PlayStation Plus price increases to $60 ($70 CAD) starting September - no new features

[GoodBytes]

Sony PlayStation Plus online gaming network annual fee will increase by $10, boosting the US price to $60 and in Canada boosted to $70.

No new features will be introduced to justify the price increase.

 

The new fee will start on September 22. It is rumored that 2 new consoles will be announced this September: The PS4 Slim and the PS4 Neo.

The Slim model is a shrink downed model of the PS4. The PS4 Neo will feature updated specs, and is expected to be released at a later time.

 

Quote

f you're a fan of Sony's PlayStation Plus subscription service—which doles out free monthly downloads for the company's various systems and enables online play on PS4 games in exchange for an annual fee—you might want to lock in your next annual renewal of $50 per year pretty soon.

That's because the annual fee goes up to $60 (or CAD $70) starting September 22, which is exactly one month after an announcement posted on Monday. Sony took an odd approach to making this announcement: the company edited the news into a late-July alert about the freebies PS Plus members would receive in August. The post did not receive an updated headline, despite the official PlayStation Twitter account linking to the post once it had been edited.

The announcement explained that the price hike—the first for the service since its launch in 2010—is thanks to "current market conditions." Since the post neither linked to any financial or market analyses nor announced any new features coming to PlayStation Plus, Ars is tempted to assume that those "current market conditions" are little more than "we think people will grin and bear the price hike."

The monthly subscription will remain to $10 per month.

 

The price increase makes the service cost the same as Microsoft's XBox Live online gaming service.

 

Source: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/08/playstation-plus-annual-fee-jumping-10-in-september-no-new-features/

 

Do you have a PlayStation 4, and do you use PlayStation Plus network for online gaming?

 

[saladcrack]

I have an Xbox One so now I can laugh in my friends face because he has been hating on me paying $60 for gold for years mwahahaha.

[Techicolors]

i'm guessing the price hike is for better free games for PS+ members... 

 

but as someone who owns playstation systems, it's a bit of a drag. most will have to pay for it anyways since it's the only way to play MP or use some online features

[Sakkura]

3 minutes ago, Gamessys said:

I have an Xbox One so now I can laugh in my friends face because he has been hating on me paying $60 for gold for years mwahahaha.

Does that mean PC gamers can laugh at both of you?

 

Anyway, I'm not in favor of subscriptions for critical features. An optional subscription for games, yeah okay that can make sense depending on pricing and terms.

 

Raising the price just makes it that much more unappealing. And kinda ruins the whole "consoles are cheap" idea.

[PRTI]

 

[saladcrack]

Just now, Sakkura said:

Does that mean PC gamers can laugh at both of you?

 

Anyway, I'm not in favor of subscriptions for critical features. An optional subscription for games, yeah okay that can make sense depending on pricing and terms.

I play on both but it depends on the game.

[ivan134]

Ha, consoles

[SansVarnic]

To me this makes sense its Playstation.

 

But yeah that is not cool.

[catzambia]

Just now, Gamessys said:

I have an Xbox One so now I can laugh in my friends face because he has been hating on me paying $60 for gold for years mwahahaha.

Surely you don't ACTUALLY pay 60 dollars

[saladcrack]

Just now, catzambia said:

Surely you don't ACTUALLY pay 60 dollars

Why would I not pay $60? Free games, online etc etc.

[Kimmers]

Imagine if Valve allowed users to pay for better official match making servers and better anti cheat.

 

One could dream.

[catzambia]

Just now, Gamessys said:

Why would I not pay $60? Free games, online etc etc.

Yes, I pay for Xbox Live too, but what I'm saying is I hope you don't spend 60 dollars for a year, you can find it cheaper elsewhere. I was making a little joke...

[saladcrack]

1 minute ago, catzambia said:

Yes, I pay for Xbox Live too, but what I'm saying is I hope you don't spend 60 dollars for a year, you can find it cheaper elsewhere. I was making a little joke...

