PlayStation Plus Video Pass: Sony leaks new movie perk for PS Plus users

What looks like a perk for PS Plus subscribers could include a collection of Sony movies to stream.

By Brodie Fogg

Apr 23, 2021

2 min read

As spotted by VGC, PlayStation has reportedly blown its own surprise by uploading (and quickly removing) a logo and banner image for something called PlayStation Plus Video Pass to its official website in Poland. The accompanying description text read as follows:

“A new benefit available for a limited time on PlayStation Plus… PS Plus Video Pass is a trial service active 22.04.21 – 22.04.22. The subscription benefit is available to PS Plus users in Poland.”

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The banner image for the service showcases three movies from Sony Pictures: Venom, Zombieland: Double Tap and Bloodshot. If the leak is accurate, PlayStation Video Pass appears to be a bonus perk for PlayStation Plus subscribers that adds movies to the subscription service, which currently offers free monthly games, exclusive discounts, and a library of PlayStation 4 classics to download with the PS Plus Collection perk on PlayStation 5.

Here's the logo up close:

Last year, Sony also acquired Australia's Madman Entertainment and rolled its anime streaming service Crunchyroll under the Funimation umbrella, which is also home to AnimeLab, another anime streaming service. So if Sony does decide to bolster its PS Plus service with video content, it’s got more than just Sony Pictures movies in its arsenal; the question is whether it will take advantage of it.

Sony has been under a lot of pressure to launch a service that offers similar value to Xbox Game Pass but has so, so far, refused to commit to anything. It does have the inferior PlayStation Now service in Europe, North America and Japan but no equivalent locally in Australia. There is the aforementioned PS Plus collection for PlayStation 5 users but Sony has stated explicitly that is weighing up player interest in the service before deciding if it will add any more games.

Similarly, the leaked image describes PlayStation Plus Video Pass as a “trial service” that is only planned to run for 12 months and specifies that it will be available in Poland, though this is likely down to the fact that it first appeared on the Poland site, rather than an indication that it will be available exclusively in Poland. Still, Australia has missed out before (PlayStation Now) and there’s no indication that things will be different this time around.

Then again, do we really care? I mean, you've got to be doing it tough if Vin Diesel's Bloodshot is one of the marquee titles for your service. It's the PlayStation equivalent of Apple forcing U2's Songs of Innocence on iPhone users. Okay, maybe not that quite as cruel.

Written by

Brodie Fogg

Brodie Fogg is the Australian editorial lead at Reviews.org. He has covered consumer tech, telecommunications, video games, streaming and entertainment for over five years at websites like WhistleOut and Finder and can be found sharing streaming recommendations at 7NEWS every month.