Honestly, subscribing to the PS Plus Essential tier feels a lot like paying for a utility bill. You don't necessarily want to pay for water or electricity every month, but if you want to take a shower or keep your milk cold, you don't have much of a choice. For most of us on PlayStation, that "milk" is online multiplayer. If you want to jump into a lobby in Call of Duty or EA Sports FC, you're basically handing over your credit card to Sony whether you like it or not.
But 2026 is looking a little different for the "basic" plan.
There's been a lot of noise lately about Sony finally moving away from the PS4. It’s been over five years since the PS5 launched, and let’s be real—the old hardware is tired. Starting this year, Sony has pivoted the PS Plus Essential tier to be almost exclusively PS5-focused. While they haven't completely murdered the PS4 support, the "guaranteed" monthly games are now aimed squarely at the current generation. If you’re still rocking a PS4 Pro, the value proposition just hit a major snag.
What You Actually Get for Your Cash
The price of entry isn't exactly "pocket change" anymore. After the massive price hikes we saw a couple of years back, a 12-month sub for the PS Plus Essential tier sits at $79.99 (or about £59.99/€71.99). It’s a pill that’s getting harder to swallow, especially when you compare it to what we used to pay.
Here is the meat of the service as it stands today:
- Online Multiplayer: The big one. This is the only way to play non-free-to-play games online.
- Monthly Games: Usually three titles you can "claim." As long as you keep paying, they stay in your library.
- Cloud Storage: 100GB of space for your save files. This is a lifesaver if your console ever decides to brick itself.
- Exclusive Discounts: Often, you’ll see an extra 5% or 10% off during big seasonal sales specifically for members.
- Share Play: Letting a friend "watch" you play or even take over the controller remotely.
Take the January 2026 lineup as a prime example of where the service is headed. We got Need for Speed Unbound, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, and Core Keeper. It’s a weirdly diverse mix, but notably, they are heavily weighted toward the PS5 experience. If you aren't redeeming these every month, you are literally throwing money away.
The PS4 "Phasing Out" Controversy
There was this whole panic on Reddit and various gaming forums about Sony "excluding millions" of players. Here’s the reality: if a game has a PS4 version, they’ll usually still give it to you. But they are no longer prioritizing making sure there is a PS4 game in the mix.
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Basically, the era of "cross-gen" parity is over.
If you are still on the older console, you can actually use the PlayStation App on your phone to claim the PS5 games anyway. You should do this. Seriously. Even if you don't have a PS5 yet, building that library now means when you finally upgrade, you’ll have dozens of "free" games waiting for you. It’s a smart move that a lot of people just forget to do.
Is the Essential Tier a Rip-off?
It depends on how much you value your time. If you only play one or two games a year—say, just Madden and Warzone—then $80 a year to play one of those online feels steep. Remember, Warzone and Fortnite don't actually require PS Plus because they are free-to-play. A lot of people pay for the subscription without realizing they don't even need it for their favorite game.
But if you’re someone who likes trying "AA" games or indies that you’d never buy at full price, the monthly games can easily pay for the sub. Core Keeper, for instance, is a gem that many skipped. Getting it as part of the sub makes the $6.66 monthly breakdown feel a lot more reasonable.
The Cloud Save "Tax"
One thing that really bugs me—and a lot of experts like the folks over at Digital Foundry have pointed this out—is the save data situation. On Xbox, cloud saves are just... free. On PlayStation, they are locked behind the PS Plus Essential tier.
If you care about your 100-hour Elden Ring save, you’re stuck. You can’t easily back up PS5 saves to a USB stick like you could on the PS4. It’s a "feature" that feels more like a ransom. It’s one of the few areas where Sony feels genuinely behind the curve in terms of consumer-friendly policies.
Comparing the Tiers Without the Fluff
You’ll see a lot of fancy charts trying to upsell you to Extra or Premium. Let’s cut through the marketing.
The Extra tier is basically Sony’s version of Netflix. You get everything in Essential, plus a massive catalog of hundreds of games. If you are a "new" PS5 owner, Extra is actually the better value because you get instant access to hits like Returnal or Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
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Premium is for the nostalgics. It adds PS1, PS2, and PSP games, plus cloud streaming. If you aren't dying to play Jak and Daxter or stream games to your PC, you can safely ignore it. Most people I talk to who subbed to Premium ended up dropping back down to the PS Plus Essential tier after the first year because they realized they didn't actually use the "Classics" library as much as they thought they would.
Strategy: How to Get the Most Out of It
If you’re going to stay on the Essential plan, don’t just pay the $80 every year on your renewal date. Sony almost always runs a "Days of Play" sale in June or a Black Friday sale in November.
Sometimes you can snag a year for 25% to 30% off.
I usually turn off auto-renew immediately after buying a year. That way, when it expires, I’m forced to look for a deal rather than just letting Sony pull the full $80 out of my bank account. It’s a small hurdle, but it saves you enough for a brand-new indie game or a couple of months of pizza.
What You Should Do Right Now
If your subscription is active, go into the PlayStation Store and make sure you’ve "Add to Library" every single one of the monthly games. Even the ones you think look "mid." You never know when you’ll be bored on a rainy Tuesday and want to try a racing game or a weird platformer.
Check your "Auto-Renew" status in the account settings. Sony loves to keep that toggled 'On.' If you want to save money, toggle it 'Off' and wait for a sale.
If you are a PS4-only player, start looking at the PS5. The shift in 2026 makes it clear that the Essential tier is losing its value on the older hardware. It might be time to trade in that old console while it still has some resale value and move into the current generation where the monthly "freebies" actually live.
Keep an eye on the mid-month "Game Catalog" announcements too. Even though those are for the higher tiers, they often signal what might eventually trickle down to the Essential tier in six or twelve months. Patience is usually rewarded in the PlayStation ecosystem.