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Back in August, Sony announced price increases for all tiers of PS Plus. Naturally, the news wasn't especially well received by subscribers, and even now, months later, it's still a touchy subject — especially since you could argue that the overall quality of PS Plus, in terms of game offerings, hasn't improved since the price hike was implemented in September.
But what's Sony's take on the situation? Well, in a new interview with Barron's, PlayStation exec Eric Lempel offers some degree of insight. To its credit, the publication asks Lempel directly about consumer criticism of the aforementioned price increase, to which he responds: "We want to make PlayStation Plus great. With our reboot last year and introducing the tier system, a lot of consumers have recognized that there’s a lot of value in PlayStation 5."
It's a bit of a nothing answer, but Lempel continues: "Like practically everything else in the world, we have to look at our pricing and we have to adjust to market conditions."
Lempel then goes on try and contextualise the decision: "I’m happy to say, unlike a lot of other subscription services out there, we haven’t touched the PlayStation Plus pricing for 85% of the world in many years. So, this was the first time we did something there." Hmmm.
Purely from a business perspective, we can understand why Sony wants to make more money from PS Plus. Recent reports strongly suggest that gaming subscription numbers have almost completely plateaued, with PS Plus itself having been stuck at around 50 million subscribers for years now — and it's a very similar story with Xbox Game Pass.
But what do you make of the PS Plus price hike? Do you think Sony will strive to improve the service as a whole, or is Lempel just giving us the usual PR speak? Keep your wallet closed for now in the comments section below.
[source barrons.com]
Comments 79
The biggest problem here is that they are offering the same value for the gaming side, as they were before the price hike. Sure, the price increase is still in its infancy, but there hasn't been any word from them that indicates a better value for the increased price.
That’s a lot of talking to say nothing.
As someone else mentioned, they offer nothing new for the lower tiers at a higher price so no value improvement. At least premium got cloud streaming.
Because they figure they can get away with it.
That's the only reason.
If Sony thought they could get away with selling this many PS5s for $700, they'd do that. These businesses are out to generate a profit, so they do a lot of research and make adjustments based on what they think the market will bear.
I'm switching to the lowest tier when I need to renew. It's just not worth the money for me.
Would love to see more indie day one games and their live service titles should also be day one
@PixelDragon but not the only future. We still go to cinema for example…
After Starfield I’ll try to empty my PS backlog as much as possible until my subscription for Extra runs out in summer 2024. After that my PS5 will be solely for games I buy on disc and my Series X for Game Pass. My backlog has become ridiculous anyway.
Yeah, count me as another one who will be letting his (Premium) subscription lapse entirely once it comes due in November this year. Decided to limit myself to just GamePass or PS Plus as I make little use of either (Nintendo is basically free for its online so will be keeping that) and seeing I can get GamePass for $90 CAD a year through Costco and PS Extra is over $150 CAD it’s a no brainer. I’m just going to repurchase the few games I play online on PlayStation for the Xbox (mainly Super Mega League Baseball 4 and Street Fighter 6) and call it a day.
First you make a better product - then you raise the price, not the other way around Sony. This is BS x 1000.
I rarely was a subscriber to Plus since it first launched and now I probably will never subscribe again. I don't play online and like to buy my games, so it just isn't worth it for me. The only feature I want is PS5 game save cloud backup. On PS4 I can backup to a USB drive, but on PS5 they block that feature. It's really unacceptable to hold people's saves hostage like that.
PR talk as usual. I'm really starting to wonder if Sony has become arrogant again.
Sony make premium consoles not budget consoles if you want a budget console buy a series s and get gamepass.
@xDD90x I thought you could back up PS5 saves…could have sworn I backed up my FF VII Remake save…I’m going to have to have a double look now.
Some more day ones, not necessarily huge 1st party of course. Not expecting huge money making triple A blockbusters like Ragnarok, Horizon, TLoU3, Ghost of Tsushima 2 or Spiderman 2 to be day ones. A lot more indies day one, a lot more double A day one. Stray was a huge W for PS Plus. Up the day ones per year. Improve Premium, it's not rocket science
@Jay767 what do budget consoles have to do with the topic?
Hahahahahaha prove it then Sony.
‘We want’ is all well and good but prove its worth first, up the price second. It was already too expensive.
