GRcade

Sony has announced a global price increase for PlayStation Plus' 12-month subscription plans across all tiers of its service, with the changes coming into effect on 6th September.

As detailed at the bottom of its latest PlayStation Plus Monthly Games update, starting 6th September, UK subscribers will pay £59.99 for 12 months of PlayStation Plus Essential, up from £49.99, while 12 months of PlayStation Plus Extra increases from £83.99 to £99.99, and 12 months of PlayStation Plus Extra Premium rises from £99.99 to £119.99.

Since launching PlayStation Plus in 2010, SIE has been at the forefront of innovation with game subscription services. We were thrilled to be the first console membership service that included a refreshed library of games through PlayStation Plus, and also launched the first console game streaming service with PlayStation Now.

Today, we are pleased to share with you official news about changes coming to our subscription services. This June, we're bringing together PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now in an all-new PlayStation Plus subscription service that provides more choice to customers across three membership tiers globally.

Our focus is on providing high-quality, curated content with a diverse portfolio of games*. Below is an overview of the three membership tiers:

PlayStation Plus Essential

Benefits:

Provides the same benefits that PlayStation Plus members are getting today, such as:

Two monthly downloadable games
Exclusive discounts
Cloud storage for saved games
Online multiplayer access
There are no changes for existing PlayStation Plus members in this tier.


Price*for PlayStation Plus Essential remains the same as the current price for PlayStation Plus.

United States
$9.99 monthly / $24.99 quarterly / $59.99 yearly
Europe
€8.99 monthly / €24.99 quarterly / €59.99 yearly
United Kingdom
£6.99 monthly / £19.99 quarterly / £49.99 yearly
Japan
¥850 monthly / ¥2,150 quarterly / ¥5,143 yearly

PlayStation Plus Extra

Benefits:

Provides all the benefits from the Essential tier
Adds a catalog of up to 400* of the most enjoyable PS4 and PS5 games – including blockbuster hits from our PlayStation Studios catalog and third-party partners. Games in the Extra tier are downloadable for play.

Price*:
United States
$14.99 monthly / $39.99 quarterly / $99.99 yearly
Europe
€13.99 monthly / €39.99 quarterly / €99.99 yearly
United Kingdom
£10.99 monthly / £31.99 quarterly / £83.99 yearly
Japan
¥1,300 monthly / ¥3,600 quarterly / ¥8,600 yearly

PlayStation Plus Premium**

Benefits:

Provides all the benefits from Essential and Extra tiers
Adds up to 340* additional games, including:
PS3 games available via cloud streaming
A catalog of beloved classic games available in both streaming and download options from the original PlayStation, PS2 and PSP generations
Offers cloud streaming access for original PlayStation, PS2, PSP and PS4 games offered in the Extra and Premium tiers in markets** where PlayStation Now is currently available. Customers can stream games using PS4 and PS5 consoles, and PC.***
Time-limited game trials will also be offered in this tier, so customers can try select games before they buy.

Price*:
United States
$17.99 monthly / $49.99 quarterly / $119.99 yearly
Europe
€16.99 monthly / €49.99 quarterly / €119.99 yearly
United Kingdom
£13.49 monthly / £39.99 quarterly / £99.99 yearly
Japan
¥1,550 – monthly / ¥4,300 – quarterly / ¥10,250 yearly

PlayStation Plus Deluxe (Select Markets) For markets without cloud streaming, PlayStation Plus Deluxe will be offered at a lower price compared to Premium, and includes a catalog of beloved classic games from the original PlayStation, PS2 and PSP generations to download and play, along with time-limited game trials. Benefits from Essential and Extra tiers are also included. Local pricing will vary by market.

The new Extra and Premium tiers represent a major evolution for PlayStation Plus. With these tiers, our key focus is to ensure that the hundreds of games we offer will include the best quality content that sets us apart. At launch, we plan to include titles such as Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel's Spider-Man, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal. We're working closely with our imaginative developers from PlayStation Studios and third-party partners to include some of the best gaming experiences available with a library that will be regularly refreshed. More details to come on the games we'll have on our new PlayStation Plus service.

