PS Plus Price Increase Hits Another Country, Canada Forced to Pay More

This is more terrible news for the games industry.

The eye of Sauron avoiding my home country of Canada for now…

Paying for online multiplayer should never have become standard. Possibly the worst thing Microsoft introduced to the industry

@Kanji-Tatsumi Empty discs that are just access keys is also up there for me.

I'm from México and the PS Plus Deluxe also excludes us from general Cloud Streaming. Making some of the ads and articles about the PS Portal update a little confusing. (And some groups on FB and Reddit a bit of a tragedy)

Brazil will be affected too. Damn, gaming is becoming more and more impossible expensive.

We really should have made more of a fuzz when PlayStation during the PS4 reveal announced we will have to start to pay for online play, there was some noise but it should have been 100x more.

@Coffeeglitch “Also to those who may argue that piracy just hurts developers (it does, I’m aware), developers are hurt far more by overzealous sales forecasts and are wiped out when an overbudget game delivers underwhelming numbers”

Which in turn is partly due to piracy

@Juanalf Unfortunately, Xbox was too busy having the worst console reveal of all time. So Sony managed to sneak it under the radar. PS Plus was also considered really good at the end of the PS3

So many of those countries on that list are struggling more than the rest of us already. I already had a friend in Latin America quit current gen gaming last month because they couldn't pay for the online that was needed for co-op/friends.

Edit: Just asked that friend for more perspective 'the minimum wage in Brazil is R$ 1.518,00 so this is 24.5% of salary. The minimum wage in Brazil is equivalent to £202,13'

@Coffeeglitch ...that is a flabbergasting, truly ridiculous perspective to take. I don't even know where to begin 🙅‍♀️🙅‍♀️

Every time subscriptions go up
Every time game prices go up
Game pass ultimate looks even more of deal
Especially now Xbox have many studios, knocking out games and COD of course.
I’m signed up until March 2027 on the old £11.99 rate so I can’t complain.

And yes I have a PS5 Pro and preordered a switch 2 so no bias here.

@KingPev it really is, I’m aware. It’s just a matter of matching equally ridiculous reasoning and practices from the publishers and platform holders. The whole “it failed because of not being alive service”, “it failed because gamers expect too much”, etc. maybe it failed because it wasn’t a good game and people don’t trust your studio from past experiences which results in less sales. There are many factors, but if you can’t stop telling your customers they’re wrong for not wanting to keep giving you money, showing them time and again that you understand nothing then at what point does a customer just say “forget it” and stop caring? I’m not paying your wages, I’m buying a product that may not be perfect but I expect to get what I was sold.

That’s the saddest part of it, developers are hurt because of decisions out of their hands and no one wants to defend them anymore because the knock on effect taints the consumers opinion of a brand so badly that they become apathetic to it.

Sony need start offering better games if it's rasing the price not old games constantly unlike gamepass ps doesn't offer hardly any day one games it's a bit of a rip off if you ask me

@roe they need start bringing high quality not keep bringing

So dumb when 90% of players only get the standard subscription because you literally have to in order to play most games online.

Remember when PS3 had free online? Good times. Thanks Xbox🙄

@roe
With one big NEW Sony studio AAA per year at the moment.
Bring back the PS4 days please.

So these countries now, rest to follow in summer, with GP not far behind.

Much cheaper there

@Majin_Deicide Xbox charged for online play for the original Xbox and 360. Sony didn't charge for online play in either of those 2 generations. They decided to start charging for online play with the PS4.

Sony's decision had nothing to do with Xbox. They could have continued to offer free online play as they had done with the previous generations. But they didn't.

@Coffeeglitch Gaming is a luxury, you arent forced to buy games either. You dont want to go broke on games, but you are ok with robbing others from their income by pirating games apparently. Pretty low standards you got, sir.

Old games from now on it is!

@Nalim which studios do you know of that actually get paid a portion of sales? Royalties, I know what they are, but if publishers are setting targets that are simply unattainable and regularly declare they didn’t meet them, then do the developers make anything off sales? They’re paid to develop by their employer, but royalties are if they exceed targets. If they aren’t exceeding targets then how is piracy impacting them at all? I’m very apathetic to the state of the industry but I also want to have a clear picture of possible impacts piracy has as I still haven’t dabbled in over a decade. No intention to in the short term either, but one can’t really argue that it directly hurts developers if they aren’t meeting their parent company’s targets anyway. Not talking about small studios, by the way. I won’t even pirate their games come hell or high water, they’re also the only ones making quality stuff most of the time.

Yet another price hike and they’re not bothered to bring PS+ Premium to any of those countries.

Glad I stopped paying for this since the major price hike back in 2023.

I know why I completely avoid all these subscription services.

no problem, I’ll just unsubscribe 😊

Don't remember the last time I bought PS Plus. Can't even have enough time for all the games I bought let alone Multiplayer or monthly free games that are just going to keep piling up in the backlog heavier than the fog in crookback bog!

Greed is Greed. Lesser, greater, middling… Makes no difference. The degree is arbitrary. The definition’s blurred. If I’m to choose between one Greedy C*** and another… I’d rather not choose at all.

• Andrzej Sapkowski, Th€ La$t Wish or The Difference Between CEO's, Corperations and Pirates.

PC gaming never looked so good in the 2020s

@Majin_Deicide You remember the days on PlayStation you could buy your Digital games and subscriptions from 3rd parties at much lower prices like You still can on Xbox ?

You remember the days you didn't have to buy a full subscription just for cloud saves on PlayStation, when they were Free just like they still are on Xbox even now ?

Thanks Xbox for 'NOT' doing what PlayStation now does.

console gamers are just paypigs at this point.

@Kanji-Tatsumi I think the main reason is Xbox 360 managed to do really well, despite having paid online. They weren't even offering any monthly games.
Xbox 360s had a ridiculously cheap console purchase though, was half the price of a PS3 at one point.
I'm not sure if monthly subscriptions are making consoles cheaper any more, but that was how the concept took off.

Modern day Sony have turned so scummy. They are effectively pricing ppl out of a hobby just to keep the ficticious infinite growth machine chugging for just a little longer. When will these corporations realize sustainability requires some level of equilibrium. constant unfounded(lie justified) price gouging ain't it.

Feel bad for the folks in these regions, as they are already exploited, depressed, and grossly underpaid.

You can make the gaming is a luxury bs argument however this reality exists in every facet of their and all of our day to day realities, both in the necessities and luxuries. Price hikes with no valid reason to do so beyond squeezing a little more. All the while wages haven't risen alongside said costs of living and other goods and services.

@PcTV @Kanji-Tatsumi Microsoft turned out to be an utter pox upon the industry in general

@AdamNovice Odd that you are replying to me, probably better to point out what Sony have done to the poster I replied to.

@nomither6 Until it comes time to buy some new PC parts.

@Areus haven’t had that problem yet, and you still save more in the long run vs console, so…

Online should be free Sony does not own the servers you play on it's the companies that publish the games and you paid for that when you bought the game.

Obviously not enough people unsubscribed last time they put the price up and as long as Sony can get away with ripping people off they will carry on.

Not an affected region THIS time...though not to say they won't try it on later. What bugs me more is ever since they introduced the "tier" system & effectively withdrew from selling 12 month subscriptions in bricks & mortar retail you saw PS Plus annual sales on subs dry up.

By that I mean ever since we've seen zero PS Plus Essential discounts,only half baked "upgrade" sales forcing you into Extra or Deluxe & promises to expand Premium regions never materialising. Just to add lemon juice, they then removed subscription renewals now from PS Stars rewards to boot. 🙄

Sadly fair to say Jim Ryan's legacy was promoting profit driven,tone deaf management whom don't interact with players their decisions affect. 😕

The world isn’t set up for the average person to have anything. Every salary increase follows an increase in the price of goods. This is why it’s so hard to get ahead. And then the rich tell us to suck it up when things get rough.

Heard some TV personality say “I don’t care about my 401(k)!” Well, good for you. But the rest of us aren’t TV hosts who probably have millions in the bank.

On topic though. It’s becoming so expensive to have hobbies. Even if you’re a TV watcher it costs close to hundreds of you want to enjoy everything. At this point it’s not a choice to pick what you wanna partake in. It’s pick what you’re willing to skip.

@Kanji-Tatsumi I mean SNES Satelliview, Genesis Modem/Sega Channel, N64 Randnet, all weren't online but still online services people could access other games or chat features or such.

Coleco or Intellivison had similar of the online games offering services. I think 2600 was planned but never happened like a lot of Jaguar VR or other random things

I forget Coleco/Intellivision also had a similar service to SNES Satelliview back then.

NES had horse betting/banking or other aspects on the Famicom Disk System. So any online service whether multiplayer, chat, sharing, game radio broadcast casting of the past to yes broadband streaming or other features always have had a cost to their services.

Regardless of regions they were in or limited to.

Dreamcast had online multiplayer you paid for they even had bundles to pay for the service and get the console for free, yes.

Dreamcast online came out way before Xbox Live, Xbox Live popularised it but it wasn't the first nor the last online multiplayer or to have a price, so lets be happy we got free Nintendo GameCube, Wii or PS2/PSP/PS3/Vita for free online at least I think they were PS3/Vita I know is and Wii was but the rest not so sure.

So in a way online multiplayer sure, but online services have always been paid for.

Sorry for the history lesson couldn't help myself but yes I agree with the principle.

Either way regardless of the history lesson it is yes unfortunate that for an entertainment/luxury that it is, it is still a high price for other regions and I do feel bad for them.

But at the same time if they mod consoles (in many regions they do of course) or get older consoles then modern ones and wanting them well they have options even if modern ones aren't as viable.

Of course there is more out there in the world then video games but they do have options even with all the consoles that have re-released in those countries but at the same time modern ones are just ridiculous of prices for them for those wanting such multiplayer, PS+ catalogue and other services, but well singleplayer also exists. Old consoles exist. It's their choice after all what they do with their money, save it for or use it for.

But companies still regardless of currency conversion still ask for way too much and it is ridiculous not denying that at all and making the price/options very high and unfair for those seeking them/were enjoying them and to have to pay even more for what they were comfortably using.

@Nalim Agreed while it's annoying the prices go up, it is a luxury, they don't have to play with friends/online even.

They can play co-op games, different types of games not just the obvious, but who wants to do research that's too much effort right? XD Play co-op/split screen or isometric all players on screen games like Diablo clones.

They don't have to pay for online at all or the PS+ catalogues or cloud storage or whatever else they have in the subscriptions.

