Hey there fellow PlayStation fan! Have you been thinking about trying out a PlayStation Plus subscription to enjoy free monthly games and other benefits, but don‘t want to commit to paying just yet? Well you‘re in luck, because Sony recently introduced 7-day free trials for PS Plus in certain regions. Read on below and I‘ll explain everything you need to know about which areas currently offer free trials.
Free PS Plus Trials Now Available!
First, some quick background. As I‘m sure you know, PlayStation Plus (PS Plus) is Sony‘s premium online service that gives subscribers access to online multiplayer gaming, free monthly downloadable games, exclusive discounts, cloud storage, and features like Share Play.
Back in June 2022, Sony revamped PS Plus into three new membership tiers offering differing levels of benefits:
- PS Plus Essential – Same as the original PS Plus with online play, free monthly games, discounts, cloud storage.
- PS Plus Extra – Adds a catalog of 400+ PS4 and PS5 games available for download.
- PS Plus Premium – Adds cloud streaming, a classic games catalog, time-limited game trials.
Previously there was no way to try these tiers for free. But excitingly, Sony recently introduced 7-day free trials of PS Plus Extra and Premium in select regions!
This means you can now test drive all the benefits of Extra/Premium like the game catalog for a full week before deciding if you want to continue with a paid subscription. Keep reading and I‘ll explain exactly where free trials are available.
Current Regions Offering Free Trials
So far, free PS Plus Extra/Premium trials have launched in only two regions:
United Kingdom
- Accounts based in the UK got access to Extra/Premium trials first.
- You can start a free 7-day trial directly from the PlayStation Store.
- Provides full access to the PS Plus Extra game catalog and benefits.
- Auto-renews to a paid membership after 7 days unless you cancel.
- Only for new PS Plus subscribers, previous members can‘t get another free trial.
United States
- Accounts based in the US were next to get free trial access.
- Also provides a 7-day free trial of PS Plus Extra or Premium tiers.
- Grants full use of Extra/Premium benefits and hundreds of downloadable games.
- Transitions to a paid monthly membership after the 7 days are up, unless canceled ahead of time.
- Only available for new subscribers, not existing members.
So those are the only two regions that currently offer free PS Plus Extra/Premium trials. No other major PlayStation markets like Europe or Japan have free trials yet.
Sony hasn‘t provided any details on whether free trials will be coming to other regions down the road. For now, it seems like they are limiting trials to the UK and US while they analyze engagement and conversion rates. Expanding to more countries is definitely a possibility later on if the trials prove successful.
A Quick Look at Extra and Premium Tiers
Since the free trials let you access the Extra and Premium tiers, let‘s recap what those offer compared to the base Essential plan:
Benefits | Essential | Extra | Premium |
---|---|---|---|
Online Multiplayer | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Free Monthly Games | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Exclusive Discounts | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Cloud Storage | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Game Catalog Access | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
Game Streaming | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Classic Games | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
Game Trials | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
As you can see, the Extra and Premium tiers build on Essential by adding a huge catalog of games available for download (400+ titles), cloud streaming, a library of classic PS1/PS2/PSP games (340+ titles on Premium), and time-limited game trials.
The free trials let you experience all of these great benefits completely risk-free for 7 days. That‘s more than enough time to download and play a bunch of games, check out some classics, and decide if it‘s worth paying for!
How to Get the Free Trials
If you‘re located in either the UK or US, signing up for the 7-day free PS Plus Extra or Premium trial is quick and easy. Here are the steps:
1. Go to the PlayStation Store on your PS4/PS5 and select the PS Plus hub.
You can find the PlayStation Plus section prominently featured on the store‘s homepage.
2. Choose either a 1-month PS Plus Extra or Premium membership.
You can select whichever tier you want to try out for free.
3. Select "Try for Free" instead of paying.
This will start your 7-day free trial period. Make sure you don‘t choose the normal pricing option by accident!
4. Enter your payment details.
This is required even though you aren‘t paying yet. Your card will only be charged if you don‘t cancel within the 7 days.
That‘s all it takes! After signing up, you can start enjoying immediate access to online multiplayer, monthly games, the Extra/Premium catalog, streaming, discounts, and any other benefits of the tier you selected.
Make the most of your free week! Play as many games as you can, try streaming, and see if the upgraded PS Plus membership is worth it for you before the trial period ends.
What Happens After the Free Trial?
An important thing to note is that the PS Plus Extra/Premium free trial will automatically convert to a paid monthly membership after 7 days unless you manually turn off auto-renewal.
So if you just do nothing after the free period, you‘ll start being charged the standard monthly rate for whichever tier you tried out (currently $14.99 for Extra and $17.99 for Premium in the US).
