Sony to drop PS Plus support for Vita and PS3, announces 25% discount on 12-month subs for March

Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe (SIEE) has announced a 25 per cent discount off of 12-month purchases of PS Plus for the month of March.

The deal isn’t quite the whole month, running from Friday March 2 to Friday March 23, available in participating retailers.

Sony also announced that it would be stepping away from PS3 and PlayStation Vita games on the PS Plus service from March 8 of next year (2019). Owners of the PS3 and PlayStation Vita will no longer be given free games from this point onwards. However, this won’t affect any  games previously added to PS Plus accounts using the service, which will continue to be available to PS Plus subscribers.

Sony hasn’t announced any change in the number of PlayStation 4 titles that subscribers will have access to, so strictly-speaking subscribers are now getting less for their money, even if many of the players probably weren’t diving into the PS3 and PS Vita offerings.

That, of course, may change before the switch next year. However, to sweeten the deal now, Sony is offering a substantial discount on 12 month PS Plus subscriptions, and this month the service provides PlayStation 4 titles Bloodborne and Ratchet & Clank, both of which were beloved by critics and fans.

Sony has previously used the PS Plus service to offer up brand new indie titles, developed with support from the company, in the hope of helping them find an audience. In addition, many games find a new lease of life on the service, with over 31.5m PS Plus subscribers around the world providing a ready made audience for games, if they look compelling enough.