Gotcha. Well it would be good if they confirmed that all titles perhaps except PS3 ones could be purchased stand alone since they can be downloaded.

I never said Sony promised day 1 releases, so you lost me there lol.  Jim Ryan teased a gamepass competitor back in 2020, and that was in regards to Bandorr's question of why the media hyped it up.  It all links back to Jim Ryan and his tease.

As for why I am disappointed, it is because nothing has really changed.  PSNow failed to deliver for me (gave it more than one chance), so to find out there big answer to gamepass that Jim teased was to just combine PS+ and PSNow with nothing new really added, and at the same price point that both cost in the first place...it was a huge letdown.  I did not expect day 1 releases, but I did expect some kind of positive change that was more than just lumping them together.  It wasn't good enough then, and nothing has changed except now you are required to get PS+ even if all you want is PSNow.

So there is no denial to speak of on my part...only disappointment.  It is almost as if this is a PR ploy to get rid of Gamepass vs PSNow and replace it with Gamepass vs PS Plus.  When Sony boasts about how many PS Plus subs they have, will they specify how many per tier?  Or just lump them all together to appease shareholders?

I'll have to see what games are there, if games like Persona 3 FES and Persona 4 Golden, and Star Ocean 2nd are on there, I'll probably sign up for it. I hope they have something similar to Xbox with the $1 conversion of playstation+ .

I think this is ignoring the realities we live in. If Sony placed it explicitly as GamePass competitor or not does not matter. In a world there Gamepass exists, such a service has to be compared to it. Because at the end Sony wants people to subscribe to the service. And if they want to do that, they will check their options. So if Sony made an official statement about Gamepass or not does not matter at all. Internally Sony will know that it will be judged against it.

Nope, he just stated what is know that PSNow was already available and offering what is essentially what GP do without the Day One. And well that includes download for local playing (and with the new platforms added this also include download of older titles except PS3).

If you aren't saying Sony promised, hinted or whatever Day 1 titles, what else would you expect? They changed with inclusion of all generations of games except PSVita and the trials, they have more titles than GP, so really what isn't there is day one. So you may try to rephrase yourself, but it won't really change it.

And as said by other posters, he never said anything directly about competing with GP, this is just reaching from cutting quotes and aligning as seem fit.

He was asked about a gamepass competitor, and he said, "we have news coming, but not at this date."  This suggests they were looking into a gamepass competitor.

Again, I never said anything about day 1 PS game releases.  I was referring to the fact that teasing a "gamepass competitor" while changing nothing but increasing the entry cost for PSNow (since now you NEED PSPlus) is a disappointment.  They did not necessarily need day 1 PS games to be a competitor, not sure where you get that from.  They just needed to do something to make the offer of better value, but instead changed nothing but rebrand it in name only.

You either consider PSNow was already the GP competitor and so they didn't need to create anything new to compete or that it isn't and mentioning PSNow would be irrelevant, you can't go both ways.

They added PS1, PS2, PSP and PS5 titles and the trials to PSNow on the price that combines PS+ and PSNow and have it cheaper than the combo if you don't want legacy content. How is that nothing? And both situations are cheaper than GP. So again the difference is day and date.

1) The addition of more titles will be on going (and from what we know it already have more than MS offering, and they will add PS1, PS2 and PSP titles including third party, but no list given yet).

2) you already have the option to download on PS4 and PS5, this have been a thing forever (except for PS3 titles), and the inclusion of PS1,2,PSP will also allow download. Unless you want to play on PC.

As some claiming that people comparing this to Gamepass set themself up and a comparison is invalid as Sony never declared it a competitor, I need to say something.

There are consumers out there (quite a lot actually) that haven't bought into the new gen yet and may be possibly interested into a game subscription service. They have following options:

• Xbox Series S or X + Gamepass
• PS5 + PS Plus Extra/Premium

Comparing the two services and what they have to offer is only natural. Because that is to what it comes down. People bought into the PS ecosystem probably already have PS Plus and possibly PS Now. For them things stay basically the same. So the main target must be people that haven't opted into the new gen yet. Otherwise the question must be asked: for who Sony intends this offering?

I will keep the standard plan, I have too much games to play already

Well, the PS2 + PS3 games I rarely want to revisit are all ready to play on my PS3 Fat.
And the PS1 + PSP games I rarely want to revisit are all ready to play on my PS Vitas.
Without streaming artifacts, without the need of an online connection.

So I have no intention to upgrade to PSPP (PS+ Premium)... maybe to PS+ Extra if they add some good PS4/PS5 games I don't already have.

Can you upgrade from PS+ Essential to PS+ Extra/Premium for one or a few months and then go back to PS+ Essential?

And how will PS+ handle games which are already activated with PS+ Extra/Premium and then they are PS+ Essential games for a month? Can you claim them in that month to your "Instant Game Collection" or will that be a problem changing the licence from "playable with an PS+ Extra/Premium sub" to "playable with an PS+ Essential sub"?

Their licencing model seems to get a lot more complicated.