The demon-slaying, action-RPG Diablo 4 is coming to PS Plus Essential in July after celebrating its two-year anniversary. It arrives just in time for PlayStation 5 and PS4 players to delve into next month’s free Sins of the Horadrim season 9 update, and as Sony hints at a possible future price hike for the subscription service.
Free is a nice price for PS Plus subscribers to experience Diablo 4‘s grimly fun main campaign, with a streamlined seasonal level grind and the paid Vessel of Hatred expansion for anyone interested in sticking around after the main story wraps. Season 9 adds a new questline, micro-dungeons called Horadric Strongrooms, Escalating Nightmares that chain together three dungeons for a shot at fighting the Exalted version of Mephisto acolyte Astarothnew, a new spellcrafting system, and mouse and keyboard support on console.
Also arriving to PS Plus on July 1 is The King of Fighters XV (PS5 and PS4) and French climbing puzzle adventure Jusant (just PS5). The latter was one of 2023’s late but great indie releases that mixes the cinematic moodiness of something like Ico with a movement system influenced by GIRP. To mark 15 years since PS Plus launched, Sony is also wrapping up June with some special deals for subscribers, as well as new perks like an extended free trial of Monster Hunter Wilds for Premium members.
PS Plus has had some decent months this year, which might be why a price hike feels like it’s coming just over the horizon. PlayStation CEO Hideaki Nishino recently remarked that players kept signing up for more expensive tiers even after the last round of increases. “The PlayStation Plus service offers great value for our players, and we will continue to add more value and adjust our pricing strategy in a dynamic way to maximize profitability,” he told investors earlier this month.
Ever wonder what the most popular games on the service are? Sony recently disclosed the top 10 in no particular order to Game File. They are mostly single-player games, including four first-party Sony blockbusters: God of War Ragnarök, Ghost of Tsushima, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and The Last of Us Part I. Others include Hogwarts Legacy and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, alongside no-brainers like Grand Theft Auto V. Less obvious top-performers are Dead by Daylight, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, and UFC 5.
PlayStation’s global services VP Nick Maguire told Game File the company remains committed to bringing its big first-party games to PS Plus no earlier than 18 to 24 months after they comes out. Instead, it’s been wooing subscribers to upgrade to the priciest tier with PS1 and PS2 classics, while streaming for PS3 games has been rarer. “Through streaming, we’ll still continue to look at those ones,” he said. “We haven’t ruled them out. The opportunities are there. But there are a lot of PS3 games already streaming.”
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