When the new PlayStation Plus service launches, PlayStation Now will transition into the new PlayStation Plus offering and will no longer be available as a standalone service. PlayStation Now customers will migrate over to PlayStation Plus Premium with no increase to their current subscription fees at launch.

As this is a massive launch effort, we're rolling out the new PlayStation Plus offering in a phased regional approach. In the June timeframe, we'll begin with an initial launch in several markets in Asia, followed by North America, Europe and the rest of the world where PlayStation Plus is offered. We aim to have most PlayStation Network territories live with our new PlayStation Plus game subscription service by the end of the first half of 2022. We also plan to expand our cloud streaming benefit to additional markets, and will provide more details at a later date.

PlayStation Blog wrote:The new Extra and Premium tiers represent a major evolution for PlayStation Plus. With these tiers, our key focus is to ensure that the hundreds of games we offer will include the best quality content that sets us apart. At launch, we plan to include titles such as Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal. We’re working closely with our imaginative developers from PlayStation Studios and third-party partners to include some of the best gaming experiences available with a library that will be regularly refreshed. More details to come on the games we’ll have on our new PlayStation Plus service.

Jenuall wrote:They need to be clearer on what this actually gets you. "up to 400* of the most enjoyable PS4 and PS5 games"? What does that even mean? How does it compare to your competitor who gives new games on day 1? Are we just getting hundreds of old PS4 games or are we getting new releases?

PlayStation Blog wrote:At launch, we plan to include titles such as Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal.

twitter.com/Chris_Dring/status/1508776567811543052

jawa_ wrote:

Jenuall wrote:They need to be clearer on what this actually gets you. "up to 400* of the most enjoyable PS4 and PS5 games"? What does that even mean? How does it compare to your competitor who gives new games on day 1? Are we just getting hundreds of old PS4 games or are we getting new releases?

PlayStation Blog wrote:At launch, we plan to include titles such as Death Stranding, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mortal Kombat 11, and Returnal.

Taking account of 400 PS4/PS5 games, 340 PS3 games and a "catalogue of classics" for PS/PS2/PSP systems, I'd imagine that's nearing 1,000 games. Sounds pretty attractive.

twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1508777877701111820

Jenuall wrote:...Of course the exact line up is needed to make a real critical evaluation of whether this is worth it for any individual, but it's going to need to offer a stellar selection of classics to compete with "we give you all of our new releases on day 1" for me personally

jawa_ wrote:

Jenuall wrote:...Of course the exact line up is needed to make a real critical evaluation of whether this is worth it for any individual, but it's going to need to offer a stellar selection of classics to compete with "we give you all of our new releases on day 1" for me personally

Yeah, that Day One is great and will be super expensive to replicate. Rumours this week suggested that Microsoft paid "$5m to $10m" just to include Square Enix's Guardians of the Galaxy in Game Pass; and as that is just one game, you can imagine the overall running costs for the scheme. It's fantastic for Xbox Game Pass subscribers but I wonder if it's sustainable at current pricing and subs numbers?

Photek wrote:That 5-10m number is based on 1 analyst who wouldn't give numbers and/or reasoning (or proof) for it other than basically "trust me bro".

VideoGamesChronicle wrote:David Gibson, who is a senior analyst at MST financial, has estimated that Square Enix was paid around $5-10 million for its superhero adventure to join the on-demand subscription service.

Although this figure has neve been officially confirmed, Gibson says it’s an estimate based on “discussions with Square Enix and others”. Gibson has been covering Square Enix as an analyst for 15 years.

VideoGamesChronicle wrote:In a recent blog post celebrating nine years of ID@Xbox, Microsoft’s Chris Charla revealed that the company has paid developers and publishers “hundreds of millions of dollars” in Game Pass licensing fees since the service launched.