The revamped PlayStation Plus (PS Plus) service rolled out in Asia, including Singapore yesterday (May 24). Having tried the top-tier PS Plus Deluxe on launch day, I think it's undercooked. The benefits of Deluxe — classic games from past PlayStation generations and time-restricted demos of some recent games — are currently insufficient to justify the extra cost (from S$14 to S$24 depending on your plan's duration) over the cheaper Extra tier. PlayStation says it will add more titles with time, so it may be worth revisiting it later this year.

Deluxe is the highest end of the three PS Plus subscription plans (Deluxe, Extra and Essential) available here. Deluxe costs S$15.90/S$40.90/S$103.90 for 1/3/12 months. Both the Deluxe and the Extra (S$13.90/S$35.90/S$89.90) plans come with select PS4 and PS5 games (Game Catalog) as well as everything you get from Essential. The latter is basically the same as the old PS Plus service (online multiplayer, monthly games and discounts) and keeps the same pricing (S$8.90/S$21.90/S$53.90). Compared to Extra, Deluxe adds classic games from older PlayStation consoles, and game trials, which are time-restricted (5 hours) demos of newer games like Horizon Forbidden West. However, Deluxe's Classics collection doesn't include PS3 games. Those games are only available with the PS Plus Premium plan via cloud streaming ala StarHub's GeForce Now service, and is available only in certain markets. Here's Sony's quick summary.

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If you're an existing PS Plus subscriber, you pay a pro-rated fee (depending on the remaining period of your current subscription) to upgrade to the higher-tier Deluxe or Extra plans. For example, I renewed my PS Plus sub last month for a year at S$53.90. To upgrade to Deluxe, I had to pay S$46.57 since my current plan has 339 days remaining. Meanwhile, someone who's paying monthly or has about a month remaining on their current PS Plus sub would only have to pay the month's difference between Deluxe and Essential (around S$7). However, this also means that if a current subscriber wanted to try Deluxe or Extra, they can't easily upgrade for a specific period. Any upgrade will apply for the remainder of their existing plan. It's something to be aware of if you're planning to check out the Deluxe or Extra plans.

Sony has published a list of all the games currently available on its revamped PS Plus service. However, the game selection varies depending on the country. From what I saw on my PS5, Singapore, for example, only has 52 of the 63 games listed in the Classics catalog. These games include remasters of older games for the PS4, such as God of War III, as well as games from even older PlayStation consoles like the PSP and the original PlayStation. I tried one such game — Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (1997, PS1) — which, like some classic titles, has been enhanced with features like the ability to save anywhere, custom filters and a rewind feature. Seeing as I didn't have the original PlayStation console, I don't have any nostalgia or interest in these old, emulated games, even with the enhancements.

As for the PS4/PS5 Game Catalog, I counted only 230 out of a maximum 247 games listed on the website. Note that this figure includes both the PS4 and the PS5 versions for games that are on both platforms, such as Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. So the actual number is even lower, especially if you only have a PS4. In addition, long-time PS Plus users likely already have a number of these PS4/PS5 games if they have been assiduously adding games each month. In comparison, Microsoft's competing Xbox Game Pass Ultimate offers over 400 games for PC and console at S$13.99 a month. While quantity doesn't always mean quality, it suggests that PlayStation needs to add more games to appear competitive. You can check out the full list of games and the subscription plans on the PlayStation website.

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Note: Upgrade credit for PS Plus Deluxe provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment.