One of the great PS1 games is currently being locked away on PS5 by PlayStation behind a paywall. When most PlayStation fans think of the greatest generation of PlayStation, they probably think of the PS2, the best-selling video game console of all time and a time where PlayStation dominated the console market. In comparison, what console doesn’t get as much love is the PS1, which simply may be the result of this generation of gaming coming before many PlayStation gamers. Also, a lot PS1 games don’t hold up very well.
One PS1 game that does hold up pretty well, and is a fan-favorite among many PlayStation fans, recently came to PS5 alongside a release in PS Plus Premium, the most expensive tier of the subscription service. The majority of PS1 games released via PS Plus Premium are available to non-subscribers as standalone purchases, usually for $9.99 or sometimes even less.
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Every once in a while though, PlayStation deviates from this path and locks a a retro PlayStation game behind a PS Plus Premium subscription. And it has done this with one of the biggest PS1 games re-released on PS5 this year.
Those on PS5 who want to play Dino Crisis — which was recently re-released on PS5 — can’t currently buy the game outright like many other PS1 games on PS5. Rather, a PS Plus Premium subscription is needed. This means either forking over $17.99 for a one-month subscription or subscribing at the yearly $159.99 rate. Whatever the case, it is going to cost you more than it does to typically purchase PS1 games on PS5.
Whether this will change over time, we don’t know. This is obviously a play from Sony to get PS5 users to to PS Plus Premium, which means it may eventually remove this restriction, but there is no guarantee this will happen or even any indication to believe this will happen, especially if the strategy works.
For those who are not familiar with Dino Crisis, it released back in 1999 as a PS1 exclusive. From the creator (Shinji Mikami) and the Capcom team behind Resident Evil, it released to an 84 on Metacritic and to decent commercial success, both of which combined to spawn a series of the same name that spanned 1999 to 2003 across four releases.
“A covert mission to investigate an isolated research facility goes awry when a world-renowned scientist is found alive three years after his reported death,” reads an official blurb about the game for those unfamiliar with it. “Shockingly, he’s not the only thing back from the grave. Experience the thrill of survival against prehistoric threats in this horror classic!”
It has been 22 years since the last we saw Dino Crisis. For PlayStation to finally bring it back and make it one of the few PS Plus Premium PS1 games locked behind the subscription service is a decision that has not sat well with many PlayStation fans. Right now though, it appears to be a decision it is sticking to.