The PlayStation Plus Price Hike Sucks
The price of PlayStation Plus, the service required to play online on the PS4, has just been increased by a significant amount. Reading the news on some websites you'd believe the thoughts are "mixed", but this is far from the case. An email was sent round to Europe based PSN users stating an effective date of the 31st August 2017 for the new prices listed below.
For the UK:
- The annual price of PlayStation Plus changes from £39.99 to £49.99
- The quarterly price of PlayStation Plus changes from £14.99 to £19.99
- The monthly price of PlayStation Plus changes from £5.99 to £6.99
As for the rest of Europe:
- The annual price of PlayStation Plus changes from €49.99 to €59.99
- The quarterly price of PlayStation Plus changes from €19.99 to €24.99
- The monthly price of PlayStation Plus changes from €6.99 to €7.99
Then there's Australia:
- The annual price of PlayStation Plus changes from $69.95 to $79.95
- The quarterly price of PlayStation Plus changes from $27.95 to $33.95
- The monthly price of PlayStation Plus changes from $9.95 to $10.95
The price hike in itself is frustrating, but what's worse is SCEE has pretty much stated that there will be NO additions to the service relative to this price hike. They had the following to state when asked about why the hike happened:
"We are changing the pricing to reflect various market conditions while enabling us to continue providing exceptional value to our members."
There have been recent rumours that PlayStation plan to bundle in a basic PlayStation Now package with the PlayStation Plus subscription and this price change could have paved the way for it, but from the statement given it would appear that is still a wishful dream.
Membership cost increased for Americans in September 2016, and they now cost $59.99 for 12 months and $24.99 for three months in the US. Conversion of the annual cost currently brings us to around £45.81, meaning the price hike seems no more than a catchup to the now equally unfair US prices. (EU prices are listed incl tax)
I still have hope that the new cost brings more interesting game titles to the service, but it's so far looking doubtful. Gone are the days that PlayStation Plus was an optional premium service providing subscribers with AAA titles & bonus features.
For comparison, Xbox Live's cost is as follows:
- The annual price of Xbox Live is £39.99
- The quarterly cost of Xbox Live is £14.99
- The monthly cost of Xbox Live is £5.99
In comparison, PlayStation Plus does offer a couple more features like the fantastic "Share Play" which allows your friends to take over your PS4 to help them out in a game or join you as a 2nd "couch" player. But as of recent the "free" titles released each month on both services have been more enticing on the Xbox side, which to most is possibly the more important part.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you feel this is or WILL be justified or are you annoyed that your online subscription is taking more money our of your pocket, meaning less on the games themselves? Join the conversation in the comments!