Following Xbox’s surprise Game Pass price cut last month, Sony has decided to go the other direction. PlayStation announced today that PlayStation Plus prices are going up on May 20 for new subscribers in select regions, citing “ongoing market conditions” as the reason.
The new rates only affect the Essential tier’s one-month and three-month subscriptions. In the United States, one-month subscriptions are increasing from $9.99 to $10.99, and three-month subscriptions are jumping from $24.99 to $27.99. In the United Kingdom, one-month subscriptions go from £6.99 to £7.99 and three-month from £19.99 to £21.99. The 12-month subscription doesn’t appear to be affected, and Sony didn’t say anything about PlayStation Plus Extra or PlayStation Plus Premium pricing, so those tiers seem safe for now.
Current subscribers in most regions are grandfathered in, with two notable exceptions: Turkey and India, where the change applies to everyone. If your subscription lapses or you change tiers, though, you’ll get bumped to the new rate when you come back. That’s the part worth keeping in mind for anyone on monthly billing who’s thinking of pausing for a stretch.
The announcement comes less than two months after Sony raised prices on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation Portal. Xbox just walked back some of its Game Pass Ultimate price hike from $29.99 to $22.99 per month in April, and PlayStation Plus has now seen multiple regional price hikes inside of a year on top of the PlayStation 5 itself getting more expensive twice. We’ve been pointing out for a while that console gaming needs Xbox to stay competitive in the hardware space, and right now Microsoft is the one cutting prices (sort of) while Sony keeps pushing them higher. Whether the 12-month option stays untouched long term remains to be seen, but if you’ve been thinking about an annual subscription, locking it in before May 20 isn’t a bad idea.