They can play singleplayer, play older consoles, play co-op/split screen games instead.

Play less well known titles not just the obvious ones wanting people to keep spending, have a standard of quality for games and know what is good, what is bad, what is worth their time, what is quality not just out count but worth their time or the padding being ridiculous and not art but just garbage, not just what MTX/skins look cool either.

Have other hobbies.

All of this is easy to work out, yet for some reason people just can't see it of what is a quality video game and what to do with money or just not give it away so easily or not see something shiny and have to have it.

I am a collector of older games anyway so my decisions aren't good either XD but even still I can at least analysis the evidence which is still something.

@SMJ Sony didn't charge for online play in the ps2 days because they didn't run an online service during the ps2 days and had no systems in place. Games connected to their own servers directly through proprietary methods or occasionally an offshoot of a pc app. I think the most they did was provide a network driver and network setup discs. Oh and a HDD enabled browser if you had the HDD kit (US FFXI bundle and Japan only).

Heck I remember using a usb modem connected to the front on my PS2 to play THPS 3 online through gamespy because that's the only way you could do it at that point.

PS3 sure.

@GirlVersusGame I guess, instead of raising prices, big corporations should offer discounted prices in countries where’s people face other financial challenges (with long term benefits in mind). Here in India, where average income is even lower, a lot of companies have India specific monthly subscription plans. For example Apple subscriptions are really cheap in comparison to first world countries. Btw, I paid approx US$58 equivalent for my PS Plus Deluxe this year.

I'm not affected since it's not my country, psplus is cheaper in my country but I already have a lot of games on my usa account since ps3 days, but after the price hike to $80 I'm not subscribing anymore, it's not worth it since I already have a lot of backlog anyway.

Only nintendo subs is worth is since at least it's cheap, $20 for the basic (alone) or $50 for the expansion plus but using the family pack with friends at $12 peryear. And it got gamecube games for the new switch 2, finally I can play soul calibur 2 on tv with console other than wii u 😃

@SuntannedDuck2 paying to use your own internet is a scam. there is absolutely no reason in 2025 to pay to use your own internet to connect to a game developers server that sony has nothing to do with

cancelld ps+ a year ago after the first major price hike (30% increase i believe it was). no regrets and haven't looked back. gives me more time to worry about the games i really want to play instead of a bunch of "OK-ish" games that i likely wouldn't have purchased... bar a few exceptions.

@KundaliniRising333 you've still got your ps5? You still buy games for it? Are you still actively supporting scummy Sony in their corporate greed years? Come on lad lighten up a bit..its sunny outside.

@nomither6 it's not your Internet.. you rent it from your service provider.

@Majin_Deicide

Sega charged for online gaming even before Microsoft. In the US, it was called SegaNet and charged $21 per month, i.e. it was a contract with an internet provider. Sega was practically a pioneer in charging for the online segment, while Microsoft only popularized it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBUsGRZOZRM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgOpE1C0tGo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhcXuWyLbZE

https://sega.fandom.com/wiki/SegaNet

Nah buddy, Sony wouldn't do such a thing. They're the good guys.
Nintendo are the current bad guys, remember? Everything they do is for the benefit of the player. You can't play Skimpy Nikki on a rival console, therefore everything they do is for the player & Taylor Swift fans.
I won't stand for these lies & slander, especially when Nintendo are charging more for games.
Leave Playstation Alone!

So it is okay to increase prices but the games we get in return are really awful most of the time! I cancelled my ps plus extra subscription seven months ago. I think shrinkflation is hitting PlayStation now, pay more for less games & it's going to get a lot worse down the line!!

@Northern_munkey internet that’s already paid for to use

Price increase always sucks. But i wonder why only 15 latin americas countries. Did something happen at those countries, maybe increase salary and tax?

@Artois2

which in turn is partly due to piracy

I wish more people who advocate piracy understood this. I've tried telling those kind of people for years that it hurts the industry more than it helps it. And it'll have an increased negative effect. But so many people try to justify the fact that they want something for nothing. And that's mostly the real reason.

@OldGamer999 thing is gamepass also periodically goes up and I'm almost certain another price hike given what's happening in the industry and the world is likely right around the corner. There's no way Microsoft won't take advantage of this.

@nomither6

paying to use your own internet is a scam. there is absolutely no reason in 2025 to pay to use your own internet to connect to a game developers server that sony has nothing to do with

True. But I also remember a time during the Xbox 360 that you couldn't access your Netflix account that you already pay for without paying Microsoft for Xbox Live just to start up the app. Or that free to play games were also locked behind Xbox Live therefore not making them free to play. After the PS4 launched which didn't have these restrictions after introducing paid online play there was a lot of negativity finally thrown at Microsoft for that once people woke up and then they removed the requirement of having Xbox Live to access those services that shouldn't have been paywalled. Of course one doesn't justify the other but Microsoft are far from innocent.

Personally I've never used their services or gamepass beyond just accessing online play. The rental services aren't something I want and just selectively buy my games to play at my leisure. These days mostly on a sale given price increases. I do dread the day that these services will become the only way to play anything once they phase game purchases out. Atleast that's where I see it ending up but let's hope I'm wrong.

Prices go up every year not sure why everyone gets so surprised by this every year, also If this was gamepass there would a million articles on how gamepass is destroying the industry

And it's not that those countries can't stream ps3 games, it's simply that Sony refuses to make the service available.

