Game... Trials? Paying to play a slightly bigger demo?
The higher tiers have a bigger focus on... streaming?Instead of the FAR superior option to just download the game?
Unless I'm reading something wrong, this sounds completely horrible.
Yes, you're reading it wrong. The lowest tier would have the same content and pricing (and seems that name) than the current PS Plus. The highest tier would be a PS Plus and PS Now bundle but adding hundreds of games more to PS Now from PS1/PS2/PS3/PS4/PS5/PSP, plus 'extended game demos' (we don't know what exacty is) and some extra stuff.
PS Now games are streameable on console and PC, and in the near future in phones, tablets and smart tvs, plus its games of platforms that run natively in the console are also downloadable there.
The intermediate tier would be an equivalent to base Gamepass tier, in this case it would bundle PS Plus, and a PS Now version without cloud gaming, its downloadable games part. It's fair to assume that as happens with gamepass this tier would be available worldwide because what limits PS Now and xCloud to be only available on a few dozen countries is the cloud gaming.
If it's not a Gamepass competitor than what is the point? Is a rename and reprice of PSNow going to suddenly make the subscriber number explode? IF they want to compete in subscriptions or streaming they are going to need to offer some competitive advantage.
Sony already competes with them in game subscriptions and have more subscribers, generate more revenue and unlike MS, Sony has a profitable business with them. Regarding streaming we never got xCloud (or Gamepass Ultimate) numbers so we don't know if it performs better or worse than PS Now. MS is the one who has to close the gap, not Sony.