Sony's rumored Spartacus program looks to be the Xbox Game Pass competitor that PlayStation fans have been waiting for, but official information about this strange new project is scarce. One of Spartacus' main features is supposed to be the ability to play classic titles from old PS consoles, and some new game listings on the PlayStation 5 game store seem to suggest the same.
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Users have started reporting that the PlayStation 5 game store now has official listings for Dead or Alive 5 and a few other games, all of which – so far – have been exclusive to the PlayStation 3. Since Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reported that Spartacus subscriptions could offer access to PS exclusives, both modern and old, these new listings suggest that the project could be further along than initially suggested.
The appearance of some PlayStation 3 games on the PS5 store, first reported by Jordan Middler via Twitter, was initially limited to Dead or Alive 5, but the list has since grown to include Bejeweled 3 and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones HD. Given that the PlayStation Store is a generalized marketplace with games for all of Sony's internet-enabled consoles, this alone wouldn't be worth mentioning, but PS5 users typically don't see pricing information for games they can't buy in the first place.
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It goes without saying that this isn't official confirmation of a Sony Spartacus feature, and there's every chance this is just a visual glitch in the PS Store. However, having PS3 games available on the latest PlayStation consoles would be a huge boon for the company.
In fact, the new PlayStation subscription service will be functionally a combination of PS Plus and PS Now, but with a tiered pricing structure. According to the latest information, access to PlayStation 3 games will be limited to the highest-priced tier, which will include both PS1 and PS2 titles. Given that specific details about the Spartacus program are scarce, interested gamers will have to wait a little longer to see if Sony has a truly compelling alternative to Xbox Game Pass.
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As mentioned above, this could be a bug, with the PS Store likely pulling its pricing information from PS Now libraries where users can rent products individually. For now, PlayStation fans will have to wait and see what happens and whether it is indeed related to Spartacus.
Information source: bleepingcomputer.com
