Sony Looks Set To Announce ‘Playstation Plus Video Pass’
Sony will release movie content as a PlayStation Plus subscription, according to an image uploaded to its website on Wednesday. It is not clear why the image was described as a global rather than a local service, and Weave asked Sony for clarification.
VGC discovered that a logo for what was originally called the PlayStation Video Pass was posted on Sony’s official Polish website. The logo has since been removed as a premature revelation, suggesting that another type of video service is finding its way to subscribers.
Leaked images and details from the PlayStation website indicate that Sony plans to add movies to the PS Plus subscription service in the form of the PlayStation Plus Video Pass. The unveiling comes just over a week after Sony announced that it will stop distributing and selling on-demand TVs and movies for this year on August 31.
It is possible that the PlayStation camp is trying to put more emphasis on PS Plus as a subscription service, much as Microsoft has done with Xbox Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate, which include Xbox Live. Whether this will be implemented with a global and Polish exclusive contract or implemented in waves is unclear. We will update this story after we have asked Sony for a comment.
PlayStation Productions is a new studio founded by Sony to adapt its exclusive games into movies and TV streaming shows, with large parts of the games being produced in different stages of production. These include the live-action film Uncharted starring Tom Holland and the HBO production The Last of Us TV show adaptation of Ghost in the Shell.
Sony has not yet officially announced PlayStation Video Pass, but given that a leaked website listing shows that the service will go live tomorrow, expect an announcement soon. We will update this article with official Sony details in due course.
As advertised on the website, three different movies that PlayStation Plus subscribers can watch for free will be offered as a new benefit. They are Venom, Zombieland, and Double Tap, a blood film from Sony Pictures Entertainment. It is noted that a trial version of the service will be available for a full year and will end on 22 April 2022, which is a reasonable time for any kind of test run.
At the end of June 2020, it was announced that PS Plus will expand its capacity of accessible games for the 10th anniversary from two to three. The PlayStation Store and Digital Media Shop will offer a range of downloadable content that is purchased or available for free. These include full games, free-to-play games, add-ons, demos, music, movies, and background themes. In September 2020, at the launch of the next generation, Sony announced that PlayStation Plus members who purchase a PlayStation 5 will have access to a collection of generation-defining PlayStation 4 games.
Membership includes access to a rolling selection of games. Every month, new titles are downloaded and added to the library to be accessed later and replaced with new games later. PlayStation Plus online multiplayer requires a subscription, and PlayStation Plus free-to-play games are excluded.
We are reminded of Microsoft‘s infamous attempt to revive its own internal Xbox Entertainment Studios in the 2010s, with Steven Spielberg at the helm of the Halo TV series that led to this move. Two years after it was founded, the studio was closed in a leadership change following the departure of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, and it became a massive turnaround for the gaming division, with Xbox One TV as its first selling point.
