It looks like PS3 games are popping up on the PlayStation Store with price tags clearly attached.
While that might not sound very exciting at first blush, the appearance of PS3 games on the contemporary store – which would usually redirect players to instead trial PlayStation Now, Sony's premium streaming service – has fanned the flames of those hot rumors that Sony is about to launch a backward compatibility system of its own.
Therefore, the fact that players are spotting PS3 games displaying not the PlayStation Now logo but a price now might be another very big signal that things are indeed about to change (thanks, VGC).
Uhhh. Not to panic anyone, but a PS3 game shouldn't have a price when viewed on a PS5. Unless... pic.twitter.com/5CTACWGh7sJanuary 16, 2022
A store glitch? Maybe. But the news comes close on the heels of reports that PlayStation Now cards at retailers in the UK are being removed from sale, with UK-based retailer Game reportedly planning to remove all retail cards for the subscription service by Friday, January 21. It follows reports of a similar removal of PS Now cards in the US, too.
Not-so-coincidentally, last month we reported on rumors of a PlayStation Game Pass rival – reportedly internally codenamed Spartacus – that could launch as soon as spring 2022 (Q2 2022 for our friends in the southern hemisphere), which will reportedly merge together PS Plus and PS Now.
Although PlayStation Now is similar to Xbox Game Pass in the sense that players get access to a selection of games they can play immediately, PS Now doesn't follow Xbox Game Pass's example of publishing first-party titles on the same day they go on sale, and players need to separately purchase a PS Plus subscription to play games online as well as redeem a selection of games every month.
Rumor has it that Sony's new service will offer a three-tier service, with the first tier offering current PS Plus benefits, another offering PS4 and eventually PS5 games, and the final one providing access to "extended demos, game streaming and a library of classic PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP games."
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