PlayStation Spartakus could debut next week
Sony's CEO of PlayStation, Jim Ryan, indicated unequivocally that a service like Xbox Game Pass for PlayStation has no place in Sony's plans. It was October 2020, and he stated, "For us, having a collection of games is not something that defines a platform."
« As you may have heard, our pitch is 'new games, amazing games.' We've had this discussion before: we're not going to put new release titles on a subscription basis." « The development of these games cost many millions of dollars, more than a hundred million dollars.
We simply do not believe it is sustainable." Xbox Game Pass was already aiming high at the time, and its subsequent evolution has proven to be a huge success for Microsoft.
However, it did not take long for the roundness of these affirmations to begin to disintegrate. And it is only a month later, in November 2020, that Ryan himself, in an interview, cracks open the door that he had just slammed.
There were only a few weeks until the release of the PlayStation 5, and sirens related to the rise of Xbox Game Pass presumably began to sound in Sony offices. The model suddenly began to make sense.
However, it took a year following that 90-degree turn (from "no" to "maybe") to complete the U-turn. A few months ago, in December of last year, a leak indicated that Sony was already working on its own subscription service, codenamed PlayStation Spartakus and that it would integrate existing services and have three subscription levels.
Even so, Sony would take a few months to clarify, this time officially, that PlayStation Spartakus was not a rumor, but an open secret, and even revealed the prices of the various subscription levels, which are set at $10, $13, and $16.
This happened at the end of last month, but there has been "radio silence" since then. Michael Pachter, the always-controversial analyst, used quiet to predict a very grim future for PlayStation and, by extension, Sony.
And now is where we have to back to rumors and leaks because Sony has yet to make an official announcement regarding when its PlayStation subscription service will be available. This, of course, leads us to believe that there is still a long way to go…
Except that Bloomberg, which has already obtained the first data on the program, now claims that PlayStation Spartakus, which is most certainly not the final name, might launch as early as next week.
If its launch is confirmed next week, we can state that Sony has taken approximately a year and a half to reverse the decision that caused the company to dismiss a Sony Game Pass for PlayStation.
Of course, the most intriguing aspect will be to see what titles the service launches with, as this would undoubtedly be a crucial element in predicting its success or failure once it is online.
