sony's PlayStation Store team itself will create the trials, which should take pressure off of the studios involved.

Based on how Sony has handled game trials in the past, it’s easy to believe that the publisher is exploring the idea in the present. In recent times, Sony has experimented with select trials for PS4 and PS5 games after all, with the added caveat that players had to download and play the title in the same countdown timer. By a similar token, game trials were also originally a part of PlayStation Plus when it debuted on the PS3 back in 2010. From a features and scope perspective, it’s clear from the above info that the newly proposed concept is far more expansive than anything else that’s been available on the platform.