Source: Australia

@GADG3Tx87 it’s not about fanboy crap, im not with that. i play on all brands because i like games. singling out one or the other wasnt my intent nor the point, because all of the big three run this scam on consumers. microsoft made it popular, sure, but it doesn’t really matter anymore 2 decades later, it needs to end

@nomither6
I wasn't insinuating any fanboyism so forgive me if that's how it came across. I was simply stating that while you're right some people do have short memories over some things (not you). And it isn't fair to point fingers at any one side. Both are bad as eachother. And these things in particular in this discussion I don't support them on.

Unfortunately it's gone too far to end. Some hope Microsoft will make online play free, which as they dig further into the service trench that won't happen nor will Sony ever go back on that. And in the end gaming will never get less expensive than it is even when the current economic struggles of the world calm down. For now I'm fortunate to be able to afford playing games but who's to say how far the rabbit hole will go until I'm priced out or anyone is. Fortunately I have my retro consoles and game collections to last a lifetime.

@Toot1st I remember a time when things didn't always go up every year or even twice or more per year. But companies of all kinds have seen the opportunity and will continue yearly hikes. Not just in gaming but every damn week I find the groceries I buy creeping up, and my ISP put my broadband up twice in one year and soon they will be increasing it in June again by £20 per month bringing it to nearly £70 just for 250mb broadband. I've been with them for 18 years and loyalty gets you nothing. Unfortunately no other provider can offer the same service stability in my area and they know it so I'm stuck.

@wiiware "I'm not affected since it's not my country, psplus is cheaper in my country"

Got bad news, our country along with Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand also got price increased. Started from 16th April.

sigh...

@vikramsingh I couldn't agree more with you. It would strengthen their presence in those territories not weaken it. Subscriptions lead to more profit by attracting a larger customer base and potentially encouraging higher lifetime value through up-sells (Premium/Tiers) or cross-sells, and by fostering customer loyalty. It would allow for a more predictable revenue stream too so they could invest more effectively. Instead they are banking on price hikes to invest in bigger titles and that won't last if they keep pricing people out of the service.

At the moment they are focusing more on new customers with offers for first time Plus+ members, not existing ones. That has a shelf life. If they offered better value for money they could retain current subscribers for longer periods, which is more profitable than constantly acquiring new customers.

They should localize the prices for those countries, but we all know it won't happen.

Seeing a lot of brazilians saying this new hike basically puts the 12-month PS Plus Deluxe at 1/2 and the 12-month PS Plus Essential at 1/4 their monthly minimum wage. This is absurd.

@CielloArc It took the same friend I mentioned over a year to buy a PS5, and they've been saving for a new TV for almost two years. Somethings up with the black on their current TV, if they want to play a game that has a lot of black they have to take the whole system to someone else's house. I don't go out of my way to pry into peoples financial situations when I'm gaming but we've been friends for a long time and I noticed their situation getting worse and worse.

When I was there I had to buy an old cheap phone because everyone kept having their phones stolen, some at gun point. New phones had such heavy government taxes that the risk of just stealing one and selling it was worth the possible jail time.

It's not just Brazil, last week a friend in Texas said they were considering dropping their subscription too because eating made more sense. They have a good job and just started playing mobile games to earn extra money, that way they could try to keep their subscription.

@PuppetMaster Sony should really provides us with cheaper $20 subs only for cloud saving and getting psn games discount, I rarely play the "free" games since I have a lot of backlog. I just want cloud saves for peace of mind, it's not worth $80

@GADG3Tx87 oh, i’m sorry for my misunderstanding and attitude then. i do believe that it “technically” could end; money talks - if people stop subscribing en masse then it could happen, but that isn’t pragmatic so, yeah, we’re screwed. i’m fortunate enough like you to still hang in there & have a backlog of retros as well. in fact, the majority of this generation for me has been spent on 7th generation hidden gems i missed out on & PC. My PS5 is the least played console i’ve ever had.

The essential price in the United States is 80 dollars. There is no virtual consumption tax in Hong Kong, so it is more than 20% cheaper, 64 dollars, which is exactly 500HKD in Hong Kong, right at this price after increasing.

@GirlVersusGame
I've dropped the 12-month for a monthly subscription, mainly because it made no sense money wise to grab the 12-month since you only save the cost of one monthly and a couple of days.

@nomither6 yeah I'm in that boat too, the PS5 generation I've bought less games than any generation before it. That's not just due to the price increases and that I've become more selective but because there are barely a handful of interesting or 'must play' games being developed as time goes on (in my opinion) and some I've played are not very memorable or warrant another playthrough anytime soon. I bought Star Wars Outlaws and Dragon Age Veilguard when they came out based on past experiences of those names and franchises and I personally found them very disappointing and ended up regretting buying them. I think I can only name two games that were worth my money or just off the top of my head since the start of this gen which would be Hogwarts Legacy and the Resident Evil 4 Remake. I find myself not wanting to even boot up the console much these days beyond just talking to some friends and not even playing anything. Which is a little sad compared to bygone years. Either way I don't intend to partake in the services and would gladly play my PS2/3 and such in the future.

Edit- and the fact some are suggesting new consoles around the 2026/7 time I'm not ready or onboard for it given how this gen is going and it feels they're just pushing hardware for the sake of money when it isn't necessary and the games just aren't there.

