Is PlayStation Plus Good Value For Money?

Whilst lazing around in bed having some multiplayer fun (split screen Blur is our game of choice) my beloved asked an interesting question, “Is PlayStation Plus good value for money?”

When Sony release details of an upcoming month’s PlayStation Plus games the complaints are immediate; “Very disappointing update (again),” “You’re giving us lame arcade puzzle games like Critter Crunch,” and “I’m so fed up with the content so far,” are just some of the comments on the EU PlayStation Blog.  Are the complaints justified?

Below is a list of the gaming content from the first six months worth of PlayStation Plus. I have not counted avatars, special offers or themes. Any price in italic is an estimate (from my admittedly sketchy memory) as the games are no longer available on the PS Store. If you can confirm any of these prices then please mention it the comments section and I will update the table accordingly.

• July 2010

1. LittleBigPlanet – £15.99
2. WipeOut HD – £19.99
3. Fieldrunners – £2.49
4. Age Of Zombies – £0.99
5. Destruction Derby – £3.99
6. Killzone 2 DLC – £4.79

• August 2010

1. Zen Pinball – £7.99
2. Alien Zombie Death – £2.49
3. Blast Off – £2.49
4. Destruction Derby – £3.99
5. Motorstorm: Pacific Rift DLC – £4.79

• September 2010

1. Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playground – £19.99
2. VectorTD – £2.49
3. Echoes – £0.99
4. Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey – £3.99
5. UFC Undisputed 2010 DLC – £3.19

• October 2010

1. Streetfighter 2 HD Remix – £11.99
2. Aeroracer – £2.49
3. Yeti Sports – £2.49
4. Kula World – £3.99
5. Fallout 3 DLC – £39.95

• November 2010

1. Critter Crunch – £7.99
2. Bloons – £3.49
3. Vempire – £1.49
4. Syphon Filter – £3.99

• December 2010

1. Cuboid – £7.99
2. Bubble Trouble – £3.99
3. Dracula: Undead Awakening – £3.99
4. Oddworld: Abe’s Exodus – £3.99
5. Sackboy’s Prehistoric Moves £4.99

If my beloved had subscribed to PlayStation Plus back in July, after the initial outlay of £20 (six months worth of PS+ subscription) he would have received £191.02 worth of content. I have calculated how much money I have personally saved and even though I already have some of the more pricey items such as the Fallout DLC I have saved £105.02. In terms of ‘value for money’ PlayStation Plus is a no-brainer, in just six months a single pound of gaming investment has an interest rate of 930%.

This leaves the question of quality, paying £20 for £180 worth of horse manure is not a good idea unless you have a very large garden. Let’s take a look at the Metacritic scores for each month’s main game.

• WipeOut HD – 87%
• LittleBigPlanet – 95%
• Zen Pinball – 80%
• Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playground – 81%
• Streetfighter 2 HD Remix – 87%
• Critter Crunch – 87%
• Cuboid – 79%

PlayStation Plus has provided exclusive beta to access to blockbuster titles such as Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Killzone 3, full game trials, automatic downloads, DLC, seven top Playstation titles with an average Metacritic rating of 85%, DLC, minis, themes, avatars, money-off offers and bonus items such as Sackboy’s Prehistoric Moves, all for the price of less than a Big Mac meal a month.

Is PlayStation Plus good value for money? Absolutely.

Note: As many of you have pointed out if you cancel your PS+ subscription then you can no longer access any content you many have downloaded. My apologies for not mentioning this, I did assume this was common knowledge. I still think that for the cost of a pint a month PS+ is excellent value.