What is Spartacus? Everything we know about PlayStation’s answer to Xbox Game Pass

What is Spartacus? Everything we know about PlayStation's reply to Xbox Game Pass

Playstation 5 controller with Playstation Plus Collection on screen, selective focus.

(Image credit: Miguel Lagoa | Shutterstock)

Ever since Microsoft launched Xbox Game Laissez passer, rumors and speculation have been swirling that Sony would launch a competing service. A yr after the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, we're now hearing rumblings of just such a subscription service,

Sony is reportedly working on a new subscription service that will compete straight with Xbox Game Pass. The news comes from Bloomberg, which states that Sony's new subscription service — codenamed Spartacus — will offer PlayStation fans the same type of experience as Microsoft'southward Xbox Game Pass, according to documents provided to Bloomberg past anonymous sources at Sony.

The report doesn't detail everything we tin wait from Spartacus — and the source did claim things were subject to change — just there is some information that long-fourth dimension PlayStation fans should be thoroughly excited about.

Hither's everything we know and so far nigh PlayStation's upcoming subscription service, codenamed Spartacus.

What is Spartacus?

Spartacus would compete straight with Xbox Game Pass, which is a subscription service from Microsoft that allows gamers to pay a monthly fee to access hundreds of games via Xbox or PC. This includes all first-party titles on day-one and a large variety of AAA and indie titles from third-party publishers.

In its reported effort to create a similar service, Sony would opt to merge its existing PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now plans into a unmarried subscription under the former's name. Nether this theory, PlayStation At present would exist phased out in order for Spartacus to take its identify.

PlayStation Plus offers players access to competitive online gaming and a handful of free games each calendar month, while PlayStation Now is a streaming and download service that features a selection of classic and mod games. Unfortunately for Sony, the latter'south high cost and somewhat impuissant implementation has consistently held it dorsum from becoming anywhere near as popular as Xbox Game Pass, which began the year with 18 million subscribers.

Like PlayStation Now, Spartacus would include PS4 and PS5 titles for subscribers to play, just it's also said to feature admission to a much larger selection of classic games from PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP. It's likewise expected to expand PlayStation cloud gaming and offering a variety of demos.

What will Spartacus cost?

Pricing hasn't been revealed for Spartacus, merely the documents obtained past Bloomberg exercise outline three planned tiers of the service. Once again, these are bailiwick to modify.

The offset tier would be the standard PlayStation Plus subscription, which, as of right now, is $60/twelvemonth. This would go along to grant players the ability to play their games online and download a scattering of free titles Sony gives away with the service each calendar month.

The second tier would aggrandize upon PlayStation Plus by adding a drove of PS4 and eventually PS5 titles. It isn't confirmed whether this would include twenty-four hour period one availability of first-party titles on the service, though Sony has never been too fond of that idea in the by.

The third tier would add in admission to a growing catalog of classic PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP games. It would also bring streaming and more than substantial demos to the service.

Unfortunately, we don't take any information on the pricing of the final two tiers, nor is it known at this point if Sony will provide players with an opportunity to purchase any of these features separately from PlayStation Plus.

At the moment, our all-time guess is that Sony would want to stay close to Game Laissez passer' current pricing to remain competitive. Currently, Game Pass costs $9.99/month for panel or PC just, and doesn't include Xbox Live, which grants users the power to play online. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate costs $14.99/month and does permit users both PC and panel play, too as Xbox Live access. Generally, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is seen as the better overall value.

Currently, PlayStation Plus costs $9.99/calendar month. We wouldn't exist surprised if Sony sticks to this cost for the base of operations tier of Spartacus. Every bit for the second and third tier, Sony will likely accuse more. How much more is anyone's guess. We'd exist surprised if the third tier, which includes Sony'due south back catalogue of archetype PlayStation content, were to exceed $14.99/calendar month.

When is the Spartacus release date?

Seeing as Sony hasn't formally announced Spartacus, there'south no way to be entirely certain when the visitor volition finally share the news with the globe, if even at all. Even so, the Bloomberg report claims that the service is anticipated to go alive in the beginning three months of 2022.

Spartacus outlook

Spartacus is shaping up to be exactly what Sony needs to compete with Xbox Game Laissez passer. Already, Xbox Game Pass is proving to be a huge value-add for Microsoft, and information technology'south only going to get more than competitive as Bethesda'south suite of now-exclusive titles showtime hitting Xbox and PC, leaving PS5 gamers behind.

Not just that, Xbox is finally gaining concur in Japan, a marketplace that's long eluded the American console maker. According to a contempo report by The Gamer, i reason for the Xbox's newfound popularity there has to do with Game Pass. That said, given the limited knowledge nosotros have about Sony'southward new service, we can't be sure if it will bring with it the same level of attending and care that Microsoft has given Game Pass.

Before this year, we explained how Game Pass worked and why it'south the future of gaming. Even then, it's not quite growing at the rate Microsoft was expecting. While in January of this year, Microsoft did reveal it had 18 million subscribers, it missed its goal of growing by 48% in the fiscal year ending on June 30. So it's yet not entirely certain if the current Netflix model will necessarily work for gaming. It took Netflix a lot of time and resources to sit comfortably at 214 million paid subscribers.

However, if Spartacus is priced reasonably and brings along a solid choice of retro titles for backward compatibility enthusiasts, at that place'southward no doubt that Sony could very well have on Microsoft'southward in the subscription pass arena.

Billy Givens is a journalist with nearly two decades of feel in editing and writing across a broad variety of topics. He focuses particularly on games coverage for Tom'southward Guide and other sites including From Gamers Magazine, Retroware, Game Rant and TechRaptor. He's too written for cocky-improvement sites such equally Lifehack and produced in-depth analyses on subjects such as health, psychology and amusement.