@nomither6 I won't deny that part either it is ridiculous. Besides internet plans having more and more things on top of it is annoying.

They can say server costs or an umbrella for servers even if third parties manage their own, cloud storage, discounts, updates while in rest mode (I think is also a thing) but I don't feel the user base changes (as if up and down of how much is being given to Sony and them going it's not up enough in the charts to appeal to shareholders) really reflect it either or like their PS store sales aren't still going well.

They got to have that diagonal line go up of course, it's ridiculous.

I look at this a simple transaction,.I pay more I better damn well get more, but I won't hold my breath

Keep it up, Sony, and soon enough many of us will stop subscribing all together.

Not just Australia but Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand also will get price increase.

@OldGamer999 At this point I don't think you actually have any consoles. You sold your series x, you returned your ps pro, yet here you are owning all consoles.

World wide inflation does that to prices ...

Like I am fine with Nintendo asking $80 prices for Switch2 games, since Nintendo doesn't really do the whole MTX money milking shtick in their games, but other pubishers who do will absolutely follow suit ...

@AshleighKinsella they are pretty much all awful on ps plus extra they need start adding day one games if they are increasing the prices I won't hold my breath though like I've said before though I think essential is great

I think it's time they make online play free again. It's simply not fair that we have to pay £70 year just play games we've already paid for online.

At the very least, there should be an online only option for £5 or something. Having access to important elements of games we've already paid money for should not be profited off of by Sony. It should only cover the cost of running the servers.

Used to be a big supporter of PS+, have now ditched it with no regrets. After decades supporting Playstation in general - bought PS1 the day it came out in Japan - after PS5 may be just the time to bail out in favour of Steam.

@Weebleman
Honestly, 2 to 3 weeks have passed, I wish you would keep up with the programme 🤣

@Weebleman
It’s no good me having an extremely helpful programme schedule manager, that gets behind my latest developments 🤣
Come on, please get on board.

Nowadays it seems like companies are always using other companies' anti-consumer practices as cover to push through their own anti-consumer practices.

The focus is all on Nintendo charging $80 for Mario Kart World so Sony secretly pushes through a PS+ price increase.

@OldGamer999 I think you've hit that point in old age and youre just holding a potatoe shouting at the wall instead of a console 😂

@Weebleman
I do like potatoes 🥔 🤣
Mashed, jacket or chips.

@Grumblevolcano
Me thinks they are all in it together as 3 happy companies.

For context, here are the AUD to GBP convertions.
Prices in the UK are still significantly more expensive than in Australia. How can PlayStation justify such a price difference?

Essential
AUD $12.95 TO GBP £6.17
AUD $35.95 TO GBP £17.14
AUD $102.99 TO GBP £49.07
Extra
AUD $20.95 TO GBP £9.99
AUD $59.95 TO GBP £28.58
AUD $187.95 TO GBP £89.61
Deluxe
AUD $23.95 TO GBP £11.42
AUD $70.95 TO GBP £33.83
AUD $214.94 TO GBP £102.47

Current UK prices respectively
Essential: £6.99 / £19.99 / 59.99
Extra: £10.99 / £31.99 / £99.99
Premium: £13.49 / £39.99 / £119.99

It's getting absolutely absurd at this point u can literally just go on pc not pay for any of this get the same stuff and free games from epic and bottom of the barrel steam sales 🙄

@Buckster Yep,despite the initial promises of future rollouts,Sony went completely silent on expanding Premium...the only thing they've expanded is the price & removed any discounts for Essential subscriptions!🙄

Even IF they did bring streaming to Down Under,given the $200+ price tag of Deluxe lord knows what they'd charge!
Whilst I'm glad most PS1/PS2 "classics" can be bought rather than paywalled behind a subscription like Nintendo, third party classics remain few & far between,eg: Capcom, EA, Ubisoft & others,nevermind some Sony made or published ones.😔

Actually had let my PS Plus lapse briefly after the hike from $80 to $96...only relented when I learned i still could earn PS Stars points before that too was ended this year!

Mostly use PS Plus for occasional discount bonuses on sales or cloud saves etc. Honestly not much incentive to renew with keeping Essential subs permanently locked at full price & no sales unless you upgrade!

As others have said, between the first party price hikes,(& remasters like Until Dawn having no upgrade option from PS4),have been increasingly selective or opting for Indies.

With departures of the likes of Shawn Layden & now more recently Shuhei Yoshida,, it really feels like a great disconnect between figureheads like Hermen Hulst & other management to the gaming public that buy their products sadly.😕

Why my PC is now my main gaming choice games are cheap thanks to cdkeys, and some times Steam directly but online is free. You can have a full potential to mods depending on the game which makes your game even better, it's very rare I have any form of crash the only game to actually give me problems was The Last of Us Part 1 and that was and still is to me a disaster of a port.

New games come down to like near £30-40 within 6 months again outside of steam but least you can buy outside of steam unlike Sony who monopolises it's store front. I enjoy my PS5 but I've been playing far more PS4 games through it that I already had before I have my brother my PS4. My subscription has ended 1st April and I won't be renewing id rather buy used PS4 games 2nd hand if I see something I wanted to play than having to subscribe to a service I don't fully use just to get a discount, when the used copy is on disc and probably still cheaper.

