With games like Starfield and Baldur’s Gate 3 in major releases alone, the last four weeks have been a very big month for gamers. There’s been some somber, disturbing news and major hiccups between these games, but overall, it’s been an exciting time. However, a note at the tail end of the August 30 Playstation Plus blog put a damper on this for many gamers, announcing a price increase for the 12-month PS+ plans.
People who unplugged from console gaming a few years ago might be confused about how PlayStation introduced tiers of service. As previously covered in 2022, this was likely a rebuttal to Microsoft’s very popular Xbox Game Pass. In addition to the regular $59.99 a year for Plus, the company added $99.99 and $119.99 levels. The pricier ones include hundreds of games, cloud services, extended trials, and more. This is on top of the ability to play online, in-store discounts, and three free games a month provided by basic PS+.
Now, just one year and five months later, in a blog post primarily about which games will be available on the service in September, PlayStation announced a cost increase of 33% for each tier, as of September 6.
- PS+ Essential was $59.99 yearly and is now $79.99.
- PS+ Extra was $99.99 yearly and is now $134.99.
- PS+ Premium was $119.99 and is now $159.99.
Is this still a discount compared to paying monthly or every three months? Yes. The increase still offers a $40 to $56 discount for people with the disposable income to fork over the upfront cost. Does this still suck? Also yes. The blog reasons the hike will “enable us to continue bringing high-quality games and value-added benefits.” This is very vague and disingenuous, especially on the heels of removing the PS+ Collection for millions of players just a few months back.
It’s possible to implement price increases for reasons better than “we’ve gotta.” The company could look to pay people more fairly. Additionally, they could share a higher percentage of profits with smaller publishers’ games played via the subscription service. After all, the Spotification and Netflixication of gaming is crushing indie devs in what’s already an uphill battle, though there are obvious exceptions to the rule. However, the subscription model lessens their cut from already expensive games.
But no such justification was given for the price increase, just vague corporate marketing speak.
With few exceptions (like playing online with friends), there’s not a lot of good reasons to participate in PS+. This is even before the price increase, one week out, was announced at the bottom of a blog—one they ended it with “We’ll notify current subscribers of these changes via email and will have additional details on our website soon.” As of this writing (the day before the change), players have yet to receive an email about the price increase.
(Playstation Blog, featured image: PlayStation)
