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PlayStation Head Says PS Plus Day 1 Releases Would Hurt First-Party Games

By Noam Radcliffe

Sony's President and CEO Jim Ryan explains the decision not to include day-one releases of first-party games in the new PS Plus.
Sony's President and CEO Jim Ryan explains the decision not to include day-one releases of first-party games in the new PS Plus. / Alex Wong/GettyImages

PlayStation revealed its answer to Xbox Game Pass on Tuesday, and as previously reported, the new PS Plus will not offer day one access to Sony's major first-party releases.

This is a significant departure from the Game Pass model, which has made huge releases such as Halo Infinite and Psychonauts 2 available through Game Pass the same day they were released for purchase.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Sony executive Jim Ryan said this decision came out of worry that day one PS Plus releases would hurt the quality of the games in question.

"We feel like we are in a good virtuous cycle with the studios," he said, "where the investment delivers success, which enables yet more investment, which delivers yet more success. We like that cycle and we think our gamers like that cycle."

"[When it comes to] putting our own games into this service, or any of our services, upon their release... We feel if we were to do that with the games that we make at PlayStation Studios, that virtuous cycle will be broken. The level of investment that we need to make in our studious would not be possible, and we think the knock-on effect on the quality of the games that we make would not be something that gamers want."

PlayStation Plus offers three tiers of subscriptions: PlayStation Plus Essential, PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Premium. Each offers ascending levels of bonuses at correspondingly ascending price points, and at the Extra tier subscribers get access to a vast library of PS4 and PS5 games they can download at will. The Premium tier adds another huge collection of games from previous PlayStation generations.

Ryan left open the possibility Sony might change its mind regarding day one releases in the future.

"The way the world is changing so very quickly at the moment, nothing is forever," he said, pointing to cornerstone PlayStation IP such as Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War being released on PC as a significant and recent development.

"The way our publishing model works right now, it doesn't make any sense. But things can change very quickly in this industry, as well know."

The new PlayStation Plus launches in June.

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