A lot of words just to say: "We had to increase price due to worldwide inflation going on"
Because they know people will still pay it
Premium remains terrible
Paid for the top sub and had over a year, and haven't actually used it for anything, I'll be scrapping it come renewal time. My problem is that I purchased everything from PS1 right through to now, so none of this content is worthwhile to me.
@CielloArc That’s BS though, inflation doesn’t apply to a subscription of this nature where there are zero raw materials being used.
@QuoVadis
You can backup PS4 game saves individually the same way it works on PS4, but for PS5 games, you can only do a full backup of all saves, and if you want to restore them you need to restore the whole console, which wipes the whole system, like a factory reset. It's a slow process that involves multiple reboots; it's incredibly inconvenient. Really only to be used to secure your save data in the event of a console failure.
Source: https://www.playstation.com/en-us/support/hardware/back-up-ps5-data-USB/
I think the answer to the question you are asking again will be of a similar ilk to last time. Another rather pointless article about something you already know the answer to.
I mean prices of thing natural go up but with the cost living etc and companies under pressure to give good pay rises the money has to come from somewhere.
My subscription runs out November 11, will not be renewed. If they had added value with the price increase, I would have renewed, but they didn't, so I'm out. I have plenty of games already.
@Rafie starting to lol they’ve been bad all generation milking the fans for every penny
@Darude84 was thinking the same except mine runs out in 50 days.
Only have to play ff7 though so should be doable. Unless they drop something good next month.
Premium has me until next year and then its down a tier. Its not value for money. Think about it: Yeah, you are getting a thousand games - but 900 of them you probably won't play. So in effect, you are paying for a service that you will NEVER get the most out of.
Wait for the sales. Buy the games you will actually play.
@Shad361 I do not endorse the dirty tricks that Microsoft is pulling, but this is why Sony having no competition is a terrible idea. They thought they were Billy Big Nuts after the success of the PS2 as well as anyone who had to deal with developing for PS3 discovered very quickly.
Still have premium first 59 euro a year. Now with tet the price increase is 79 euro per year. Think i,ll stay alive and be able to put food on the table. I think its great value for the price. For me personaly that is.
It hasn't technically effected me yet as my current Premium membership runs till the end of November.
I'll see what the Black Friday sales have to offer me but if there aren't any good deals I'll probably drop down from Premium to extra
I've got Extra until the start of Dec 2024. After that, I'll be dropping to Essential at most or just dropping it entirely.
PS5 era has been a total let down so far, both in console functionality & lack of exclusives. Looks like classic Sony died with the PS4.
Don't just talk about it prove it! Let us see were all the extra money is going aside from bonuses for the top execs. My guess is nothing will change and we will be getting everything we have been getting, I want to come in here and say I was wrong though
Not that I like the price increase, but it's kind of funny to see everyone expecting the service to improve in some way because of it. When the price of a banana goes up at the grocery store, do you march to the front and demand to know how this banana will be better than the one you bought last week?
I've already canceled my subscription. It lapses next month and I don't even care at this point. $80 as the base price is too high. I've been subscribed for years, but I didn't even hesitate to unsubscribe.
Why a price hike? You’ll find your answers in a basic economics textbook. Hint: Sony is a business with the primary function of making money.
Sure some people may cancel but Sony’s view is it’ll be a net positive for them and their stock did increase I believe after the news.
I tier'd down with my renewal. I'm so far behind that the 2nd tier is awesome for me. So many games I wanted to play, but didn't have time, I now get to play for "free". Even with the hike, it's more than worth it to me. I never stream or touch the classics, so I was going to go down a level anyway.
This is our reality...everything is going up...except wages.
If they want to make PS Plus great and rise prices then they should inntoduce day one premieres of their games in PS Plus (after they make any besides SM2 in one year)
@Lonejester Stock is a very fickle thing. It looks only for the short term. We'll know in 12 months time obviously, but if the stock falls then the shareholders will blame Sony just as quickly as they were to praise them.
That's a staggering number - 50 million subscribers. So £5 per month per subscriber, which is way lower than reality, that's 250 million every single month just from PS plus.
You know what would make PS+ better? If Sony provided a basic tier with just online multiplayer and cloud storage, and made it cheaper.
It's not the increase itself (everything is going up, not just games) or the fact they haven't really added much in terms of extra value. It's really just how sharp of an increase it was that grinds my gears about it.
