PlayStation Plus is about to get a lot more expensive. Sony announced that, beginning in September, the annual subscription price will go from $AU80 up to $AU96 for the lowest tier of the program. Meanwhile PS Plus Deluxe, which competes directly with Game Pass by offering a big Netflix-style library of games, will jump from $155 all the way up to $197.
Editor’s note: Updated with Australian pricing across all three PlayStation Plus tiers. — David.
Sony buried the news at the bottom of a new PlayStation Blog post sharing the PS Plus games getting added for September, which includes 2022’s Saints Row reboot. “We also wanted to let you know that starting September 6 we will be increasing the price for PlayStation Plus 12-month subscriptions globally across all benefit plans,” the company wrote. “This price adjustment will enable us to continue bringing high-quality games and value-added benefits to your PlayStation Plus subscription service.”
Here’s the breakdown of the price increases:
PS Plus Essential
Old Yearly Price: $AU79.95
New Yearly Price: $AU95.95
PS Plus Extra
Old Yearly Price: $AU134.95
New Yearly Price: $AU169.95
PS Plus Deluxe
Old Yearly Price: $AU154.95
New Yearly Price: $AU196.95
These changes won’t impact current subscribers until their renewal date and don’t apply to the pay-as-you-go monthly prices or 3-month price. The annual subscriptions will still be cheaper than the monthly ones, but less so. Previously, you could save a whopping $US96 off the sticker price by getting a whole year of PS Plus Premium. Now it’s only $US56.
The move comes shortly after Microsoft jacked up the prices on Game Pass from $15 a month to $17 (there’s no annual discount). Even with the PS Plus rate change, a year of Premium is still $44 cheaper than a year of Game Pass. While both services offer many of the same features, one of the defining differences remains Microsoft’s commitment to putting its big first-party exclusives on the service day-and-date.
The most notable one of those will be Starfield which arrives on September 6, or five days early for Game Pass subscribers who spend $30 to upgrade to the game’s Premium Edition. Sony has previously stated that doing the same with blockbusters like Spider-Man 2 would be financially unsustainable, and force it to cut the costs and potential quality of its acclaimed first-party games.
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