With the revamped PS Plus already available in most of the world, but Europe lagging behind, Sony may be discontinuing the service’s retail redemption codes. For those out of the loop, you’ve always been able to purchase vouchers in multiple denominations from third-party physical and online stores, which you could redeem on the PS Store in order to extend your membership. Sometimes these codes would come with discounts.
But Polish website XGP noticed that they’re no longer being restocked, and many retailers are selling PS Store credit instead. We can confirm this, as we recently purchased a 12-month PS Plus subscription from Shop To here in the UK, and received £50 of PS Store credit instead. This isn’t consistent across all retailers – some stores like Currys still have vouchers available – and it’s a similar story in the United States. This could, of course, be leftover inventory.
VGC spotted that, on the UK website at least, the Buy Now link for the various PS Plus voucher permutations takes you to a promotional page for PS Store credit. Now, given the multiple subscription tiers Sony is rolling out, it perhaps makes sense for the company to do away with these vouchers – but there’s not enough evidence yet to say they’ve been discontinued entirely. Indeed, it could in theory roll out an entire new range of codes spanning PS Plus Essential, PS Plus Extra, and PS Plus Premium in the future.
We’ll contact the company and try to get some kind of clarification, but with the new PS Plus tiers still not available worldwide, there was always going to be an adjustment period. As of the time of publication, however, it does look like retailers are phasing out their traditional Sony subscription vouchers.
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[source xgp.pl, via videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 46
Can anyone answer me in the uk. What happens in 2 days when the new ps plus is released? I understand ps now members are getting upgraded to premium but what about normal ps plus subscribers? Will I have to pay another £13 on top of the £6.99 I just paid? It's so confusing
@Ryany So, do you just have standard PS Plus right now? For how long?
@get2sammyb yeah I've got the standard ps plus had it for a few days
I work in a uk Game retailer and can confirm the current PS plus cards have been pulled from sale on instructions from Sony. Any stores that still sell them are in breach as Sony has disabled stacking in EU region for now. We are waiting to hear if we will get replacement cards for new service.
Yeah, I bought two years of Plus discounted from a 3rd party. $25 each I think? I'm not surprised by this move.
@Ryany You should roll onto PS essential, which is the same as the current base PS plus. You will have the option to upgrade to Extra or Premium and would only pay the difference between Essential and your chosen Tier calculated based on how long your current subscription is.
I’m for this strictly for the purpose of eliminating waste and plastic. If you have a means to redeem the digital code, that likely means you have access to internet and email for digital codes, etc.
Generally speaking, there’s really not a good scenario where you don’t have access to both email/digital codes and the PSN store to redeem it.
I remember when these things came in actual cases like proper retail games. How times change.
@Ryany You will just change from PS+ to PS+ Essential. They are basically exactly the same, nothing changes in your case. If you had 30 days or 2 years you will still have 30 days or 2 years with all the same perks.
PS Now users (The few of us compared to PS Plus)
Our time is now:) Glad I bought 2 years at a discount for Christmas
Can you redeem the £50 store credit (as in the article) towards ps plus? So if retailers like shopto just stop selling PS plus codes but sell store credit at a slightly discounted rate, nothing changes does it?
I've purchased my standard plus with a 3 month plus card. Now when the new tier arrives will it let me upgrade my 3 month plus to a 12 month premium and in a years time I can then carry on renewing my 12 months premium just as long as there is £100 wallets on my PSN. Try to avoid putting my bank card details onto anything if I can
@ChromaticDracula
Couple of problems w/ eliminating the plastc, which I agree w/ you in theory is a good thing, but:
1. Older people like to give them as gifts.
2. Better sale prices on the physical cards. Target frequently has 10% off. I don't think digital gets discounted as much.
I'm going w/ this paragraph:
"Now, given the multiple subscription tiers Sony is rolling out, it perhaps makes sense for the company to do away with these vouchers – but there’s not enough evidence yet to say they’ve been discontinued entirely. Indeed, it could in theory roll out an entire new range of codes spanning PS Plus Essential, PS Plus Extra, and PS Plus Premium in the future."
Why keep selling cards that say "PS+" on them when it doesn't exist anymore, should they keep selling PS Now cards as well?
PS+ Essential
PS+ Extra
PS+ Premium
They would probably need to sell all 3 cards, so it may be easier to just sell PSN credit physical cards, let the redeemer figure it out.
@Beerheadgamer82 I'm expecting to be given the option to upgrade for the remaining 6 month period I have left and pay the difference, and then after that have the option of 12 months. Just guessing though
@MatthewJP I'm wondering if it's possible to upgrade to the 12 month premium tier on PSN with wallet top up instead of using bank card details. Would make things so much more easier and secure for me if I could
@Beerheadgamer82 at the very least you'll surely be able to use wallet top up to upgrade to premium for the remainder of your 3 months. Guess we'll find out soon
@Darylb88 oh OK so I've had ps plus a few days so I'd just pay the difference then which is about 7 pounds that's fine
@ChromaticDracula If you want to see a waste of plastic then look at Ubisoft, EA and Fortnite code in a box......
@ChromaticDracula @rjejr Paper/cardstock cards. Problem solved. Actually, weren't they already papercard? Plus, the PSN credit is still a card, and arguably requires buying more of them to reach the total of the desired membership, so there's really no waste elimination involved. And for a variety of reasons, those aren't going to go away, physical, or digital. And if they ever do, say hello to zero-competition price fixing.
@Ryany what tier of the new plus do you want? You won't have to pay a thing if you are happy with what you currently have
I have a doubt, if you have plus and now u get the best tier isn't it? But what happens if I have for example plus until December, and today I get only one month of ps now, I'm gonna get premium till December? Can't be, is it?
@MatthewJP no I want premium
@Ryany ah OK, then yeah as mentioned you just pay the difference
@Ryany just wait for the switch over. Once that happens you'll see options to upgrade to extra or premium. For me, in california, it said "77 days left on your ps+ essential sub. Upgrade to extra for the remainder period for $17, or premium for $20. *after sub has ended, you'll be charged monthly price of $17/$20" or whatever the costs were, not exact.
@MatthewJP yh it's certainly a weird one trying to work it all out in our heads. If they do end up doing plus cards again I could go to settings turn off auto renew sub and wait for the remainder of the standard plus to end and then just grab a 12 month premium plus card. I dunno lol
@Ryany £6.99 will keep leaving your account every month until you cancel or Sony increase the price of your plan. You will not be charged anything extra. When the new options become live/available in a couple of days your plan will be called ps plus essentials if memory serves correctly. Regardless what the plan is called nothing is changing for you. You will still receive the same stuff you’d typically expect to receive.
@Kunfoostu I know yeah but I want to upgrade to premium
@MatthewJP shop to have stopped selling ps plus… I bought ps plus 12 month from shopto yesterday for £41.99. It turned out to be just to be £50 psn credit which I then bought 12 months ps plus for £49.99
Sony allow you to buy anymore ps plus to stack unless you’ve ran out completely and can’t go online.
@Kunfoostu do you know if u still can subscribe to ps now to migrate to premium?
Definitely sounds like they're trying to stop retail stores from selling cards at a discount so people can stack several years of the service for cheap. The gravy train is over, gonna have to hope PSN offers discounts on subscriptions which they occasionally did if I remember correctly.
@Nekomichu I do know that any unused codes for time bought on ps plus or ps now will work but finding/buying working codes is another story. You’d have more chance finding hens teeth. I’ve heard Sony are not currently letting people purchase ps now separately atm until the merger but I can’t confirm that personally as it’s not something I personally own or have tried.
that would be really bad. i buy those every year with 40%+ discounts. if those were to end, ps plus would be a little too pricey in my country, especially compared to gamepass that lets you convert 1 year of live gold to 1 year of gamepass ultimate for the price of only 1 month of gamepass ultimate
@ChromaticDracula My Grandparents and Great Nan buy them for me as Xmas and birthday presents, its easy for them as they can just go into Game or a place that sells them pick up a £50 card put it into a Xmas/Birthday Card and then hand it to me on the day.
@Ryany standerd psplus subscribers will just be given a name change to psplus ESSENTIAL, which is exactly the same price and exactly the service, free monthly games and online access
Given for years one could be fairly confident,(& pickup),some discounted PS Plus subscriptions during previous Days of Play/Black Friday sales from Bricks & Mortar retailers to potentially being forced to solely buy them via the store psn would suck bigtime. 🤔
Used to circumvent the need for having a credit card attached to the account as it would want otherwise & you were "stacking".
That they didn't foresee or decide on a definitive stacking restriction prior to the reveal of the new tiers suggests a management that doesn't use their own products! 🤔
Much like despite the tease of a large library of retro games for the Permium/Deluxe tier,it feels like most are tied into the streaming only former ps now & those of us in Deluxe regions are getting only a token few "classic" ps1/ps2/psp titles,that make older abandoned efforts like the ps2 on ps4 range seem coordinated in comparison!🙄
@ATaco I don't think it has much to do with discounts. I mean, theoretically stores could still sell the ps store credit at a discount too. In any case, I think it's the retailer that eats the cost on a discounted card, not Sony.
RIP PS+ subscription cards, we hardly knew ye...
@Garethstoz I understand that I was saying I want premium do I have to full the full amount or just the difference? As I have already paid for ps plus this month
I've still got enough PS+ backed up to keep me going 'til Dec 2023. Might have decided if I'll stick with New Sony by then.
Fony are obviously cutting down on people getting Black Friday deals on PS+ and so can reap more cash in from them by having to pay full price for the barely worth it service. Jimbob 'the accountant' strikes again...
Shop To have stopped selling them - though they are still discounting the PS Wallet top ups, with £50 PS Store credit costing £43.85, so you can sort of get a discount on PS +- but nowhere near what you used to get them for (Shop To < £30 in last Black Friday sale).
@NEStalgia "say hello to zero-competition price fixing."
Well duh, Apple says hi. 🤑
@rjejr Nintendo and Sony stopped selling individual game codes even digitally via stores to control pricing. Xbox still does, but only in the US I think.
I'm not a huge fan of government interference in everything, and usually it's just a circle jerk of handouts and graft, but, at this point I want the governments to come down on the digital economy like a ton of bricks, shred it to ribbons, completely, and rebuild it in an entirely different image. The entire monopolistic nightmare of half a dozen closed monopoly company stores controlling a monumental portion of the economy is a larger assault on free market economic theory than anything Marx or Lenin ever imagined. It's literally fixed prevention of competition by a number of companies you can count on your fingers, unmovable controlling entire market segments.
It was easy to look the other way when they played benevolently and let people exploit their monopolies, but now as they tighten down and use the full monopoly power they have, the reality is a lot more stark.
@NEStalgia "the reality is a lot more stark."
The reality is, the class war is over, we lost. The end.
@NEStalgia "usually it's just a circle jerk of handouts and graft"
Case in point:
https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/ohio-state-university/the-ohio-state-awarded-trademark-on-the-word/
@rjejr My real problem is the peasants rabidly defend their subjugation as legal and just! How dare anyone complain about it!
Lol well we'll always have "A Legend of Zelda" and "Some Last of Us".......
@NEStalgia Yeah it is sad watching people get fleeced and being like "thank you sir may I have another" while telling you to stop being so cheap. Cultural hegemony, once you know you know, then all you can do is feel sad. 😢
@rjejr Yep. I mostly hit that low years ago, but it hit an all new low when $70 games came around and all you heard from the peanut gallery is "it's about time, games have been too cheap!"
I really, really, really want access to these people's bank accounts. It's about time they shared, they had too much. Weren't they told that already? Suddenly if you're not a corporation, sealing becomes a "crime" or something? Why? Corporations are people, too!
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