PlayStation Plus Adds Dino Crisis, Removing 18 Games in November

PlayStation Plus subscribers get a huge update today, specifically those in the Premium and Extra tiers. Sony has added the much-anticipated retro classic Dino Crisis, along with a new PlayStation 2 emulator—but that does come with a catch: 18 games are going to be taken off the platform in November.

After many years of demand, Dino Crisis finally arrived on PlayStation Plus, originally developed by Capcom. Much has been teased about its highly anticipated return since last year's leaked promotional banners, and finally, today is the day it officially returns since the original PlayStation launch.

However, fans are in an uproar because the game cannot be purchased directly—unlike previous retro titles which, when they were added, could be purchased directly if subscribers did not want the whole Premium package. Instead, Dino Crisis is only available through the subscription service and has raised criticism about consumer ownership limitations.

Apart from the above news, it is taking a brand-new PlayStation 2 emulator, which shall be used to solve prior technical issues with older emulators used within titles of the PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2. Among other features, this update of the older emulator introduces trophy support, save states, and multiple display filters to bring more out of the retro gaming experience.

However, trophy support appears a bit inconsistent—Dino Crisis contains no trophies, and plenty of fans have shown their disappointment with this fact, commonly in the form of stating that, given the price of PlayStation Plus Premium, these value-adds at least should be included by default.

The more disturbing news for users, however, is that 18 games, like GTA: San Andreas, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen, and Blasphemous, will disappear in mid-November from PlayStation Plus. Among them are some very critically acclaimed titles, leaving users scratching their heads to understand why Sony allowed such licenses to expire. Many say that Blasphemous and Moving Out being smaller titles should be relatively affordable to retain, but none of that matters—they are all still being pulled from a service irrespective of what may well be going on about cost management.

In the meantime, Alien Isolation 2 is officially announced by Creative Assembly and God of War Ragnarok got the PS5 Pro enhanced tag on its PlayStation listing.

A sad turn for subscribers, especially during the middle of experiencing such titles. It also created a buzz about the transitive nature of digital content ownership—a sentiment most gamers would agree with and rather opt to have a physical copy of their favorite games, which would ensure them the right to access.

Although I'm mixed on the sentiment, today's update has brought some real nostalgia to long-time PlayStation fans. With Dino Crisis added to its retro catalog, it's appreciated, though still hampered by restrictive subscription models and no purchase options.