PlayStation Plus: 5 Tips For Sony To Make It A Better Place Once Again

[Derouiche™]

People are increasingly more disappointed by PlayStation Plus and the quality of free games offered by Instant Game Collection. After March's only top quality game was Broforce, an indie title indeed, it was clear Sony had to do something in order to face their criticism. Things have gone a little better this month. April's free titles for subscribers include Zombi, an AAA title or kind of, although digital and a remaster of a Wii U's former exclusive. Anyway I think this is what players want to see right now, games that make some sense when played and are not original ideas hidden behind 8­bit graphics.

A recent survey conducted by Reddit users (about 4,000 gamers) states only 23.1% of those who own a PlayStation console are satisfied with how Sony is sorting things out when it comes to PlayStation Plus – a percentage which is too low in comparison with previous months and years.

The Japanese platform holder is losing traction and I even notice that while covering daily news: until a few months ago, PlayStation Plus free games' announcement was among the most awaited and ultimately read news, while today there's much less anticipation for that. How could Sony fix PlayStation Plus, then? Paradoxically, since they've started after Instant Game Collection, Microsoft is doing better with Games with Gold, and there's a lot to learn there.

1: Offer AAA Games Every Month

Sony should definitely start to offer AAA titles every month. If you look at it a bit more carefully, you'll notice people won't care much about how old are those titles – they just look at the fact those games would require them to spend $30/40+ if not provided for free by platform holders. Lords of the Fallen is a recent example of that. So, why don't they offer Knack? Killzone: Shadow Fall? Launch titles would be a great fit and I know sooner or later this is going to happen.

2: Repeat Rocket League Huge Success

Apart from launching AAA and launch titles, Sony needs to repeat the Rocket League huge success. They can do it by risking, providing a huge amount of trust to developers and carefully selecting them to be the ones to build up a true elite – the games releasing free with PlayStation Plus since day one. This is something Sony has been working on with indie developers – and it is offering a few games releasing free from the very first moment, too – but should ultimately extend to $30­60 retail or digital titles. While I say this I think about Hellblade, which is a good example of the kind of productions I would include in this "program".

3: Enjoy Free Games When PS Plus Subscription Expires

Let gamers enjoy their free titles also when the subscription is expired. If you offer them free games they don't care about and they still know those games don't legally belong to them, they'll just get mad at you the way like it's currently happening. By telling players they own the indie games you' offering them would instantly make them more interested. This is something Microsoft has adopted too while carrying Games With Gold on Xbox One, but the situation there is much different there, since people have been generally satisfied with games offered by the American platform holder for the last months.

4: Strong Discounted Steam-Like Sales

PlayStation Plus was once the emblem of how you can get good value in gaming for a very low price. Now, I wouldn't ask Sony to offer free online multiplayer all over again with PlayStation 4, but Steam­like sales, with strong discounted on a fixed basis for those who own a subscription, could be a great solution to make that happen again. I don't feel current sales change anything yet. I want to see those "­60%!!!" sales on consoles too and PlayStation could be the best place for this to happen, since the userbase is so big Sony would recover the amount lost on each sale by summing up all of the sales. And they would be paid for the subscription as well.

5: Great Classics To Instant Game Collection Program

Add great classics to the Instant Game Collection monthly titles. I would just literally "add" them to the current offer, meaning that we would have PS4, PS3, PS Vita games and, after them, PlayStation classics like Crash Bandicoot, MediEvil and more. That wouldn't be an expensive move on Sony's hand and more importantly they would carry over the nostalgic users, which are a lot and usually are opinion leader. Making them happy could mean make many Internet users happy as well, and that could help changing PS Plus' public image now.

These are our 5 top suggestions for Sony to get back to PlayStation Plus' origins, when the service was a fan favorite and free games offered by it set a new standard for competitors to try and achieve. Don't forget to share yours in the comments below and, by the way, don't forget you could just don't renew your subscription if you don't like those free games or simply consider them a bonus/something you could discover and fall in love with even though you don't know what the heck it is.