Update [Thu 11th Jan, 2024 09:30 GMT]: Now it's official! According to the latest PlayStation blog, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace will be made available to new and existing PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers on January 16th, alongside the PS1 title Rally Cross, the PS4 compilation Street Fighter: 30th Anniversary Collection, and the remakes of Trials of Mana and Secret of Mana.
You can read the PlayStation blog post here for more information.
Original Story [Thu 7th Dec, 2023 13:00 GMT]: The Taiwanese video game classification body has rated Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace for PS4 and PS5, as reported by Gematsu (and picked up by VGC).
This has inevitably led some online to speculate that it may be about to join the collection of PlayStation Plus Classics available to PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers sometime in the future.
Originally released in 1999 for Windows PCs and PS1, Big Ape and LucasArts' adaptation of the Star Wars prequel was an action-adventure game that closely followed the plot of its big-screen counterpart, letting you take control of Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and various other characters across a range of levels inspired by the film.
As you may expect, given the audience blowback to the film, it didn't necessarily receive the best reviews at launch, with Next Generation magazine awarding it just 1 out of 5, while the US version of Official PlayStation Magazine called it a "disappointment" and recommended it only to the most rabid fans. Nevertheless, we imagine there are a lot of people who grew up playing it, who might be tempted to give it a go should it eventually appear as playable on the service.
We'll try and keep you updated on any news. You can watch a longplay of the game below: