Rumors on Sony’s PlayStation Plus Revamp

It’s looking very likely that Sony will unveil a huge revamp of the PlayStation Plus service at E3.

Reports from various sources have suggested that Sony’s E3 press conference, scheduled for Monday 4^th June, is likely to involve a huge chunk on the forthcoming change to Plus.

The changes are aimed at bringing more people to Sony’s premium games service by offering a pretty sizable amount of rewards, possibly with tiers of varying prices.

Bonuses are likely to include high-tiered titles for free, along with full integration with the PS Vita. Plus on the Vita will feature Vita exclusive games and DLC, along with cloud services, meaning saves will be backed up without having to connect to a PC or PS3.

PlayStation Plus is currently priced at $49.99 a year, or $17.99 for three months. The service allows access to hour-long full game trials, automatic updates, cloud game saving, discounts and early access to content. Sony value the savings associated with an account as being worth $1200 a year.

Sony hasn’t yet commented officially on what exactly the update is going to entail, but Ross McGrath, the PlayStation Plus content manager, has a Twitter page currently alive with a flurry of activity hinting at exciting changes.

“If you’re disappointed, you can call me rude words in public all year long, that’s fair right?” one tweet, in reference to Plus, reads.

Earlier this month, Sony circulated a survey that gave gamers the chance to pick a favorite from multiple choices of subscription plan at varying costs. One option offered 61 new “A” quality games a year, with a PS3 release every week. Sony’s suggested price was set at $7.99 a month, with options for three-month and yearly price plans also available.

Another price plan offered 80 games a year, at “C” and “B” quality, for $10 a month. The titles included in this plan would be at least a year old, though would include 10 full PS3 titles a week.

The revamp of the PlayStation Plus is the first of a whole host of improvements to Sony’s PlayStation Network across multiple devices this year. There are murmurs of a new PlayStation Store that will enable users to make purchases from PC.

Rumors around Sony’s cloud gaming service point to use of either the OnLive or Gaikai servers, though neither company will make much comment on the issue. A deal of sorts between Sony and these companies may well be announced at E3 but it mightn’t even be anything to do with cloud saving and could well be something entirely different. Gaikai have given one small statement that reading “some major announcements in store for E3 that have the potential to change the future of video games, game consoles and how we play”.