PS Plus for January 2025 Proves Extra May Soon Be the New Essential

PS Plus for January 2025 Proves Extra May Soon Be the New Essential



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Summary

  • PS Plus Extra in January 2025 offers stellar titles, including God of War Ragnarok, a Game of the Year winner.
  • PS Plus Essential has been consistently underperforming compared to Extra, potentially hinting at its phasing out.
  • The business strategy of encouraging upgrades may lead to Essential being replaced by Extra, impacting game offerings.

PS Plus has been under a lot of fire lately for its offerings, with most of that criticism directed toward its persistent knack for featuring less-than-stellar games that are even further undermined by the monthly cost of the service. The most recent example of this is the January 2025 lineup for PS Plus Essential, which includes the poorly-received Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, alongside Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered and The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe Edition, both of which are merely remasters of old games. On the flip side, PS Plus Extra has been received rather well as of late, but that is ultimately indicative of an even larger problem.

While those subscribed to PS Plus Extra have been getting their fill in the last few months, with titles like Dying Light 2, Grand Theft Auto 5, Dead Island 2, and now God of War Ragnarok this month, PS Plus Essential subscribers have been getting the short end of the stick. From a business standpoint, it makes sense, as those who pay less for a service shouldn’t get the same benefits as those who pay more. At the same time, if PS Plus keeps up this trend, it could see its Essential tier completely removed and replaced by PS Plus Extra — but maybe that’s the service’s ultimate goal.

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PS Plus Free Games for January 2025 Explained

January 2025’s PS Plus games are Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered, and The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe.

PS Plus Extra for January 2025 includes some of the best games the service has seen in quite some time, with none other than Santa Monica’s God of War Ragnarok headlining it. God of War Ragnarok wasn’t just a Game of the Year nominee for 2022; it won several different awards at the Game Awards ceremony that year and arguably came very close to beating Elden Ring for the title. For one thing, PS Plus isn’t known for offering Game of the Year winners and nominees in general, but to include God of War Ragnarok in the lineup is just on an entirely different level.

God of War Ragnarok‘s addition to the catalogue this month could also be teasing the release of the rumored God of War remastered collection that has been talked about for many months now.

Alongside God of War Ragnarok is Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, which not only performed admirably upon its release in 2023 but is also a perfectly-timed addition to PS Plus, considering the February launch of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. Then there’s Citizen Sleeper, which was a surprise hit in 2022 and is also a well-timed addition to PS Plus this month, with its sequel arriving on January 31. These are just in addition to several other noteworthy titles, which include Atlas Fallen: Reign Of Sand, Sayonara Wild Hearts, and Orcs Must Die! 3.

January 2025 isn’t the first month to see PS Plus Extra outperforming the service’s Essential tier, as that has been happening for quite some time. It could be argued that 2024 was one of the worst years that PS Plus has ever had, with almost every month’s lineup being shrouded in controversy, giving subscribers more than enough reason to either upgrade or unsubscribe altogether. Now, that trend appears to be continuing in 2025 when it comes to PS Plus Essential, which seems to be a rather telling sign of the service nudging its players toward its Extra and Premium tiers.

Again, this makes sense from a business standpoint, as PS Plus wants its subscribers to pay for higher tiers. Even so, the problem with a business practice like this is that it may eventually cause PS Plus Essential to simply phase out, with PS Plus Extra becoming the new Essential. This would potentially prove to be a domino effect though, with PS Plus Extra then offering less than what it offers now to compensate for a tier that has become irrelevant. All of this said, however, PS Plus Essential may continue to offer a decent lineup every few months or so, just to keep its subscribers hanging by a thread.

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