At the very end of August, PlayStation will be increasing the price to access their online service, PlayStation Plus.
A PlayStation Plus account is the sort of thing most gamers can’t live without: apart from the free games every month, PS+ is necessary to enjoy the online functionality of … well, basically every game on the PS4. So while not every PS4 user will have a PS+ account, the vast majority do.
So most PS4 users will be affected come 9:01 AM AEST August 31 (7:01 AM AWST, 8:31 AM ACST), when PS+ prices go up by the following amounts: $1 per month to $10.95, or $6.95 to $33.95 for quarterly subscriptions, and a $10 increase to $79.95 for those on yearly plans.
Here’s the full email sent out to PS+ users this evening:
From 09:01 AEST on 31 August 2017 we are changing the prices of PlayStation®Plus.
– Annually, the price will change from $69.95 to $79.95 per annum.
– Quarterly, the price will change from $27.95 to $33.95 per quarter.
– Monthly, the price will change from $9.95 to $10.95 per month.What this means for you
We will alter the price of a PlayStation® Plus membership at 09:01 AEST on 31 August 2017. As you are an existing member, this means that all recurring subscription fees payable by you on or after 31 August 2017 will be charged at the new price. Up until 31 August 2017, you may purchase a PlayStation®Plus subscription at the current price, which will then be added (or “stacked on”) to your current membership period.
If you don’t want to continue with PlayStation®Plus
If you want to prevent your PlayStation®Plus membership continuing at the new price, you will need to cancel it – turn OFF “auto-renew” in your account settings at least 48 hours before your next payment on or after 31 August 2017 is due. There’s some guidance on how to cancel your membership on PlayStation.com.
Comments
57 responses to “PlayStation Plus Prices Are Going Up”
Does someone wanna tell them the quarterly price is now a ripoff?
10.95 pm equals 32.85
Quarterly now equals 33.95…
The fuck sony? Cancelling tonight just out of principle.
I was about to say the same thing! Perhaps not so eloquently though 🙂
If you work it out for the year too, the quarterly has an increase of $24 over the year and the monthly only $12. So it’s definitely not worth paying quarterly imo.
As a online transaction manager I thought I should let you know that quarterly charges usaully cost more due to the fact that it is harder to keep track of the days in a quarter, more so than the end of a single month or an entire year…
And I also made all that shit up, happy gaming!
At first I was like “You’re a fucking liar”…
Then I was like “Wait this…”
At the end I was like:
https://www.awesomegifs.com/wp-content/uploads/jon-stewart-colbert-bravo.gif
This is just fucking greedy shit. Time to make sure my renewel doesnt go through automatically
an increase of $1 for a month? that is greedy how exactly? you still save like five months worth if you buy the year version.
Why the increase? Is there a justifiable reason such as an added service or additional monthly incentive? No. A price hike for no reason other than they can get away with it is greedy regardless of how much it is. Its baffling how anyone with even the smallest amount of common sense could possibly argue against this incredibly simple point…
Because cost of business for everyone rises year on year? More and more PS’s being sold means more backend network equipment costs over time? You talk about common sense a lot for someone who doesn’t use any…
More and more PS’s being sold also means more subscribers?
Well there is still half the services they provide for free without a subscription.
So, while my initial thoughts are ‘this is stupid’ its still a justified cost increase for this generation of consoles even if I don’t like it.
More consoles sold means more people in the community.
More people means more server and network infrastructure for using the free things like; messaging, updates, being actually able to browse the store..
Dont forget the support staff, more admin for more staff, more website/forum maintainers and moderators for increase of users, hell even software developers for those console updates.
Psn is legacy software, It barley works, A price increase isn’t justified without improvement in the subpar service.
That’s the BS sony feeds you.
Steam has proven that there’s no need to pay for playing online.
Hell, on PC even microsoft offers the same service it does on xbox live free of charge.
That alone should tell you enough about just how higher those costs are for the companies.
They’re charging you to pay online because they can, they are increasing the entrance price because again, they can. Either you stop playing online or you suck it up and pay them. They always win either way.
Now if you want to pay and you’re fine with it go ahead pay, it’s your money no one is telling you how to spend it, but don’t come here trying to justify the reasons you’re being asked to pay because there aren’t any besides corporate greed.
