You are required to be a member of PlayStation Plus Essential, PlayStation Plus Extra, PlayStation Plus Deluxe or PlayStation Plus Premium in order to play online multiplayer for a vast majority of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games. The only exceptions to this rule are free-to-play such as Apex Legends, Call of Duty Warzone, Destiny 2, Fall Guys, Fortnite, Genshin Impact, Multiversus and Rocket League.
To see how you can check to see if a specific game requires PS Plus for online play, you can take a look at this tutorial from Seeking Tech.
1. To start off, make sure you turn on your PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4 Pro, PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 5 Digital Edition console if you haven’t done so already.
2. Next, you need to head over to the product page of the game.
If the game is already installed and on the home page of your PS5, then you can move the cursor to the game’s icon. From there, go down and then select the three dots icon. Finally, select View Product in the pop-up menu.
If the game is not on the home page, then you can go to the Game Library menu. Select the game from there and then select the three dots icon. In the small window menu, you should then select the View Product option.
Alternatively, you can simply search for the game on the PlayStation Store of the PS5. Searching the online shop is also the only way to view a game’s product page on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro console.
3. Once you get to the product page on your PlayStation 5, look for a small box located to the right.
You can also select the same small box to open the Compatibly Notices menu.
If you see the “PS Plus required for online play” line, then it means that you need to subscription in order to play this specific game online.
On the PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 4 Pro, you should see the following yellow-colored text on the game’s product page if it requires you to be a PS Plus member:
“Paid PlayStation Plus subscription required for online multiplayer.”
Even if you aren’t subscribed to any of the PlayStation Plus tiers, you can still be able to play online if someone else is willing to share their benefits with you. To see how you can share PS Plus benefits across multiple PSN accounts, you can follow the steps laid out in this step-by-step tutorial.