In 1977, Kenner was ambushed flat due to demand star Wars Kids Games. They didn’t have any product in the pipeline for their first Star Wars birthday. So the Game Maker did the best thing it could: Kenner literally sold a backup. And the that Sold like crazy, too.
Well, nearly 45 years later, isn’t this where Sony finds itself, too? Analysts, critics and angry fans can argue about the kind of consumer demand the company should have been able to anticipate – or meet, during the pandemic – on PlayStation 5. Nobody would object that the console is a holiday game. And therefore in September, The company announced a brand IOU for anyone committed to purchasing one: The PlayStation Plus Collection.
Twenty games in total, 10 from Sony’s Worldwide Studios, and 10 of its biggest friends at AAA Games. Ten in the PlayStation Plus online collection of games have been introduced before, and 10 of them have not. But you need PS5 to get these PS4 games, even if you’ve been a PlayStation Plus subscriber since day one and have an intention to keep doing so on the new Sony hardware.
It really highlights how Sony sees PlayStation Plus, and why this software doesn’t face the kind of existential crisis Xbox Live games with gold seem to go through every month. Of course, a large part of this is simply because Sony doesn’t bundle PS Plus and PlayStation Now, its on-demand gaming service, and the way Microsoft is aggressively pushing Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass together.
It’s also that Xbox Live Gold (in 2005) started selling you Something you need – Multiplayer online. With free multiplayer on PlayStation 3 in 2010, PlayStation Plus had to start as a thing You want. After that, Sony confirmed that you want to keep it.
PlayStation Plus is making a drastic change, by removing the monthly time limit for claiming games. Once you purchase the PlayStation 5, the 20 games will be yours to download and install, whenever you want, as long as you are a PS Plus subscriber. Obviously, that’s fine. But it raises the question somewhat if Sony might consider doing so in the future, or for select titles. Good to catch if you missed, for example Bloodborne In March 2018. But do we really need all the FOMO to audit and add to our libraries every month?
It’s impossible to say if Sony will remove this single button press, to confirm that you want something free. Hardly a month after launching the console, after all, the Bogusnax (Also redeemable on bond until January 4) It is the first PS5 game in service. And of course, there are a lot of people who still want their consoles to be filled with their 20 free games.
But the PS Plus still faces an expectation of change as a new piece of hardware uses it. In the absence of the PS Plus Collection, the list of free games for 2020 was still twenty strong games, big in terms of name recognition and long play value. But they were often paired with big names that were poorly reviewed or did not age well. It surprised me to see the group come in at the same average Metascore as Xbox Live shows, partly why we mention this score but we’re removing it now.
The other thing that’s limiting PlayStation Plus’ value in 2020 is the theme that recycled content from the PlayStation Now subscription service. In 2020, seven PlayStation Plus titles were available in the PlayStation Now library (at the time this post was published), with the other two removed from PS Now just prior to its inclusion on PS Plus. For those who purchase both services separately, it’s annoying to see games in your library labeled PS Now when you’re sure you have them on PS Plus.
The PlayStation Plus collection definitely feels like a home game for those who have a PS5. For the rest of us, it’s more like doubling the base. Solid strength, but we’re waiting for the runner to come home from runners-up before party.
2020 in review
In all, there were 28 games in the PlayStation Plus online game collection for 2020 (not counting PlayStation Plus suite of PS5 owners), with an average Metacritic score of 74.8 and a combined retail price of $ 789.72 (taken from PlayStation Store at publication. Time of this analysis).
The average metacritic is Down 2.9 points from 2019, And the compact MSRP is $ 104.96 less. (Last year it showed 32 games, and for several years before that, the average PS Plus Metacritic score has been hit by outdated titles on the PS Vita and PS3, which the service discontinued support in 2019.)
We’ll start detailing offers month by month. All games are playable on PlayStation 4 except for one. Bogusnax. One game, Firewall: zero hour, It is PlayStation VR only. All of them are listed on Metacritic and their ages (time of availability).
January
- Goat simulator (58, 4.4 years old)
- Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection (86, 4.25 years)
Looks like we’ve only seen these games before. Three in The Nathan Drake Collection They were played individually on PS Plus, and on PlayStation 3. Here they are all in one place, redesigned for PlayStation 4.
February
- Bioshock: the group (84, 3.4 years)
- Firewall: zero hour (79, 1.4 years old)
- The Sims 4 (66, 2.2 years)
With Bioshock: the group next The Nathan Drake CollectionTechnically, we started 2020 with nine games – more than one of the gold games offered until February.
March
- shadow of the Colossus (91, 2.1 years)
- Sonic powers (57, 2.3 years old)
Another month, another remaster. At this point, everyone should have three copies of shadow of the Colossus, right?
April
- Dirt Rally 2.0.2 update (84, 1.1 years)
- Anonymous 4A thief‘send (93, 3.9 years)
With so much of the first-party firepower that led the year of Sony, Dirt Rally 2.0.2 update She explains that PS Plus also has strong third-party relationships and can get them to provide their latest games as well.
May
- Cities: Skylines (91, 2.1 years)
- Farming simulator 19 (64, 1.46 years)
Who knows if they planned it this way, but giving Sony the means to do normal activities we took for granted, as the reality of the pandemic was already hitting home, was a nice touch.
June
- Call of duty: World War II (79, 2.6 years old)
- Star Wars Battlefront 2 (68, 2.5 years old)
DICE support for Battlefront 2 About a month before that, there’s no doubt it was a much different game – and a lot more value to the player – than it was when it launched in 2017.