Er… so I just checked and MS are currently charging $79.95 per year for Live Gold, which is the price to which Sony will be increasing PS+ at the end of August. Up until now, Sony has been providing a similar service (I’m not getting into quality debates) at a cheaper price. Sure, it might be Sony moving to ‘market price’ but it’s not like Sony is abusing a quasi-monopoly position to increase the price. People need to think about this a bit more before overreacting.
maybe because the cost of all business increase every year? just like prices for all the things we need go up yearly, so do so much of what businesses use to bring us services. why should we get more for our money? as long as they keep delivery good ‘free’ games, stable services, good patches. sure I would prefer to pay less, but things cost money, and not the cost gamers tend to think are ideal.
Like I said above. I dont mind the price increase, as long as it made sense and the quarterly one just doesnt.
Because it is a %15 price hike when we already pay more than the US and get less content for a digital only service where the underlying tech is getting cheaper. It is a classic case of Sony thinking about how much they can get away with, rather it being based on any level or service or improvement.
The increase will mean that Sony and MS are charging the same annual fee. Quality arguments aside, what’s the problem?
The Australian Dollar made some grounds lately, huh?
Netflix Tax
So this is why the free PS+ games have been so good the last few months.
yep that was my thought too
Absolutely this.
Although we maybe getting off lightly when I believe the European price increase for an annual sub is 10 pounds.
Look, the past couple of months have been awesome with a good/great range of games – but this does seem to align with the GST thing for overseas purchases, Netflex & Stan price increases etc.
In related news, Sony sells a lot of year long Plus memberships the day before the increase.
I extended a year when it was on sale recently. I find that PS+ annual memberships are on sale roughly once a year, so I stack up a year or two when that happens.
That means you also got Battlefront with it.
I did not know that, but nice bonus!
That’s how they advertised it.
Que all the people crying “ima cancel dis shit f-u Sony!!!”
But let’s be real people. Prices go up sometimes. It sucks. Those who use the service regularly are still gonna use it. Meanwhile I have actual problems to worry about without getting wound up about some minor at best price issue.
Let the whining begin.
Queue* I just had to correct that as I assume you meant to type your entire paragraph in one language. That aside I do agree with you. It has been 7 years since a price increase for the PS Plus service if I remember correctly, so when it comes down to it unless you are really struggling to afford $10 extra a year then it shouldn’t be an issue. If you are struggling, I am surprised you got the service in the first place – priorities.
My only complaint is the lack of communication as to the reasoning behind the increase. It would be nice if they offered some valid points listing the need to, of which I’m sure they are and perhaps even offer some special deals for long serving subscribers. Their current explanation is about as good as any politicians, the most vague response you could ask for, which doesn’t even answer the question asked. All in all though I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled – I hope the titles each month are good. I already own an Xbox One and will likely to get a Scorpio (I’m not calling it X), which may prompt me to shift over. 🙂
Just to nitpick the nitpick, it’s neither que not queue, it’s cue.
Although in this comment section it’s really a queue 😛
I don’t really think we need an explanation – its cost of doing business and I thought that was obvious. At least this way we are spared a useless PR post justifying a minor price hike.
And yeah I meant to type ‘cue’ 🙂
Que is what Manuel the waiter says haha
phew I am glad I bought a years worth when they had that huge sale a month or so ago.
Yep.
Because we are the smart people! Just like stocking up on boxes of Kleenex when they are on special at the local Supermarkt
😛
I mean I guess they need to charge more for PS+ ti get decent games on the monthly roster; but for me I’m glad to have moved away from online gaming on the Ps4 it’s quite a money sink
I actually only pay the sub cost for the monthly games (and the cloud save facility). The online functionality is a bit of a bonus, but mostly I play single-player or local co-op.
I pay it yearly, so it’s an extra $10 a year for us. I’m not too upset but I’ll probably renew it before August, just so we get another cheaper year stacked on top.
UK goes from £40 to £50 (25%) {Au $82}
Europe goes from €50 to €60 (20%) {Au $88}
We have a 14% increase so not as bad as those two.
NZ stays at NZ$90, but their 1 & 3 months do increase.
I just love the PR speak in their announcement. Not once do they use “increase” or any word with a negative connotation. My favourite is “you can prevent your subscription from recurring” – not afraid to use a negative implication there XD
US Price doesn’t seem to have changed though?
Maybe if they start charging more they can also start offering games with PS+ that are actually good (yeah right)? I don’t even bother looking at the free games lineup any more, it’s always so disappointing.
Last time I checked Just Cause 3 and Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry are decent games…..
Until Dawn was quality, too.
Just Cause 3 is okay I guess.
The trouble is that 90% of the time when they add something that’s actually good, it’s also something most people bought 9-12 months earlier. And then it’ll be months before the next thing in the lineup that’s worth even bothering to download.
