Sony PlayStation Plus Changes Arrive Before E3 With More Instant Game Collection Titles

With PlayStation Plus reaching its fourth anniversary in June, Sony Corp.'s (NYSE:SNE) subsidiary, Sony Computer Entertainment of America, is on a push to refine the popular subscription service.

John Koller, SCEA vice president of platforms marketing, announced changes to PlayStation Plus on Thursday that include giving subscribers more content and clarifying how Sony plans to distribute PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection free titles in the near future.

Previously, Sony would announce Instant Game Collection games of the following month, and they would then be released on the PlayStation store in a staggered fashion. This staggered release schedule often left PS Plus subscribers confused about when they would be able to play that month’s free game.

According to Koller, that policy is changing starting in July, with all Instant Game Collection games on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita becoming available on the first Tuesday of each month.

In addition, PlayStation 4 PS Plus subscribers will gain one more free game a month, for a total of two games on the PS4 and six games across all PS platforms starting in June.

Unfortunately with these changes, there is a minor drawback. Unlike some titles previously released with the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection that have remained available for free for several months, Instant Game Collection free titles released in the future will only be free for one month, from the first Tuesday of the month until the first Tuesday of the following month.

However, PlayStation Plus subscribers can still obtain free games of the month without needing to download them by visiting the PlayStation web store and adding PS Plus Instant Game Collection titles to their online shopping cart and checking out.

As for what hasn’t changed, PlayStation Plus subscribers will only be able to play free titles obtained as part of the Instant Game Collection if their PS Plus subscription remains active.

These changes to the structure of the PS Plus subscription service arrive weeks after Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced several changes with its Xbox Live subscription service that brought Microsoft’s offerings more in line with the Sony PS Plus program.