A small and subtle change to the PS Plus free games for March 2022 could be even more proof of the incoming Project Spartacus.
At this point, the rebranding of PS Plus and the new structured tier system as a way to compete with Xbox Game Pass is Sony’s worst-kept secret. Many reliable insiders began to share information after its initial reporting, and foregoing a minor detail here or there, there’s a lot already known about the PS Plus upgrade/Xbox Game Pass competitor.
Still, nothing is official quite yet. Sony could change any number of things about it, including the game access, price points, demos, and so on. It’s well within Sony’s power to cancel it too, but in looking at the free PS Plus games for March 2022, it’s pretty clear this upgrade is still on Sony’s mind.
Next month, PS Plus subscribers will be able to claim ARK: Survival Evolved (PS4), Ghost of Tsushima: Legends (PS4 or PS5), Ghostrunner (PS5 only), Team Sonic Racing (PS4), and Grand Theft Auto Online (on March 15, available for three months). The thing is, this array of games is needlessly complicated. ARK and Sonic Racing are okay, but for Ghostrunner, it’s PS5 only. According to the official information, the benefits of this game do not apply to the PS4 version.
Then, there’s Grand Theft Auto Online which is confusing for a lot of fans. GTA Online was announced as a PS Plus game back when it was releasing in November, got delayed, got a new release date, is still free for PlayStation Players for three months, but it’s not clear if PS Plus is required for that aspect…though PS Plus is required to play. Nonetheless, it’s somehow remotely connected. Then, there’s Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, which is labeled as a “bonus game.”
It would be odd to call it a bonus game when PS Plus has given away four core games before, a second PS5 game in one month before, and there doesn’t seem to be any special stipulations for it. The only real benefit that the “bonus game” gives PS Plus is a bigger sense of reward, which given nothing else really fits, could be a shift into the coming PS Plus Project Spartacus Upgrade.
This month, fans noticed on the PS Plus image change to say “available this month at no extra cost” instead of “available for PS Plus members.” There's really no reason to change this, but for a time, it was. It was likely a small aspect of the upgrade accidentally being pushed through, since PS Plus would need to be better defined if there were tiers. There have been a few other odds and ends too, all pointing toward this coming tier system. This bonus game likely does so too. Again, there’s no reason to label a PS Plus game as a bonus game given its history, and doing so would only make sense if "bonuses" were a regular part of PS Plus—which, they are not.
So, whether it’s bonus demos, bonus access, or a bonus game based on the tier of Project Spartacus, it’s all hard to imagine how this works. But, it would not be surprising to see this new PS Plus subscription service use the word “bonus” quite a bit.
PS Plus subscribers typically get a handful of free games every month.
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When Joshua Duckworth received Pokemon Yellow for Christmas at 5-years-old, his fate as a gamer was set. Since then, he’s been involved with every step of the gaming industries’ growth from the golden PS1 era and the dying days of the arcade to any current gaming trend. When he’s not writing, playing his own games, or thinking about writing or playing his games, he’s probably the second player to his son’s Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu! file. Joshua has an MA degree in English from Jacksonville State University, and the best way to contact him is at [email protected].
