Sony offering major discounts on multiple platforms in the PlayStation Essentials sale

By Kris Wouk Published January 13, 2016

It doesn’t matter if you ended up with a new PlayStation 4 over the holidays or are still getting the most out of your trusty PlayStation 3 — either way, this might be a great week to pick up something new. Sony is kicking off 2016 with its week-long PlayStation Essentials sale, offering up to 75 percent off games and movies. If you’re a PlayStation Plus member, you save up to 80 percent.

Looking at the PS4, Grand Theft Auto V is down to $45, while if you want to take a look at the series’ history, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas can be had for just over $10. Dragon Age: Inquisition Deluxe Edition is down to $18, while the console exclusive Infamous: Second Son and Infamous: First Light are down to $12 and $9, respectively.

Recommended Videos

Moving on to the PS3, the Call of Duty Black Ops & Black Ops II Bundle is on sale for $40, down from a retail price of $110. The Devil May Cry HD collection is on sale for $7.50, while DMC Devil May Cry can be had for $15. While not quite as visually impressive as the PS4 version, the PS3 version of Dragon Age: Inquisition Deluxe Edition is cheaper at $12.50.

The selection isn’t quite as broad for Vita owners, but there are some great games on sale. Persona 4: Golden is down to $12 from its usual $30, while OlliOlli is available as a 3-Way Cross-Buy for just $5.20. If you’d prefer to go old-school, a number of PSOne Classics including Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy Tactics, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and Xenogears are on sale for $4, with others like Suikoden selling for $1.50.

As for movies, the HD versions of Kingsman: The Secret Service and Interstellar are on sale for $10, while a number of films including Friday, Into The Storm, Jupiter Ascending, Gravity and Argo: Declassified Edition Extended can be had for $7.

The sale runs until Monday, January 18, and there is a whole lot more on sale than is mentioned here. For the full list of games, head over to the PlayStation Blog.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

Gaming

PlayStation Network is still down after more than 12 hours

A soldier fighting a bile spewer in Helldivers 2.

Last night, PlayStation Network went down across the globe — and it's still not back online. The number of complaints about the outage peaked around 7 PM, with more than 14,000 users reporting issues at DownDetector. When the service first went offline, many players assumed it was temporary — perhaps overloaded servers on a Friday night — but you still can't log on, and the outage has revealed more cracks in Sony's network.

Sony posted on X that the company was aware of the outage and suggested players check status.playstation.com for more information. Unfortunately, every single indicator from Account Management to PlayStation Direct is currently offline, and there isn't an estimated resolution time in sight.

Gaming

3 new PlayStation Plus games to play this weekend (February 7-9)

A player points a gun at a tiny town in High on Life.

It's the shortest month of the year, but PlayStation is still packing it full of new games joining the PlayStation Plus catalog. The first week is always dedicated to the Essential tier, meaning these games are available to anyone with a subscription. Time is at a premium this month with all the massive upcoming PS5 games, like Monster Hunter Wilds and Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, but they aren't here just yet. This weekend, we have a series of games that are perfect holdovers to make the wait for your next giant time investment more bearable. We've got a fantastic co-op game, a shorter game you might be able to beat in a day or two, and a surprising remake you might just fall in love with. If you've got nothing else planned, these are the 3 new PlayStation Plus games you should check out this weekend.
High on Life
HIGH ON LIFE Official Game Trailer

Games very rarely attempt to be funny on purpose. Comedy is already incredibly subjective, and because the player has so much control over the pace of a game it makes it almost impossible for every joke to land as it is intended. High on Life comes from Squanch Games and is one of the rare examples of a game that uses the medium of games to its advantage when crafting jokes. It is a brisk first-person shooter set in a sci-fi world where you become an alien bounty hunter welding living weapons called Gatlians that are all voiced by comedians such as J. B. Smove, Tim Robinson, Betsy Sodaro, Jack Black, and many more. If the humor of Rick and Morty doesn't hit for you, it may not do it for you here either, but if it does then you'll have a blast.

Gaming

The PlayStation 6 could launch in 2027 according to chipset leak

A PlayStation 5 connected to a TV, showing the Sony Pictures Core interface.

According to a known tipster, the PlayStation 6 chipset is nearly ready for fabrication, with estimates giving it a release window as early as 2027 — as long as current patterns continue. Take the news with a grain of salt, though; none of this is confirmed, and this is one of the earliest supposed leaks we've seen.

User KeplerL2 shared the initial information in a NeoGaf forum post. The estimated release window of 2027 is based on previous Sony trends; each Sony console is released typically two years after entering the fabrication stage. The range also fits the typical seven-year lifespan for Sony consoles. The PS3 dropped in 2006, the PS4 in 2013, and the PS5 in 2020, according to Android Authority.