To avoid any unexpected charges, make sure to cancel your membership before the trial is up if you decide PS Plus Extra/Premium isn‘t worth it. You can easily turn off auto-renewal in your PlayStation account settings.
And if you do love the upgraded PS Plus? Well then you can sit back and relax knowing your membership will seamlessly transition to a paid subscription so you can keep enjoying those great benefits!
Previous PlayStation Plus Free Trials
While the current Extra and Premium free trials are pretty limited, PlayStation Plus did offer various free access promotions and trials over the years in different regions. Here‘s a quick history:
- 14-day trials – Occasional 14-day PS Plus trials were provided in Europe and Japan.
- 7-day trials – Before the current offer, 7-day PS Plus trials were available primarily in Europe.
- Weekend multiplayer access – A few times, free PS Plus multiplayer was given to all PS4 users for a weekend.
- 30-day vouchers – Some new PSN accounts scored a 30-day PS Plus voucher when purchasing a new PlayStation system.
So while not super common, there is a history of PlayStation running free trial periods and promotions for PS Plus in various locations before this latest offer. More free trials could definitely show up again in other regions in the future.
Other Ways to Preview PS Plus
Aside from the limited regional trials, there are a couple other sneaky ways you may be able to preview PlayStation Plus benefits risk-free:
- Share a friend‘s subscription – Try online multiplayer or monthly games on your friend‘s PlayStation if they have an active PS Plus membership.
- Use PS Plus family sharing – Join a family group to get shared access to Plus benefits.
- Redeem a gift card or promo code – Occasionally free trials are given out through contests, promotions or third-party sellers.
- Create a new PSN account – Sometimes brand new accounts get special trial offers when signing up.
- Buy a PS5 bundle – Some PS5 console packages come with 1-month PS Plus trial codes.
While not full featured trials, these options can let you sample some Plus benefits or games for free. Useful if you have no other way to try out the service!
Regional Differences in Monthly Games
One other key regional difference with PlayStation Plus is the selection of free games provided each month to subscribers. While there is a lot of overlap, the free monthly PS4 and PS5 game lineups do vary across regions:
- Asia – Gets most of the same monthly games as Europe/North America, but may have 1 or 2 swapped titles.
- Japan – Receives a completely unique set of PS Plus monthly games different than other regions.
- China – Also gets an exclusive set of monthly games separate from the rest of the world.
- North America – Normally has identical PS Plus monthly game lineups as Europe, with occasional substitutions.
- Europe/UK – Almost always has the exact same free monthly game selections as North America.
So while Europe and North America get the same PS Plus monthly games 95% of the time, Japan and Asia receive some variations, and China gets totally separate monthly titles.
The free trials let you experience the Extra/Premium game catalog that all regions share. But the future monthly free games will differ depending on where you‘re located.
Using Foreign PS Plus Subscriptions
Since PS Plus is region-locked, you might wonder if it‘s possible to sign up for a subscription in the UK or US trials, and then use it in a different region. Thankfully, while not super straightforward, there is a way!
The trick is to create a PSN account matched to the subscription region, and set that account as the primary account on your PlayStation. You can then play on your regular account from your own region while benefiting from the foreign PS Plus membership.
Here are the steps:
Make a new PSN account based in the UK or US (whichever trial you want to use).
Sign up for the PS Plus trial with that account.
On your PlayStation, set that new UK/US account as the primary account.
Log into your usual PSN account and enjoy the PS Plus benefits!
With this setup, you can access the Extra/Premium catalog, play online, get monthly games, and use Share Play globally from your real account thanks to the foreign subscription on your primary account.
The process is a bit convoluted, but it does provide a way to try out PS Plus in regions where free trials aren‘t available natively. Just make sure to cancel the foreign membership before the trial is up if you don‘t plan to continue paying for that region‘s PS Plus!
In Summary
Let‘s recap the key points about PlayStation Plus free trials:
- 7-day free trials for PS Plus Extra and Premium are currently available in the UK and US.
- Trials provide full access to Extra/Premium benefits like game catalogs for a week.
- Previous occasional free trials were offered in various regions.
- You can sign up for the trials easily on PlayStation Store in supported countries.
- The memberships convert to paid after the 7 days unless you cancel.
- Monthly PS Plus games differ across regions like Asia, Japan, China.
- You can use a foreign PS Plus trial on your console by setting up account primacy.
Hopefully this breakdown gave you a better understanding of exactly which regions can currently take advantage of the PlayStation Plus free trials! Enjoy previewing all those awesome Extra and Premium benefits risk-free for seven days. And let me know if you have any other questions!