PlayStation Plus has long been one of the calling card services for Sony and its gamers. Not only is a subscription required to play online games such as Call of Duty or Overwatch, but PlayStation Plus also comes with free games each month, a bonus that fans look forward to. While each addition is very exciting, the multiplayer games may be the best fit for PS Plus for many reasons.
There are plenty of excellent games that have been added to PS Plus since it began over a decade ago. However, the multiplayer titles may be best suited for PlayStation Plus. There have been a few special additions that have taken off in remarkable ways thanks to the service, as the entire community gets behind the game together. Meanwhile, singleplayer titles — while brilliant — may be better suited for other services such as Xbox Game Pass or PS Now.
Multiplayer PS Plus Games That Hit It Big
Rocket League was one of the first and best examples of a hugely successful PS Plus multiplayer game. Launching back in July of 2015, the unique car sports title started out with a bang as a free game with a PS Plus subscription, and never looked back. Millions of PlayStation players were eager to play the unusual spin on soccer that would go on to be a surprise 2015 game of the year candidate.
Rocket League was a huge hit, and it still is to this day. Soon after its PS4 and PC release, the game was ported to the Xbox, Switch, and other platforms. The initial boom allowed the game to see continued sales success on the PlayStation after it left PS Plus, and that was true for the game's releases on other platforms as well. All of this also allowed Rocket League to gracefully evolve to a free-to-play model years later as well.
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is the most recent example of a multiplayer game releasing on PS Plus with massive achievement, a title that is soon coming up on its first year anniversary. Fall Guys may be one of the biggest hits of 2020, and it has PS Plus to partially thank for that. The chaotic game was released on August 4, 2020, for free for PS Plus users, and developer Mediatonic has ridden the momentum ever since.
Developer Mediatonic was hoping to replicate the success of Rocket League with PS Plus, and it instead broke every PS Plus record imaginable. Fall Guys ended its run on the service as the most downloaded title ever, breaking Rocket League's numbers, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered. The high download count was not the only thing that helped the game, and just like Rocket League, Fall Guys rode the wave and continued its success moving forward.
In this case, the game became a Twitch/streaming service darling. The last-man-standing party game has also continued to sell very well on PlayStation and PC, tallying 11 million copies in just four months. Fall Guys is also set to release on Xbox consoles and Switch soon.
In the case of both Rocket League and Fall Guys, both games launched day-one on PS Plus. The games themselves reviewed well, but plenty of multiplayer titles are critically acclaimed and unfortunately have ended up being forgotten. In these two examples, the fact that the titles launched on a 47 million subscriber service like PS Plus (as of May 2021) means that a community could instantly get behind them. And from that moment on, the developers can keep the games going with strong post-launch support.
Why Multiplayer Games Make Sense for PS Plus
Singleplayer titles can be excellent additions for PS Plus. Games like Shadow Of The Colossus, Bloodborne, and The Last Of Us Remastered have all been a part of the service at one point or another. Not only are those games very well received and perhaps allow players to enjoy the games for the first time, they can also introduce fans to a series or genre for the first time. That being said, there is something special about an entire community coming together to play a game like Rocket League or Fall Guys all at the same time, and then that title growing after that initial explosion.
The online-only (or online-focused) games allow for the community to get a taste of a free game and build a community around it. This means that the developer gets a head start on the success of the game. The move makes all the sense in the world for the developer and publisher, especially with so many subscribers having access to the games. Launching the game initially on the service seems to be the wisest move, if the game is right. Once the game has passed the PS Plus stage, it can still ride the wave of momentum from being a PS Plus game. A one-and-done singleplayer game simply doesn’t have the same advantage.
Multiplayer Games on PlayStation Plus Compared to Xbox Game Pass
Xbox Game Pass has plenty of multiplayer titles on its ever-growing library. In fact, some games with multiplayer or multiplayer elements, like MLB The Show 21 or Outriders, have launched on the service to solid success. However, none have yet been able to capture the magic of that first month of Rocket League or Fall Guys, followed by the massive community thereafter. It could be because Xbox Game Pass is a subscription service with literally hundreds of games to chose from, while PS Plus gives players just a couple each month, therefore the entire community gets behind one unknown and perhaps thrilling title.
As many argue that Xbox Game Pass is perhaps the best value in gaming, PS Plus may be one of the better places to launch multiplayer games. It is a great place for a developer to start a game off with an entire community backing it, if the game is the right fit. After that initial burst, the developer can ride the momentum, release the game on other platforms, and even switch to a free-to-play model at some point. The first impression is very important, and PS Plus is a great way to start.