PlayStation Plus is both one of the video game industry's most popular and most controversial subscription services. PS Plus subscribers are constantly discussing the value of the games given out as part of the service, balancing the value of the games provided with the worth of a required subscription necessary to play online games on PlayStation platforms. A new chart shared on Reddit aims to help PS Plus subscribers decide on their own whether they're getting their money's worth from the service.

The chart in question, shared by Reddit user HarryNohara, does a clever thing quite simply. It takes all of the games offered through PlayStation Plus in 2021 and then tracks their "real value." They do this through three columns measuring each game's lowest price on the PlayStation Store, its lowest all-time price on the PlayStation Store, and its "Lowest Base," which assumedly means its lowest price without taking temporary discounts into account.

According to the chart, a yearlong subscription to PlayStation Plus in 2021 provided the value of purchasing 35 games, if only measuring their lowest discounted prices, of $601.75. That's identical to their lowest price of all time. If users paid full price for all 35 games in 2021, their value would be $1,302.15. In other words, through an agnostic measurement of value, PS Plus offers around 10-times the value of a $59.99 12-month subscription.



Of course, PlayStation Plus subscribers know that's a completely silly way to measure true value. That's because most PS Plus subscribers don't want many if not most of the games given to them, nor will they play all of the games they do think are interesting. A better measurement would be for each individual subscriber to go down the list and sum up the value of the games they played. Or, even better, the games they played, enjoyed, and believe they would have purchased otherwise.

A true measurement of value likely sees each PlayStation Plus subscriber perhaps has absolutely nothing to do with the free games at all, but rather the amount of time and enjoyment they receive from playing online games on PlayStation platforms. The free games are, in many ways, Sony's way of obfuscating that it requires PS Plus to play online games at all.

Still, the chart does serve an important purpose. It serves to help PlayStation Plus subscribers think about what they're getting out of their annual subscription. $60 for 12 months of PS Plus isn't much in the grand scheme of things, especially if it's discounted, but it's still $60. Some subscribers may be able to look at this chart and see they don't need to spend that money anymore. Alternatively, some may realize just how much they're really getting from their PS Plus subscription, and so may reconsider joining in the monthly hostile discourse.



Posted: Dec 05, 2021 8:03 pm
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: https://gamerant.com/chart-shows-real-value-of-ps-plus-2021-games/