Putting the current state of affairs a side with tariffs I think Sony right now just want to get back as much of that loss on Live Service. I don't understand why they could increase it in countries like Brazil were wages are small and tight as it is, your out pricing it just for the wealthy they should lower it a bit in these countries.

I'm starting to feel like Sony are deliberately making themselves as unappealing as possible.

@Mythologue yeah, that makes perfect sense.

I haven't missed PS+ for the last 6 months or so, but we really only play rocket league online.

Yup, I said the PS5 was going to be the last gen I'd play games on and I'm sticking by that. Can't wait to move to PC and get TF away from all this nonsense.

Just got an email saying my PS Plus subscription is going up in Canada too. 109.99 CAD for 1 year of Essential.

I just got an email from Sony to inform me that my PSN subscription cost is going up to $109.99 per year, and I'm in Canada, so looks like no country is safe from these hikes!

Lucky for me I'm stacking subscriptions until June 2026 at $94.99, may even tack another year on just to screw Sony out of that extra $15.

Lmao, making everyone pay but Americans

Well this was my tipping point. If anyone in the gta wants a ps5 pro bundle I’m on kijiji. I’m done with this console, time to kit out my PC and call it a day.

Gotta pay for that Concorde catastrophe one way or another I suppose.

Baffles me why they don’t have a cheap n cheerful subscription just for online play. I’d rather not play at all than pay for crap I have no interest in.

As expected, prices are never going to be fixed and are always going to rise with inflation. People will moan and some will unsubscribe but others will just replace them so to Sony it's worth the risk.

Its only a matter of time before the UK also sees a raise, il still sub to Extra as it has great value but they seriously need to increase the value to the Premium tier to make it worth it.

@Bamila this is the part that pisses me off... America causes the issue and everyone but them has to pay for it...

A price increase in the US is inevitable. Guess I better decide if I want to renew it fast and then get it before the price increases.

Turkeys region prices got increased too. By like 40%.. mental.

I have been constant ps plus highest tier subscriber if I could call it, for 11 years. But if they actually going to make us pay for Americans to subsidize their business.. I will have no problem discontinuing. I have beefier PC than ps5 pro that I own, and have no problem just gaming on PC. Where games are much cheaper too!

Besides, only online game I ever play on ps5 is rocket league anyways, and as far as I know all free to play games don't need ps plus for online gaming anyways. I'm actually pretty mad right now. Don't even touch Europe, Sony.

As a dad gamer I don't have the time or interest in online gaming anyways so I only maybe pay for 1-2 months a year if there is a game included that I want.

@liamcroft also seen people on Reddit say that the EU price is being raised to €100/€150/€200 but haven’t seen proof of that myself yet and haven’t gotten an e-mail yet so I doubt it.

Over 200 dollars!! That is a rip off. If the Premium model went to over 150 here in the UK I won’t pay for it that’s for sure. Probably think of selling my PS5.

If it comes to America I'm canceling 😞

I only use essential for the odd discount and cloud saves and maybe a game through ps plus i actually would play. £60 for 12months. Fiver a month that's fine by me 😀

On the PlayStation sub-reddit customers are furious about it and I don't blame them. Sony are going to lose more than they think they'll gain from this. And likely future customers too for being treated this way.

Dang the United States is probably next. I wouldn't mind the increase if they gave us PS3 games natively.

@GADG3Tx87 u can blame the usa why sony is doing this and they are not only company doing it

@MasterChiefWiggum
"The eye of Sauron avoiding my home country of Canada for now…"

I remember reading this last week and came to give my condolences.

Really crazy that every other month Sony is raising the price of something. Has Microsoft raised really raised any prices? I know raised the price of consoles and gamepass a while back… but I don’t think they raised prices as much as Sony. Looks like expanding their game library across multiple platforms in actual benefiting

So why the rest of the world basically get ps plus price increases....UK Europe & Australia get ps5 price increases :/

As of December '24 there were approx. 47.4 million PS plus users. To keep math simple, if you did essential pricing for all of them at $80 USD (yearly) that's approx. $3.8 billion! I don't run a major corporation nor know how much Playstation makes Sony overall but the fact they "need" to raise the price is absurd to me.

@AverageGamer Last I checked 12 months of GamePass Ultimate was more expensive than 12 months of PS Plus Premium.

Honestly this was the push I needed to cancel my PS Plus premium. I didn't even know why I was paying for it at this point. I don't play online games and the monthly games have been absolutely horrible for over a year. Barely ever get a game rated higher that a 6, and its never really anything great. Its usually throw away games they cant make any money off of. Dragon age and Suicide squad being two games that bothered me, as they were complete failures and didn't sell so lets give this trash to our paying subscribers. The price is not worth it.

@MrPeanutbutterz On paper it is, however you can get codes from many sites online that turn out much, much cheaper, and if you take advantage of some conversions you can easily get a year of Ultimate for even less than PS Plus Essential.

And to be clear, I’m not comparing services, I’m saying that if Sony would still allow selling codes as they did in the PS4 generation we could still get it for cheaper, but they essentially monopolized their digital store and subscriptions, they’re even being sued for this and I hope eventually they’re forced to change it back.

Ps prices go up but the games doesn't get better.come on sony.word up son

@MrPeanutbutterz Yeah, but not by much at this point with that price gap closing every price raise. Plus ultimate still offers better value… I don’t have to own an Xbox to benefit from Ultimate. The same cant be said about PS Plus Premium.