I used to think I'd need it for SF6 online but I haven't played it in a while. Might be time to let it expire soon.
My GamePass subscription ran out a few months ago and had been active for years. All of a sudden I could not play some of my games. Then I lost internet a few days later cause of a storm and I could not play my digital games for a day. It was eye opening.
Since then I have invested 3k in my PS5 and purchased 8 years of games I love but bought physical discs. I am only getting physical (for games that do not require a constant internet connection) till physical media dies out entirely. I am done with game subscription services.
Here's a little advice for Sony, and this is free: show, don't tell. So far, it's the same old service, just dearer, and when my subscription expires in December, I won't be resubbing.
I would laugh if it wasn't so anti-consumer. It's so blatantly miserly, we can't even copy PS5 saves to USB, to force us to sub to PS+. No, no way.
I am not even mad at Sony for doing this. There are some arguable reasons for a price hike, and they are here to make money.
However, once my sub lapses a year or so from now, I am not renewing. What they are offering (unless there is word of some new improvements coming) is simply not worth the price they are asking for me. It is that simple.
Security is what is most important. Sony have proven several times they fail to secure their online services so why should customers pay more for Sony's online services if they are not confident their credentials are secured. I will not even subscribe to any online services they offer.
@xDD90x Right! Thank you! And I realized that it was my ps4 save file for FF VIIR that I was thinking of. I really miss the good olde days when you could use a memory card for save files (N64, PS1 etc.). Simpler times and less headaches for sure!
I'll likely let my sub run out next spring and not look back. I don't play online on my PS5 (I prefer PC for online and the Switch for Splat 3) and I can always get the Plus games on sale on the future. Only thing I'll really miss is the cloud saves.
I'd rather save my money then pay the price increase, especially in this economy.
I was debating upgrading from Essential to Extra once my current subscription runs out but with the price hike, I think I'll stay where I am now or drop the subscription completely. It's mostly not worth it for me, and I recently realized I haven't played any of the Essential games for years.
wtf what🤔.word up son
Then they should have increased the price when the value had increased, not the other way around... I'm not paying for a hypothetical value increase. That's not good, do they think I'm stupid? I'm glad more and more every day I let my sub lapse.
I play online on PC now, or even Xbox. Places that have GREAT customer support and where I can get a refund on my digital games, and have infrastructure and sales that are just as good. I'm not paying MORE for something worse. Get real Sony.
@Korgon I played on PS5, and I bought the game again on PC. Never looking back. With all kinds of controller, pad, stick support and mods PC is the best platform for Street Fighter 6.
I do miss my WT character, but I'll grind em up again. If it can get me away from PS Plus, I'm all for it.
@Zeke68 To be fair this year has seen more day one titles and bigger games. Also Premium with 4K Cloud.
@nessisonett Unfortunately, everything can eventually fall victim to inflation. There are a lot of complexities in a large market, but any economist worth their salt will tell you that inflation is ultimately because all across the board people want more money. That's all there is to it. Calling it greed may make it sound insidious, but it's simply human nature.
What do most working people want/expect at around a yearly interval? A wage raise.
In a competitive environment, people will naturally use the leverage they have to negotiate for more money. In many cases, the leverage is simply time invested. Businesses will renegotiate contracts knowing that it is easier to pay out more than it is to start over and find a new partner.
People and businesses will continue to push the envelope and ask for more money.
@greengecko007 So much of economics just comes down to rich people wanting to be richer, at literally any cost. The creation of wholly intangible assets completely shattered the illusion that supply and demand or material cost were responsible for rising or falling price points. It’s literally just whatever they feel they can get away with.
As always,it's actions that'll speak louder than words. Whilst it'll likely give them a little bit bigger warchest to try chase after the next Rocket League/Fall Guys type mtx hit,how much trickles down into the miserly "classic games" efforts remains debatable.
Pretty much not only PSP led,with a trickle of PS1 games,no sign of PS2 games being added either first party or third-party,....but it's not like Eric Lempel would interact with the paying audience on the PS Blog to answer such questions anyway. 😕
The only thing that would have kept my interest alive, would have been ps5 streaming on the ps4. Au revoir le Playstation Plus and as many other subscription as I can
Words are cheap Sony
I upgraded to the top tier earlier this year but I won't be renewing at all, the Playstation classics section has been a huge disappointment. These days I barely have time to play the games I buy so all these subscriptions will be going
What market conditions? They have a monopoly on this service on this platform. They own the market. There's no competition.
They increased the price when they introduced the new tiers, Extra and Premium. This further increase with ZERO improvement to the service forthcoming is ridiculous. I let my Premium sub continue in May, despite being pissed off about it for most of that year but the next coming renewal I will be "downgrading" to Extra and I'll be happier for it, but no better off since it costs the same as what I paid for Premium.
The new Sony Pictures Core app is laughable. You could almost forgive the £20 price increase on Premium if it came with 4K HDR Dolby Atmos movies for free via the app. But, it does not.
I completely forgot they raised the price of the base sub. It's infuriating that online play is still locked behind the subscription. With no interest in 90% of the ps+ games, I wish I could drop it all completely, and probably will if I can't find any year subs for under £40 next time mine runs out.
Still think it's poor that $ony haven't given an option to save game save files to USB.
PS3 can do it, PS4 can do it. PS5? No sorry, you need to give us at least £60 a year...
@Rafie I think the sad fact is that Sony never stopped being arrogant since the early days of PS4 imo. Granted MS would have had exact the same arrogant attitude if Xbox had been in the same position that Playstation has been for the last ten years.
As far as I am concerned this is a notable price increase, that being said the situation is complex. The truth is that game streaming or even the subscription style offline access that PS Extra offers, require a larger overhead than might have been assumed.
The initial revamped Playstation Plus was tremendous value for what was being offered, particularly the PS Extra tier. Sustaining these services economically seems like a tall order to me (business wise). As a result, we have this substantial increase in price.
Now, everyone finds themselves in a crossroads of diminishing returns (which we need to put our money where our mouth is). Those that can afford the price hike will continue to use the service and those that cannot justify it, have bills and other pressing payments to follow up.
@Constable_What
Yeah I've considered just buying it again on PC as well. I don't use my PC for gaming very often but I do on occasion. Maybe I'll download the demo just to see if my PC can handle it.
Idk im quite happy with the extra tier, even with the price hike if i play 3-4 games that i would have bought, not to mention how many games ive tried and ended up being happy i didnt waste money out right buying it. I think too many people look at this and cry thr minute they see a price increase without stopping to think how much money they have saved. Maybe im just one of the few that actually uses my brain and doesnt join the internet mob when i see a headline i dont like
Personally I've had to drop from premium to essential because of the increase.
In probably not alone and I only have essential because cloud saves for ps5 is the only way to preserve them.
Want to make it 'great' Sony? Just make it cheaper!
there should be a cheaper plan just for playing online, don't need anything else with it.
Cancelled mine
@xDD90x I’d say the vast majority of essential players care more about online access than cloud saves. If online was free, they’d lose a lot of revenue.
@ReadySlayerOne
I wasn't implying they should make online multiplayer free. I meant they should allow save data backup to USB storage like on PS4. Or make cloud backup free to all users like Xbox and Steam does.
@Lawless802 Maybe you're one of the few that doesn't use your brain, and just eats the slop Sony gives you?
It's fine to like the service you're paying for, but don't act all high and mighty because you're spending money on something that's a worse value than practically every other service like this.
@xDD90x I agree with you. Just saying it seems like it’s not a priority for their user base.
But, living in Japan I’ve to come to realize that over here, Japanese people don’t expect anything for free. Like my wife won’t plug her phone into a restaurant outlet that isn’t purposely for customers like a Starbucks because it would be stealing electricity, or that fees and service cost for processing documents is the norm.
So while I don’t think it would ever go free, I think a one time fee of like $10 or if you’ve been on PS+ for over x years might be a way to entice them…
Either way, it’s BS that they are not available outside of the sub.
Oh acting all high and mighty huh, go back to reddit you sheep. You cant even respond with a comment that made you use your brain, glad it upsets you this much that your opinion isnt worth a cat turd, it made me laugh
Well Sony this year you did had only 3 triple A games on your catalog, the rest is just old games. How do you justify the price, with the crazy old movie selection? I wonder who does take dose decision?
How about making the whole experience value for money 💰 for a start. Also stop giving the worst games out every month that have been scraped from the bottom of the barrel.
@MasterVGuides there is two new features for premium members 100 films free on sony core app and game streaming including your ps5 games.
Make PS Plus cheap again...
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