You have less than a week to take advantage of the last two games PlayStation Plus offers to subscribers in the ninth year of its Instant Game Collection. In total, the subscription issued 32 games in 2019; Were any of these any good? What else would they cost? What does the data say about the value of this PlayStation Plus benefit that has been part of the service since 2010?
We will try to answer this question for this year as we have had some other questions over the past five years. How old is the game Did Sony release it? Which publisher has used PlayStation Plus the most? And did they appear earlier on Xbox Live Games With Gold?
These questions could reveal where these free game programs are heading, especially if a new generation of consoles in the form of the PlayStation 5 will be launched next year.
What about Xbox Live gold games?
Kick off
A total of 32 games were included in the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection in 2019, with an average metacritical score of 77.6 and a combined retail price (at the time of the offer) of $ 894.68.
The metacritical average is 8.1 points higher than in 2018, but the non-binding retail price of the collection is $ 614.06 less. However, these numbers are not really easy to compare, as PlayStation Plus discontinued support for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita after February 2018.
This reduced the number of free spins offered from six to two (and thus the total dollar amount of the collection). By reducing the weight of the PlayStation Vita, whose PS Plus games were often poorly rated and largely unknown, the average critical score in the catalog rose. And rightly so. This year many high-quality PS4 games from first-party providers were made available to players. It’s just a smaller sample size.
Some January and February titles were cross-playable on one or more platforms. Your primary platform is the one listed. As of February, all games will only be available for PlayStation 4.
SteepImage: Ubisoft Annecy / Ubisoft
January
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Amplitude (PS3)
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Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion (PS Vita)
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Portal Knights (PS4)
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Steep (PS4)
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Super Mutant Alien Assault (PS Vita)
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Enders HD Collection Zone (PS3)
Average metacritical score: 65.5
Average age: 2 years, 7 months
Total value: $ 134.94
Thin: Amplitude and Steep are a kind of Hey-It-It-That-Guy game that many people may remember, but they never learned. Skiing and a rhythm game are a bit versatile, but both are better in my book than Metacritic suggests.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Weapons of the Patriots Picture: Kojima Productions / Konami
February
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Divekick (PS3)
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For Honor (PS4)
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Cannon House (PS Vita)
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Hitman: The Complete First Season (PS4)
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Metal Gear Solid 4: Weapons of the Patriots (PS3)
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Rogue Aces (PS Vita)
Average metacritical score: 77.2
Average age: 3 years, 10 months
Total value: $ 122.94
Thin: In its last month on PS Plus, the PS3 got a very fitting, very touching starting shot with one of the best games ever made for it. Ten years ago, the PS3 opened the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection, and with it the expectation of consumers that the premium service of a console would throw one or two bones off their loyal customers every month. The PS3 is not a hero. Just an old killer hired for wet jobs.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered Image: Infinity Ward / Activision
March
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered
- The witness
Average metacritical score: 85
Average age: 2 years, 10 months
Total value: $ 79.98
Thin: Whoa! Where does it come from? Activision makes most of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare 2016 available to good buddy Sony, and The Witness, which launched in the same year, got a bathtub full of prestige nominations.
Conan Exiles Picture: Funcom
April
Average metacritical score: 70.5
Average age: 1 year, 5 months
Total value: $ 69.98
Thin: This is what has passed for a middle month now. Both games had a mixed critical response, but if their genres are your thing (survival-action-adventure or soul-like-action role-playing), it’s like money found.
What remains of Edith FinchImage: Giant Sparrow / Annapurna Interactive
can
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Overcooked!
- What remains of Edith Finch
Average metacritical score: 83
Average age: 2 years, 4 months
Total value: $ 36.98
Thin: A May for Indies not only brings out two old titles. What remains of Edith Finch was recognized as the best story at the Game Developers Choice Awards 2018, and Overcooked was nominated for the main prize at the Independent Game Festival 2016. It was continued in 2018.
Sonic Mania Image: Sega
June
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Borderlands: The beautiful collection
- Sonic Mania
Average metacritical score: 84
Average age: 3 years
Total value: $ 79.98
Thin: Can’t argue with the value of three Borderlands games, even if they’re five years or older. Sonic Mania was also a breath of fresh air and celebrated the 25th anniversary of the franchise in 2017.
Detroit: Become a human Image: Quantic Dream / Sony Interactive Entertainment
July
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Detroit: Become a Human Digital Deluxe Edition
- Horizon Chase Turbo
Average metacritical score: 78
Average age: 2 years, 6 months
Total value: $ 49.98
Thin: Maybe you were wondering if Detroit was worth the hype. Maybe you didn’t think it. In any case, you can find out for yourself this month for free.
Sniper Elite 4 Image: Rebellion
August
- Elite 4 sniper
- Wipeout Omega collection
Average metacritical score: 81
Average age: 2 years, 4 months
Total value: $ 79.98
Thin: Many will disagree, and for good reason, but I think Rebellions Sniper Elite is a series that is highly undervalued. I am always happy to see that it shows, even in a slow month, paired with an older first-party anthology.
Batman: Arkham Knight Image: Rocksteady / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
September
- Batman: Arkham Knight
- Darksiders 3
Average metacritical score: 75.5
Average age: 2 years, 6 months
Total value: $ 79.98
Thin: Darksiders 3 was nothing special, but we raved about Arkham Knight. Sure, it’s been four years, but if you haven’t played Rocksteady’s Arkham final yet, you definitely have the feeling of getting something for nothing this month.