Back when they started Plus, it was good stuff every month. The point it all went pear-shaped was when they started doing 2 games per platform per month.
@negativezero is right in a way, though. When Sony first introduced paid subscription there was a rash of decent / good games on PS+, but then there was a noticeable dip in quality, punctuated by occasional nuggets of goodness. In the past 12 months or so the offering (for PS4) has been pretty average with a few gems (I put an asterisk after the ones I consider good):
June 2016 – NBA 2K16 / Gone Home*
July 2016 – Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell / Furi
August 2016 – Tricky Towers / Rebel Galaxy / Ultratron
September 2016 – Lords of the Fallen / Journey* / Badland
October 2016 – Resident Evil / Transformers: Devastation
November 2016 – Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture / The Deadly Tower of Monsters / Letter Quest Remastered / Pumped BMX+
December 2016 – Stories: The Path of Destinies / Invisible Inc. / Hyper Void / Tiny Troopers: Joint Ops / Color Guardians
January 2017 – Day of the Tentacle Remastered / This War of Mine: The Little Ones / The Swindle / Azkend 2: The World Beneath / Titan Souls
February 2017 – LittleBigPlanet 3* / Not A Hero / Starwhal / Ninja Senki DX / TorqueL
March 2017 – Tearaway Unfolded* / Disc Jam / Lumo
April 2017 – Drawn to Death / Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime / 10 Second Ninja X / Curses ‘N Chaos
May 2017 – Alienation* / Tales from the Borderlands* / Laser Disco Defenders / Type: Rider
June 2017 – Killing Floor 2 / Life is Strange* / Neon Chrome / Spy Chameleon
July 2017 – Until Dawn* / Game of Thrones (Telltale)* / Don’t Die, Mr. Robot!
Others may disagree, but for me, there is enough decent stuff there to justify the price. There’s also the added bonus that for me, there’s PS3 games and PS Vita games. I notice that Sony didn’t mention the continued availability of Vita or PS3 games, so I’m worried that when they are inevitably phased out, there’ll be a reduced value proposition for me.
The difference is that they were offering full retail games. Now it’s 90% mediocre digital-only indies that are worth maybe $15-20 at most, and usually months after they actually came out. The ones that are worth owning I tend to already own. When they do get retail games they’re way old – LittleBigPlanet for example was released in 2014.
I stopped even paying attention to the lineup about six months ago, having not downloaded a single title off the service in over a year. Part of my problem admittedly is that I have enough disposable income that I tend to just buy the good stuff at release, to be fair. I own a Vita and PS3 as well, but I haven’t turned the PS3 on in over a year (it just feels so clunky coming off the PS4) and my Vita’s collecting dust recently though I still love the system. Hasn’t had a good PS+ title in about two years but that’s fine, Sony abandoning the Vita out to die in the cold is nothing new.
But I also don’t play multiplayer games aside from periodically MMOs, so basically I’m viewing the PS+ value proposition based entirely off the free games lineup and the fact it gives me cloud saves. And the value is barely there.
US price already increased last year, and there was a bunch of complaining about that too.
So i just saved up 2 months ago and brought the year prescription with star wars does it mean at the end of august 2017 i will have to pay again?
No, you get 12 months from when you buy the subscription.
Well I guess it’s a good thing that most of us stacked up on subscriptions during the Playstation week back in June :D. Won’t have to worry about the price increase for a few years!
I’ve had a ps4 for a couple of years but never bothered with a subscription. Have no interest in online gaming, but I wonder if it’s worth it for the free games. Do you get to keep the games, or can you only play them during a specific time period. hmmm, maybe I should just google that hey…
If we got what the US PSN got then it might be vaguely worth it but we don’t get the same content…we pay more (now even more) and get less content.
Don’t bother…
I think it is, but I also get PS3 and Vita games in the sub. If it were just PS4 games, it’s probably still worth it if you don’t buy non-AAA stuff on release and are interested in non-AAA games in the first place.
fuck off Sony, you greedy cunts
They’re increasing the annual sub cost to what MS is already charging. You might prefer Xbox Live, but Sony is hardly being greedy.
I’m happy enough to pay an extra $10 a year. For the price of one game, I’m happy with the content I’m receiving.
…but then there’s Adobe, Sony have a long way to go before they reach that pile of turd.
So, PSN has been running for years, they know when the peak loads are. So these clowns want to charge 12% more but I still can’t login to PSN periodically in weekends due to load..Sony sux the hairy bean bag..