Lockheed Martin Secures $1.9B U.S. Air Force Contract for C-130J Training and Maintenance Systems 
Trump Administration Proposes Tough AI Contract Rules as Anthropic Blacklisted by Pentagon 
U.S. Officials Review Tencent’s Stakes in Epic Games, Riot Games Over Security Concerns 
Apple Bets Big on India: iPhone Production Hits 55 Million Units as China Reliance Fades 
Amazon Engineers Investigate AI-Linked Outages as GenAI Coding Tools Raise Reliability Concerns 
Defense Contractors Move to Drop Anthropic AI After Trump Administration Ban 
AI is already creeping into election campaigns. NZ’s rules aren’t ready 
Nvidia Sets $4M CEO Bonus Target for Fiscal 2027 as AI Demand Drives Revenue Growth 
Big Tech Signs White House Pledge to Fund Power for AI Data Centers 
Anthropic Sues Pentagon Over AI Blacklist, Citing Free Speech Violations 
Foxconn Sees Strong Growth Ahead Despite Limited Impact From U.S.–Israel–Iran Tensions 
Amazon Website Outage Disrupts Thousands of U.S. Shoppers Before Services Recover 
Oracle Stock Surges as AI Data Center Boom Drives Revenue Beat and Bullish 2027 Outlook 
US Lawmakers Raise Security Concerns Over Intel Testing ACM Research Chipmaking Tools 
California Court Rejects xAI Bid to Block AI Data Transparency Law 
Yann LeCun's AI Startup AMI Raises $1 Billion at $3.5 Billion Valuation 
OpenAI Explores Partnership With The Trade Desk to Expand ChatGPT Advertising 
It has been months since it was first reported that Sony is planning to launch a Game Pass-like subscription service for PlayStation fans. And a new report suggests it could launch sometime next week.
Sony has been reportedly working on a new video game subscription service codenamed Spartacus. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who first reported on the PlayStation project, now says it could be announced “as early as next week.” This follows a recent report that said the Game Pass counterpart could be unveiled in March.
The latest report on project Spartacus did not mention specific games that would be included in the catalog at launch. But the article says it will feature a “splashy lineup,” including popular titles released in “recent years.”
Bloomberg reiterated that the PlayStation project Spartacus will essentially combine services currently offered through PS Plus and PS Now. VentureBeat previously reported the three possible subscription tiers that could be called PS+ Essential, PS+ Extra, and PS+ Premium with potential monthly fees of $10, $13, and $16, respectively.
The cheapest plan is expected to offer monthly free games, just like how the current PS Plus works. The PS+ Extra will reportedly combine that with a game library that subscribers can download. Right now, PlayStation fans can download the free games offered through PS Plus and PS Now and continue playing them as long as they keep paying the monthly subscription fee.
The PS+ Premium tier is anticipated to have the most features and would exclusively offer a catalog of video games for streaming, a library of classic games, and access to video game demos. Most of these services were also mentioned in the new Bloomberg report.
While the PlayStation project Spartacus has been deemed as Sony’s response to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, the latter might still have a significant advantage. Sony is not expected to add new games (even first-party titles) on the same day of their release dates, which has been one of the biggest selling points of Game Pass. This might be quite a letdown to some video game fans, especially with major titles like “God of War: Ragnarok” to look forward to in the coming months.
Photo by Harm van de Ven on Unsplash