MLB The Show 19 Image: YOU San Diego Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment
October
- MLB The Show 19
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The last of us remastered
Average metacritical score: 90.5
Average age: 2 years, 11 months
Total value: $ 49.98
Thin: Only in October was Sony made aware of the PlayStation Now streaming / download service, for which a discount and these two titles were granted this month. MLB The Show 19’s career is always a temporal whirlwind for baseball fans, and it’s rare for an AAA sports video game to be featured on any of these programs this year.
NiohTeam Ninja / Koei Tecmo
November
Average metacritical score: 78
Average age: 2 years, 8 months
Total value: $ 49.98
Thin: Nioh was one of our top 50 games of 2017 and is the rare game that combines high quality gameplay with mass market awareness and iconic dedication. The continuation is planned for March.
Titanfall 2 Picture: Respawn Entertainment / Electronic Arts
December
- Monster Energy Supercross: The Official Video Game
- Titan case 2
Average metacritical score: 78
Average age: 2 years, 6 months
Total value: $ 59.98
Thin: Titanfall 2 had one of the best single player campaigns of this decade for a first person shooter and is on time in the light of Respawn’s launch of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order the month before. If you liked one, you will probably dig the other.
The Last of Us RemasteredImage: Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment
packing
Although Sony Interactive Entertainment itself stopped developing for the platform four years ago, 2019 was the year when the PS Vita was finally brought to the vet and buried in the flower garden. Removing PS3 from PlayStation Plus at the same time means a catalog that’s a third the size of the previous year, but the high quality of PlayStation 4’s extensive library really worked in 2019. And before you get to outstanding vendors like Nioh and Titanfall 2 to end the year, or the well-chosen indie cohort of The Witness and What Remains of Edith Finch, or even games with cult followers like Sniper Elite 4 and Conan Exiles. Overall, it was a very strong, very balanced offer year for PlayStation Plus. Games With Gold, which offers benefits in terms of backward compatibility and third-party support, looks weird in comparison.
Although Microsoft seems determined to guide everyone through its Xbox Game Pass program, especially for the new generation of consoles, it is less clear what Sony has in mind for its older program in PlayStation Plus. This year’s focus on fewer and better games, rather than highlighting the catalog’s lower (and often arbitrary) dollar rate, instead draws attention to several titles that pay the $ 60 subscription fee more than alone. There is value in every month of 2019.
For HonorImage: Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft
With the numbers
Average score: 77
Average price: $ 27.96
Average age: 2 years, 10 months
Highest average metacritic month: October (90.5) with The Last of Us Remastered (95) and MLB The Show 19 (86).
Month with the highest dollar value: January ($ 134.94), Steep ($ 29.99), Portal Knights ($ 19.99), Zone of the Enders HD Collection ($ 34.99), Amplitude (19th $ 99) and Super Mutant Alien Assault ($ 9.99). After PS3 and PS Vita games were discontinued, prices for three months were $ 79.98 (June, August, and September).
Month with newest games on average: April (1 year, 5 months) with Conan Exiles (May 2018) and The Surge (May 2017).
Lowest average metacritic month: January (65.5) with Steil (71), Portal Knights (71), Zone of the Enders HD Collection (73), Amplitude (74), Super Mutant Alien Assault (67) and Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion (37) ,
Month with lowest dollar value: May ($ 36.98) with What remains of Edith Finch ($ 19.99) and overcooked! ($ 16.99)
Month with oldest games on average: February (3 years, 10 months) with For Honor (February 2017), Hitman: The Complete First Season (March 2016), Divekick (August 2013), Metal Gear Solid 4: Weapons of the Patriots (June 2008), Gunhouse (April) 2018) and Rogue Aces (April 2018).
Published by Sony: Four titles: Detroit: Become Human, Wipeout Omega Collection, MLB the Show 19 and The Last of Us Remastered.
Publisher with the most titles: Sony. In second place were Ubisoft (Steep and For Honor) and Konami (Zone of the Enders HD Collection and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots).
Appeared on Games With Gold earlier: The witness (April 2018), in honor (August 2018), overcooked! (October 2018) and Hitman: The Complete First Season (September 2019).
Total value: $ 894.68
Borderlands 2, part of Borderlands: The Handsome Collection
Image: Gearbox Software / 2K Games
Platform averages
Playstation 3: 76.5 Metacritical average, 6 years, 5 months old, $ 19.99 per title.
Playstation 4 (PS Vita Cross-Buy excluded): 79.6 metacritic average, 2 years, 5 months old, $ 31.53 per title.
PlayStation Vita: 61.5 Metacritical average, 1 year, 4 months old, $ 14.49 per title.
Apple against apple with Xbox Live Games With Gold (PS3 and PS4 only): 79.2 metacritic average, 3 years old, $ 29.88 per title.
Top rated PlayStation 4 game: The last of us remastered (95)
PlayStation 4 game top price: Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, Sniper Elite 4 and Darksiders 3 ($ 59.99 each).
PlayStation 4 game with the lowest rating: Darksiders 3 (64)
Lowest price PlayStation 4 game (PS Vita Crossplay excluded): Boiled over! $ 16.99
Metacritical areas
90 and higher: 2
80 to 89: 11
70 to 79: 12
60 to 69: 6
59 and under: 1
Price ranges:
$ 40 and more: 4
$ 30 to $ 39.99: 5
$ 25 to $ 29.99: 5
$ 20 to $ 24.99: 0
$ 15 to $ 19.99: 14
$ 10 to $ 14.99: 2
$ 5 to $ 9.99: 1
$ 4.99 and below: 1