July
- NBA 2K20 (78, 8 months)
- The rise of Tomb Raider (88, 3.7 years old)
- Erica (69, day and date)
NBA 2K20 It is another game whose rating has been affected due to its micro-transactions practices and community fatigue with them. The basketball game still manages to disappear for months of your time, and it comes to life as the league returns to play after the COVID-19 lockdown.
August
- Call of duty Modern Warfare 2 campaign Remastered (71, 3.75 years old)
- Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (81, launch day and date)
Felt like 2015 again, when Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout It launched on PS Plus and took summer, just like Rocket League Act. Game like Fall guys It needs a massive audience from day one to become a phenomenon, so you can attribute PlayStation Plus a huge help in its success in Game of the Year.
September
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (72, 1.75 years old)
- Street Fighter 5 (77, 4.5 years old)
PUBG It was added to PlayStation Now in December 2019 and Street Fighter 5 July 2020. Who knows how large the overlap is between the PS Now and PS Plus groups, but that was definitely noted.
October
- The need for rapid recovery (61, 2.9 years)
- Vampire (70, 2.3 years old)
Vampire It was a Halloween pick just in time – and boy, that is October GwG wasYou know they’d love to get it back. It left Xbox Game Pass again in March.
November
- Bogusnax (PS5, 79, launch day and date)
- Hollow Knight: Voidheart version (85, 2.1 years)
- Middle Earth: Shadow of War (80, 3.1 years)
Thanks for the free PlayStation 5 game, Sony! Now we just need something to play with … Middle Earth: Shadow of War It is another open world game from 60 to 80 hours worth being lost in.
PlayStation Plus Collection
- Batman: Arkham Knight (87 years old, 5.39 years old at subtraction)
- Battlefield 1 (89, 4.06 years)
- Bloodborne (92, 5.64 years old)
- Call of Duty Black Ops 3 – Zombie Chronicles (78, 5.02 years)
- The Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (80, 3.37 years)
- Days passed (71, 1.55 years)
- Detroit: Be a human (78, 2.47 years old)
- Fallout 4 (87, 5 years)
- Final Fantasy Fifteenth (81, 3.95)
- God of War (94, 2.57 years)
- The infamous second son (80, 6.65 years)
- Monster Hunter: The World (90, 2.80 years)
- Mortal Kombat X. (83, 5.58 years old)
- Person 5 (93, 3.61 years old)
- Ratchet and clank (85, 4.59 years)
- vampire 7: Biological Hazard (86, 3.80 years)
- The last guard (82, 3.93 years)
- The last of us Remastered (95, 6.29 years)
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (93, 4.51 years)
- Until dawn (79, 5.22 years)
We know MSRP can be replaceable when evaluating these things, but still, as listed on the PlayStation Store today, it will cost you $ 474.80 to replace this bundle. Yes, these are PS4 games for PS5, but even if you take Metacritic as just a microcosm of the game’s general respectability, it’s still 10 points higher than the rest of the 2020 no-slouch catalog,
Dec
- Just a reason 4 (65, 1.9 years)
- Arena missile (68, 5 months)
- Worms clatter (70, launch day and date)
I must say, it was exciting to watch Microsoft and Sony walk around Just a reason 4. Chosen by Xbox Game Pass in March 2019. It left service on February 29, 2020. A month later, it joined PlayStation Now. Then it ended the year as a free gift on PS Plus. She made it three out of four for 2020, after being totally shy of games with gold in the Grand Slam, I think.
By the numbers
(This does not include the PS Plus Collection as it is limited to PlayStation 5 ownership.)
Average score: 74.8
Average MSRP: $ 28.20
Average life: 2 years and 4 months
Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment: Four titles (Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection, Firewall: Zero Hour, Shadow of the Colossus, And the Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End). Three more – all launched daily and on date on PS4 – that were console exclusives (Bugsnax, Rumble Worms, And the Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout).
Publisher with the most titles: Unlike SIE, Electronic Arts, with four (Sims 4, Star Wars Battlefront 2, The need for speed RepaymentAnd and Arena missile) They were all available on EA Play at the time of their release.
Featured on Games With Gold or PlayStation Plus Earlier: Only one title was previously offered on Xbox Live Games With Gold: Goat simulator, In 2016. None of the PS Plus 2020 titles have appeared in the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection before, although there are games from the Uncharted and BioShock series shown for the PS3, and shadow of the ColossusThe PS3 remaster was released in October 2013. The game here is the new version for 2018.
Appear on Xbox Game Pass: Five of them were in the library at the time of publication: Middle Earth: Shadow of War, Hollow Knight: Void Hart Edition, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Cities: Skylines And the Goat simulator. Five others were on Game Pass, three of them removed before it was shown on PS Plus (Vampire, Just Cause 4, And the rise of The Tomb rider) And two after that (Dirt Rally 2.0, NBA 2K20).
Appear on PlayStation Now: Seven titles were listed in the PlayStation Now library at time of publication: Cities: Skylines, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Vampyr, Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition, Shadow of the Colossus, Farming Simulator 19, Just Cause 4, And the Street Fighter 5. Two PS Now removed before they appeared on PS Plus: Middle Earth: Shadow of War And the Uncharted: A Thief’s End.
The total value: $ 789.72 (MSRP taken from PlayStation Store at time of publication)
