Sony reiterates that First Party titles will not be released on PS Plus Premium on launch day

After the renewal of the Sony service, playstationplus, It has been tried to unmark the Microsoft and Xbox service, Game Pass in a way that is not very well received. Proof of this are Sony’s statements about launching First Party titles on the service the same day they are released.

Last week, speaking in an interview on GI Live 2022 (transcribed by VGC), the Head of PlayStation Independent Developer Initiatives, Shuhei Yoshida, who was previously the head of Sony Worldwide Studios, reiterated that Sony believes in premium releases for first party titles, followed by a PlayStation Plus release after some time has passed.

“We believe in launching premium titles at launch. The new PS Plus has tiers and essentially it’s like the old PS Plus, we still release two or three new games every month, and a new tier, Extra, has a catalog of hundreds of games for people to play. For Extra, our approach [es] that we like to help publishers [con] life cycle management”.

Yoshida said that Sony’s model for game releases is similar to movies that are released exclusively in theaters and then made available through other platforms later on. The executive explains that the staggered release of games on PS Plus will allow a wider audience to experience them after sales have slowed following their premium releases.

“I was managing first-party [en PlayStation]so I know it’s like in the movies: a movie comes out first in theaters, then goes to pay-per-view, or a subscription service, or free TV, every time it generates new revenue and reaches a larger audience.

“In the same way, we believe in launching a premium title at launch and after maybe six months, or three months, or three years, when game sales go down, inclusion in this service, PS Plus Extra, can help introduce these games to a new and broader audience.”

“Some people might have missed these games when they came out and it’s a great opportunity to play and generate word of mouth or if there’s DLC or a sequel, we can help raise interest to a wider audience in the franchise,” Yoshida added. “Therefore, we are encouraging publishers to make use of these services to manage the life cycle of each title.”

Earlier this year, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan said that while Sony had no intention of changing its publishing model any time soon, “things can change very quickly in this industry.”