Pc is looking far more lucrative rather than another generation of this level of milking.

I think once you consider the power disparity of console to pc, and the likely absurd prices for console games and hardware come 2026, alongside Sony's practices and output this gen. The price disparity between console and a mid level gaming pc(still more powerful than consoles), is far smaller a gap.

A sub service like GP for pc, would make up that disparity with included day one 3rd party releases, in a year or so considering the full price cost for the same titles if played on Sony's platform at $60-80 each, not to mention the likely absurd asking price for the ps6....

I wonder which incompetent moron caused all the supply disruptions and "economic uncertainty." The U.S. price hike is coming, sadly.

@AverageGamer gamepass ultimate is a million times better than ps plus

@AverageGamer Game Pass got a price increase in both 2023 and 2024, it's a safe assumption that Microsoft will continue doing annual price increases.

@Grumblevolcano Yeah, I remember the price increase in 2024, but i don’t remember the price increase in 2023. My memory is becoming dog water at 29 yrs old. Lmao

@IOI You can buy playstation store credit for cheaper though, places like shopto and cd keys sell a £100 top up for £87 or £150 top up for £132 so you can still save if you look around, but I suppose most of the casuals don't bother.

Is this just to bring countries in line with one another - I did a quick calculation on Essential from a couple of countries and it brought it in line with what we pay in the UK - £60, last increased at the end of 2023.

And just like that, I went from Premium Plus to Essential! Emulation is calling my name!

Welp. Thats a shame. Nintendo ripped the bandaid off.

@UltimateOtaku91 Yeah I always stock up when I see some deals on credit for the store, but it really pales to the deals we had back in the PS4 generation.

At some point. It's going to be to expensive to game.

I cancelled my ps plus . I am just buying 2nd (or buy 1st hand) and sell as soon as I finish a game. It's just not affordable for me with the new prices .

@Kidfunkadelic83 Thank you. And dammit! Guess I’m part of the ripped off club!

Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy with that US disclaimer. We catch the subscription shaft bad lol. Not just games either

Paying over $200 of any kind for PS+ is crazy

@KundaliniRising333 indeed. My gaming hobby is going through a "mid life crisis" at the moment. My newly discovered love for sim racing especially the rally genre (I've just dropped £280 on a proper cockpit) has had me looking outside of my ps5 eco system as the pc has a lot more to offer. So I will have my cockpit very soon and then I will (hear that wifey) have my t598 setup later in the year and then I may just start saving for a half decent rig so the whole setup can stay in the spare room. Am I done with my ps5? F**k no but for the first time in years I am looking at something different and the closing price divide is a defining factor.

They keep going on about a crash in gaming? Some think this is it. I guess it could be.

@MasterChiefWiggum the eye of sauron is failing you now 😅

@S1ayeR74 nah. It ain't happening any time soon. People simply accept and repeat things they see online without critical thinking.

@CieloAzure it can be pretty cheap if you don't mind waiting or using older hardware.

Paying to play online on consoles should have never become standard. Consumers should have put their foot down and said no at the very start. Unfortunately that ship has long sailed.

You can thank Microsoft for this particular nickel and diming.

I refuse to give Sony or Microsoft money to use features that are free on my PC.

I've always had the highest subscription level activated, but next time I don't think I'll go beyond the essential level.

Maybe not rule out those physical stores if you let the big companies dictate prices in A digital only hellscape were cooked.

"continue offering high-quality games and value-added benefits" Best joke of the year.

We all know UK and Europe will be next with a price increase. It's their best market, they make the most money here, so they will want to use the global market conditions as an excuses to capatalise on that here as well.

Expect to see a lot more of this.

We saw how Sony behaved at the end of the PS2 generation when they had market dominance, and this time there will be no Xbox 360 or "Wii60" (for those who remember it) to save you.

Sony are going to exploit the demise of Xbox for every penny.

As I said the other day, the story about price rises due to the trade war, despite it being in countries that had no tariffs, was simply a case of Sony PR spitting in your faces, and mocking your intelligence.

if they'd plan to hit the UK, then I have to cancel my sub and focus on single player games and play MP on PC.

Sheesh, you probably are better off getting a PC for next generation the way this is going.

If it costs $600 - $700 for the console and $1200+ in services fees over the course of the consoles life, you basically paid for a mid-higher-end PC (as long as you are going for like a xx70 series GPU or AMD equivalent) - which will be more powerful than the console.

Nvidia makes it easy for you to optimize games based on hardware and resolution target through its app if you just want to play the game without tinkering with settings and 60fps is basically the “minimum” target in PC-land.

Plus, let’s not forget that there is actual competitive marketplaces in the PC world. It’s a lot easier to get a deal on games - even Sony titles.

The total cost of ownership really is less - just a higher upfront cost - especially with service costs continuing to balloon.

Already decided not to renew at end of this month, im expecting UK / EU to be next, all these price rises.. but my wage hasnt risen in years.. so im finally at the point where im priced out.

@GamingFan4Lyf if you have hundreds of ps4/ps4 games you've already purchased and plan to play them, it doesn't make sense financially, as you'd have to buy them all over again.

Plus, aren't there many cheaters online on PC? That's a common complain I keep hearing about and a reason that many console players disable crossplay.

