Last month, the PlayStation subscription service, PS Plus, went through its latest price hike. Following the new plan, 12 months of PS Plus Essential cost $80, but Sony believes this price is just a consequence of the current economy and market conditions.
Why it matters: While the service had already seen price increases in the past, the latest announcement was met with outrage.
Speaking to Barrons, Eric Lempel from Sony addressed the current position of PlayStation’s subscription service. The gaming giant is striving to improve its offerings, with the new tier system from 2022 being part of these efforts.
However, as mentioned earlier, the price hike has received mostly negative feedback. Despite the backlash, Sony appears confident in its decision, pointing to the current economy and conditions worldwide. Epic Lempel stated:
“Like practically everything in the world, we have to look at our pricing and adjust to market conditions.”
He also referred to the competition, stating that Sony had kept prices steady for most of the world until recently. Therefore, the gaming giant does not seem too bothered by this decision or the outrage that followed from fans.
PS Plus is expected to offer more quality games after the recent price uplift. Recently, the service has added games like Gotham Knights to its selection of monthly games.
Games like God of War Ragnarok could also join the Extra tier soon, going by the trend of PlayStation first-party games like Horizon Forbidden West.
On the subject of price hikes, Phil Spencer believes a similar fate awaits Xbox Game Pass. Therefore, Sony is not alone in raising prices.
However, compared to Microsoft, the gaming giant’s revised prices have led to annual subscriptions that are now up to 35% more expensive. In comparison, Xbox Game Pass saw a modest hike, but future price adjustments may put the two services neck and neck.
Nonetheless, Sony hopes to use these new prices to offer better games. Following the introduction of PS Plus Extra and Premium, Sony notes over 60% of users picked the more expensive tiers.
Such success has motivated the gaming giant to add its first-party catalog to these tiers. Therefore, by 2025, both Spider-Man 2 and God of War Ragnarok may already be available on the subscription.
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