Yesterday, Sony announced the new PS5 and PS4 games joining the PS Plus subscription as part of the ‘Essential’ and up tier – High on Life, Payday 3 (yikes), and Pac-Man World Re-Pac. These are the titles that subscribers can keep forever (as long as users claim the games in a timely fashion and keep their subscriptions active).
But, in the PS5’s now five-year-long lifespan, there’s always been a nagging worry at the back of our minds. When would Sony finally stop catering to the PS4 fanbase, and focus solely on PS5 titles? This model has potentially harmed an all-PS5 line-up of games for years, even if they are technically playable on current-gen hardware.
Well, friends, we finally have our answer.
Just not the one you’re looking for
In a blog post where Sony unveiled the slate for February 2025, PlayStation offered up an update. Unfortunately, it’s not an answer we were thrilled to hear. Sony confirmed that starting January 2026, it will “focus on offering PS5 titles through the Monthly Games and Game Catalog benefit.”
That’s… a year away – and brings us a whole year closer to Sony’s next big thing: the PS6. Rumours are currently swirling around the release of Sony’s next next-gen console, which will likely target a 2027 release date. Why has Sony continued to offer last-gen games on a continually more expensive service this late into the life cycle?
The answer is money, which has so far clouded Sony’s judgement, even in the writing of this recent blog post. It continues: “As we shift to PS5, PS4 games will no longer be a key benefit and will only be occasionally offered for PlayStation Plus Monthly Games and Game Catalog starting January 2026. We may still provide titles that can be playable on both PS4 and PS5 consoles after this date.”
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It’s true that the transition from the PS3 to PS4 experienced a similarly long wait before Sony finally called it quits and stopped including the former’s titles in the line-up in 2019 – six years after the release of the PS4. But with the ever-increasing price of PS Plus (now R950/year for even the cheapest ‘Essential’ tier), Sony has kept the value of its offerings the same, with no changes in quality. Until 2026, that is.
It’s worth mentioning that your current PS4 games will not disappear, even if you haven’t yet made the jump to PS5 hardware. They will continue to live on in your library forever, but will only be playable while your subscription is active.
