What to expect from next month’s PlayStation Plus lineup.
August is almost upon us, and with it a brand new lineup of free PlayStation Plus Essential games just in time for back-to-school, which rolls out over the next few weeks depending on where you live and how unlucky you (or your kids) might be. What should gamers expect this coming month? July is almost over and it’s time to make some predictions.
This also means you have about a week or so to claim July’s rather excellent lineup of PS Plus Essential titles. Don’t sleep on these, as they include a fantastic fighting game, one of the best modern action-RPGs out there and a super unique indie title about exploring a mysterious apocalyptic wasteland.
ForbesSony Is Giving Away Some Great Games For PS Plus Subscribers In JulyBy Erik Kain
Last year’s August lineup was pretty fascinating. It included the amazing Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Five Nights at Freddy’s Security Breach and the 2D action-RPG Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights.
Read on for more information on next month’s PS Plus lineup.
What Is PlayStation Plus And How Much Does It Cost?
Play Puzzles & Games on Forbes
PS Plus is Sony’s monthly membership program that grants access to online gaming. You don’t need it for streaming movies or TV shows on Netflix and other services, or for free-to-play games like Warzone or Fortnite. Any paid online games, however, require a subscription.
There are three PS Plus tiers—Essential, Extra and Premium—though for the purposes of this post we’re only discussing the Essential tier’s free monthly games. These tiers cost: PS Plus Essential — $79.99/year; PS Plus Extra — $134.99/year; PS Plus Premium — $159.99/year.
When Will Sony Reveal Next Month’s PS Plus Games?
Sony typically reveals the following month’s games on the last Wednesday of the month, though this isn’t always the case. The actual rule of thumb is that the new lineup (almost) always releases on the first Tuesday of the month and the games are revealed the previous Wednesday.
This means, we should get our big August 2025 reveal on Wednesday, July 30th. August’s Essentials lineup will go live on Tuesday, August 5th. You’ll have until then to download July’s free PS Plus games.
PS Plus August Leaks, Rumors And Predictions
It’s interesting to look back on previous August PS Plus releases as we try to predict this coming month’s games. Remarkably, the smash hit Fall Guys released on Playstation Plus a whopping five years ago in 2020, during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. That same year, we got the remastered campaign of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare. A couple years later we got the remake of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2, which is interesting since 3+4 just released.
We don’t have any big leaks to help guide us for August 2025. The only game releasing on PlayStation (and other platforms) on August 5th is Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Hinokami Chronicles 2, an anime-based fighting game and sequel to the 2022 game of the same name. This is a possible PS Plus release but I remain doubtful.
Here are some possible PS Plus predictions for August:
Resident Evil 4 Remake — The remake of the popular action-horror game from 2005 was released in 2023 to wide acclaim. It’s old enough to be a contender for a PS Plus release and would definitely be a crowd-pleaser.
Elden Ring — FromSoftware’s mega-hit action-RPG would be a huge win for Sony and PlayStation Plus gamers. Even Demon’s Souls Remake would be a massive win, though I put both of these in the “wishful thinking” column. Still, Elden Ring might make sense given the recent release of the standalone multiplayer spinoff Nightreign.
Star Wars Outlaws — Ubisoft’s open-world Star Wars game wasn’t the hit they needed, but it’s still a pretty fun way to head to a galaxy far, far away and rub shoulders with scum and villainy. It would make a really perfect PS Plus release.
Death Stranding — Hideo Kojima’s weirdest game was a big enough hit to commission a sequel and that sequel just came out. There’s really no better time to release Death Stranding on PS+ than right now (though maybe a month or two ago would have been more ideal).
Topspin 2k25 — The tennis sports game from 2024 would be in keeping with many other PS Plus months where Sony adds a baseball or tennis or golfing game to the mix. Other possible sports games for August: NHL 25, FC 25.
Street Fighter 6 — The popular fighting game franchise continues to be a crowd-pleaser, and releasing this 2023 game on PS Plus would be fun despite getting a fighting game last month. That makes me doubtful we’ll see this one, but I’d play it if Sony put it out there.
Cocoon — Indie developer Jeppe Carlsen (Limbo, Inside) released this innovative and unique puzzle game back in 2023 to stellar reviews. It’s been on the wishlist of various PS Plus guessers for a long time now and would certainly be the exact sort of small title that would make gamers happy in August.
Trine 5 — I used to absolutely love the Trine games. I remember playing them with my kids when they were little. The gorgeous artwork in those games plus the couch co-op just made them such a delight. Then I forgot about them, and I actually never did play the fifth game. I’d love to, though. It would be super nostalgic for the whole family. Here’s hoping!
What games would you like to see come to PS Plus this August? Any insights or predictions? Any leaks I should know about? Let me know on Twitter or Facebook. Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog. You can also sign up for my Substack newsletter, Diabolical, where I talk culture and politics and the arts.
