The PS Plus Collection on PlayStation 5 loses one of its best games, with no replacement announced at the time of this writing.
PlayStation Plus subscribers are used to getting a fresh batch of free games every month, but with the introduction of the PS5, they had also been given access to a set of 20 PS4 games available to claim and download at will through the PS Plus Collection program. This includes some of the best PS4 games that were ever released for the console, like the critically-acclaimed Persona 5, considered by many to be one of the best JRPGs ever made.
The list of PS Plus Collection games remained static since the program was launched, with PS5 gamers having access to 20 different PS4 games. Sony hasn't added any new games to the lineup, and until just recently, none of the games were removed either. However, as of May 11, PlayStation Plus subscribers can no longer claim Persona 5 for free.
Persona 5's removal from PS Plus isn't a big deal to anyone that managed to claim the game while it was free through the PS Plus Collection. Unlike other subscription services, PlayStation Plus subscribers don't lose access to the PS Plus Collection games when they're removed as long as they remembered to claim them while they were free.
Persona 5 is the first game to leave the PS Plus Collection lineup, but it may not be the last. At the time of this writing, no removal dates have been announced for any of the other PS Plus Collection games, but one has to imagine that some of them will definitely be on the chopping block at some point down the line, for a couple of different reasons. For one, many of the PS Plus Collection games are third-party titles, and for two, Sony is gearing up to make huge changes to the PlayStation Plus subscription service.
This coming June, Sony will be combining PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now to create three new PS Plus tiers: Essential, Extra, and Premium. PS Plus Essential is the same-old PS Plus that fans have had access to for a decade or so now, while PS Plus Extra basically throws PlayStation Now on top of it. PS Plus Premium, meanwhile, gives gamers access to an additional 300 retro games pulled from the PS1, PS2, PSP, and PS3 libraries.
Sony recently confirmed that the PS Plus subscriber count is down, so it doesn't seem as though the PS Plus Collection has really been doing a good job of luring in subscribers. The hope is that the new subscription tiers will turn things around, and it will be interesting to see if the gamble pays off.
Dalton Cooper is an editor for Game Rant who has been writing about video games professionally since 2011. Having written thousands of game reviews and articles over the course of his career, Dalton considers himself a video game historian and strives to play as many games as possible. Dalton covers the latest breaking news for Game Rant, as well as writes reviews, guide content, and more.
