PlayStation users will now be able to buy or rent thousands of films via the Sony Pictures Core app, without ever having to leave their PS4 or PS5.
The new service will give users access to a library of up to 2,000 movies from Sony’s extensive catalogue at launch, including Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Uncharted, The Equalizer, No Hard Feelings, Bullet Train, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
In addition, PS Plus Deluxe and Premium subscribers will get free access to around 100 films, without ads, which are set to change and rotate periodically.
These PS Plus freebies will include Looper, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, Elysium, and Resident Evil Damnation.
However, outside of the freebies, the majority of the titles on the new service don’t come particularly cheap, with digital purchase prices hovering between £9.99 to £13.99 each, but rental costs being significantly cheaper.
Sony promised other upcoming perks for PS Plus Deluxe and Premium users but didn’t actually specify what these will be.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Sony try to meld its hardware products and the work of its sizeable film studio Sony Pictures, which competes with Warner Bros, Walt Disney, Universal, and Paramount as the largest in the world.
Back in April 2021, Sony launched Bravia Core, a service which is currently available on Sony’s Bravia TVs and Xperia devices, offering a largely comparable service.
This latest move throws the Japanese group in competition with other paid video-streaming services, such as Google Play Movies, Rakuten, and Amazon’s Prime Video store.
The key distinguishing feature of the new service is that UK users will be able to get exclusive early access to a small selection of films currently in cinemas, including Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story, a recent action drama based on the popular driving franchise.
Unfortunately, the addition of this new collection of free movies news comes as the price of PlayStation Plus services went up for UK gamers in September
These changes saw PlayStation Plus Essential rise to £59.99 for UK users, roughly a £10 increase, while the price of PlayStation Plus Premium rose from £99.99 to £119.99, and the price of PlayStation Plus Extra rose from £83.99 to £99.99 for a 12-month subscription.
PS Plus fans are getting free access to new games all the time, though, and just last month saw users able to access strategy game classic Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, critically priased Japanese role-playing game NieR Replicant, and indie darling Unpacking.