In the US so these new hikes dont impact me(yet), but the last hike a couple years back where they basically doubled the price of it put it off my list. Last 2 cycles I let my ps premium sub expire and waited until the inevitable 50% off plead to stay came.(it usually comes within a day or two) Then I resub.

Thing is, Im kind of hoping it doesnt come this year as I really dont use the sub for anything anymore. (And I know, I could always just not resub, but Im too weak to resist the.....bargains!!!!)

@naruball I don’t play online, so I don’t know about cheaters.

As far as backlog…yeah, that’s an issue. No real way of getting around having rebuy old games outside of exploring the emulation scene and dumping your games to your PC.

Though, you can get some crazy good deals on PS4-era titles (depending on the game).

Yup, got the email yesterday and cancelled my EXTRA tier. Waste of money anyway. Pretty sure the only day one release I’ve played was Stray since the start of Extra and nothing else since or maybe one other, plus I have no backlog so it’s worthless to me. Just basic is more than fine and expensive enough already

@GamingFan4Lyf

The rising long term costs of console gaming absolutely make PC gaming the superior choice and not just in terms of performance and versatility, but on one's pocket too.

@Nalim

"but you are ok with robbing others from their income by pirating games"

That's assuming they had any intention of buying any given game in the first place. Piracy vs Sales is not a 1:1 ratio, never has been. Contrary to the narrative these publishers like to push every pirated game is not a lost sale. These companies can't lose something they never had to begin with.

That's not me advocating video game piracy, I'm simply stating the facts.

@NishimuraX GPU costs aren’t exactly coming down, though. AMD is trying, but the desired advanced feature set of Nvidia with no real competition doesn’t exactly help.

I switched to PC in August of last year and it was the best decision I ever made. But…it was a total cost of $2000.

Now, I only game with it, so I expect to get many years out of - especially if I care for it properly. Plus, I think I will be able to get through at least next-gen before hardware will need to be upgraded. DLSS can really stretch games - especially when I can still play most modern games at Ultra Settings at the moment.

The 7800x3D is a monster for games and the 4070 Super is no slouch! I only game at 1440p, though. Which is fine sitting only a fee feet from a monitor. I notice more detail on my PC at lower resolution than I do on my 4K TV.

I managed to get some back by selling my Xbox Series X and all PS4/5 games I had already finished that have a PC version - my thought was that, if I ever had an itch to play an old game again, I’ll just get it on deep discount or something in the future.

I kept the PS5 for now, but it doesn’t get any use.

I actually find myself using GOG for games from 90’s to ~2010.

@GamingFan4Lyf

Yes the very latest GPUs are costly, but shopping around you can get a better performance GPU than anything the consoles have and still saved money long term. It will be the same with the next generation as well simply because everything that is now considered quintessential to the modern console experience is going up in price every single year, and sometimes more than once.

I've always gamed on PC, even during the headache years of the 90s and early 2000s, but I've always had a console or two as well. Now, however, I've zero interest in any new consoles looking ahead as they're little more than low-mid range PCs with none of the benefits, they're is really nothing unique about them, (which was a huge selling point in previous generations), and the long term overheads are just going up and up. As shown in this very article. GP will be next without a doubt.

There's no question about it, and as long as you shop smart, buying a gaming PC up front is a much more financially viable option long term than modern consoles.

Yes GoG is excellent. Aside from being cheap as chips and offering games both new and old, you can actually own the content you buy via the offline installers.

I'm legit done if there is a price hike for Europe and the UK, I'm not supporting extortion 😡😡😤 I pay enough already as it is.

@naruball the problem is that everybody says that but only a handful actually do that. Im on the fence on this issue. I see a lot of great points. And i also have the luxury of having multiple systems and a bunch of free gaming options- take that as you will. To me it seems like sony is just trying to keep with what the market is doing, which is weird because they used to be so much more of their own way. Does it price people out? Sure. are most of the people that complain STILL paying the increased price? You bet. There is an old saying that still rings true “Money talks”. Enough people stop paying and eventually it will force sony to do something different. Everything else just lets sony (and others) get away with never ending price hikes. execs only listen to sales stats, not commentary.

After the last increase I dropped from Extra to Essential, now I'm contemplating dropping Essential and just picking up monthly subs as and when the game I'm playing needs it.

Also wondering if there are any virtual LAN networks still around to bypass PSN completely for online play...

I let my ps+ lapse for the first time this year. I had ps+ right from.the very start. I haven't really missed it at all. I only really play rocket league online. I have a huge library of game that I have bought in the past and barley played, so I still have a huge library of games to play. Also I just paid full price for atomfall and am really enjoying it. I have put so much time into a game since subnautica. There is something about buying a game that makes me want to get my value out of it.

@naruball

Very true. GoG has been good to me these past 2yrs.

Thanks Trump.

@Leetware1 yes! At the end of the day, that's all that matters. But didn't Sony report that after the previous price hike subscriptions dropped considerably and needed to find a way to turn things around. Not sure if memory serves, but I think it was at an investor meeting

I've always disliked paying for PS Plus but I just pay for it since you're forced to of you want to play online lol. But with it being over $100 now just for basic perks I'm considering switching to PC for paid multiplayer games as I have a good gaming laptop now. All of the perks PS Plus offers are free on PC.