Publishers Pitch Sony on Adding Retro Classics to PS Plus

Exactly how do new retro titles get selected for PS Plus Premium? It’s a question we’ve been pondering for a while, as the rollout has been mixed since the service started a few years ago.

While we’ve seen obvious first-party titles like Sly Cooper and Ape Escape added to the service, there’s so many all-time classics missing – especially when you consider Sony’s emulator now spans PS1, PS2, and PSP.

It sounds like, in some cases, publishers are pitching their portfolio to the Japanese giant.

Take the recent addition of Battle Engine Aquila from Ziggurat, for example, a relatively unknown mech-style shooter originally released in 2003. While it’s a largely liked title, its inclusion in Sony’s subscription service struck us as odd in the absence of so many other household names.

Here’s what producer Alex Lotz told us when we asked how it ended up added to the service:

“Ziggurat approached Sony about bringing the game to the PlayStation Classics catalogue. The in-house emulation team at PlayStation handled the core development, while Ziggurat had review and approval on the builds, publishing materials, and network features like Trophies.”

Lotz told us that Sony came up with the initial list of Trophies, and Ziggurat had input and approval on the final set. He added that while he doesn’t have anything to announce at this point in time, his company is looking to add more retro titles to PS Plus Premium in the future.

We suspect the PlayStation maker is also regularly speaking with publishers about the potential of adding games from their catalogue, but when it comes to the likes of Square Enix and a popular game like, say, Chrono Trigger, it probably has plans to do its own remasters.

Ultimately, the retro classics are among our favourite things about PS Plus Premium these days, but the rollout is just far too slow.

PlayStation’s back catalogue is absolutely bursting at the seams with worthwhile candidates, but the cadence of one or two new titles per month means it could be years before the manufacturer assembles a meaningful collection of classics.

We just hope the company doesn’t pull the plug on the whole programme before it realises its full potential.