PlayStation Plus is a household name at this point in the PlayStation’s legacy, but it wasn’t always that way. Having only just emerged during the PS3 era, it is a younger program than it’s closest equivalent, Xbox Live, but one could argue that it’s a far better value. Clearly, the concept works because Xbox Live adopted a similar approach. Of course we’re not here to talk about the past or the present, we’re here to talk about the future. We’ll start today’s glimpse into the infinite number of possible futures by first examining the evolution of PlayStation Plus, from it’s first steps on the PS3, to its current state on the PS4. From there, we’ll look to the PS5 and see where this service could be going in the future. With each new feature it seems to gain popularity. With 10.9 million subscribers as of January 2015, it’s also not going anywhere anytime soon. From Awesome, to Even More Awesome: the PS+ Journey Thus Far At its core, PlayStation Plus (abbreviated as PS+) is a PlayStation Network subscription service that acts like a V.I.P program of sorts, providing users with premium features. This began quite simply, with a pre-chosen free game offered each month on both the home and handheld consoles. In addition, users could take advantage of cloud storage for their save files, up to 3GB of space in total per user. This made transferring or duplicating saved data simple and easy for members. The service was immediately lauded for offering high-quality titles each month. At only $50 for an entire year, the value was impossible not to see. What’s more is that multiplayer was free on PS3, so people weren’t forced to buy a subscription if they wanted to play online like another popular console of the time did. The name escapes me, it starts with an “x” and rhymes with Xbox 360. Doesn’t matter, the service was off to a great start. Online gaming wasn’t quite up to par on the PS3 though, but that would be remedied soon. Enter the PS4 and with it, some awesome changes to the PS+ formula. For starters, subscribers now enjoy two free games each month on each of the three Sony consoles. That’s six games total each month! PS4 does require PS+ to play online, but the entire network is much, much better as a result of the paid funding for maintenance. Meanwhile, Xbox has started offering free games each month for gold subscribers. Can’t imagine they were getting any flak for charging people to play online while Sony’s dropping the free titles left and right. Most recently is the addition of yet another feature called Vote to Play. This new program offers players a set of games to choose from each month. Players vote and the winner is one of the free titles on the next month’s list. The others still go on sale for a discounted price for PS+ members so it’s win-win. So, given this new program, … Read More