Yeah I pay $60 a year, didn't know there were places to get it cheaper.  Sorry for killing the joke lol

[Dionyz]

That's why I don't pay for that over priced POS. I hate subscriptions. It's like saying you will have to pay monthly for using CS;GO.

 

I am still playing on PS3, and I am satisfied about the graphics.

[Howlingwolf101]

19 minutes ago, Gamessys said:

Yeah I pay $60 a year, didn't know there were places to get it cheaper.  Sorry for killing the joke lol

I've seen some sites that sell game keys sell xbox live memberships. I got a 13 (or was it 15) month membership for about $43.

[saladcrack]

Just now, Howlingwolf101 said:

I've seen some sites that sell game keys sell xbox live memberships. I got a 13 (or was it 15) month membership for about $43.

Hmm seems sketchy

[handymanshandle]

42 minutes ago, Gamessys said:

I have an Xbox One so now I can laugh in my friends face because he has been hating on me paying $60 for gold for years mwahahaha.

I have an Xbox 360 that I used to get XBL Gold ever year for, I wanted and got a PS4 in part because it was $10 cheaper a year. Good thing I didn't plan on renewing it after this year because I'm anticipating to be able to build my PC either by the end of this year or early next year.

[Ja Krispie]

I have a PS4 and I don't really care. Gonna pay it anyway

[catzambia]

Just now, Gamessys said:

Yeah I pay $60 a year, didn't know there were places to get it cheaper.  Sorry for killing the joke lol

https://www.kinguin.net/category/184/xbox-live-12-months-gold-subscription-card/

Boom. Scroll down a bit and you can get it for 40. Totally legit. And lol it's okay.

[Technous285]

I can see that this will cause a few folks who have PS+ currently to splurge the cash to bulk-buy a few years worth of PS+ so they don't have to worry about the price hike for a few years, pushing the hike for them personally down the line.

[handymanshandle]

2 minutes ago, Technous285 said:

I can see that this will cause a few folks who have PS+ currently to splurge the cash to bulk-buy a few years worth of PS+ so they don't have to worry about the price hike for a few years, pushing the hike for them personally down the line.

Or just go to PC before their year ends, and don't have to give Sony $10 more than they would've otherwise.

[Ja Krispie]

3 minutes ago, Technous285 said:

I can see that this will cause a few folks who have PS+ currently to splurge the cash to bulk-buy a few years worth of PS+ so they don't have to worry about the price hike for a few years, pushing the hike for them personally down the line.

If they do it's kinda stupid. For 10 bucks it's not really worth buying multiple years worth of it.

[Technous285]

1 minute ago, Psybadek said:

If they do it's kinda stupid. For 10 bucks it's not really worth buying multiple years worth of it.

Remember; that by buying multiple years worth of something like PS+ you don't stress yourself out trying to remember if it runs out this year or next, you just store in long-term memory "It's gonna run out in 2020" or such, so even if you have a lean income next year you don't have to stress about keeping up the sub for the year.

 

6 minutes ago, wcreek said:

Or just go to PC before their year ends, and don't have to give Sony $10 more than they would've otherwise.

As someone with a monster gaming rig, a PS3 & PS4, with folks I play games with on both sides of the spectrum; there simply are times when it's not worth the hassle of trying to convince your friends to buy the game on PC (say, their system can handle STO but crumple under Overwatch) when it's just easier for you to get the game on console and absorb the cost of PS+ since you regularly play games with them that benefit from/need PS+ to do so.

[Ja Krispie]

Just now, Technous285 said:

Remember; that by buying multiple years worth of something like PS+ you don't stress yourself out trying to remember if it runs out this year or next, you just store in long-term memory "It's gonna run out in 2020" or such, so even if you have a lean income next year you don't have to stress about keeping up the sub for the year.

 

As someone with a monster gaming rig, a PS3 & PS4, with folks I play games with on both sides of the spectrum; there simply are times when it's not worth the hassle of trying to convince your friends to buy the game on PC (say, their system can handle STO but crumple under Overwatch) when it's just easier for you to get the game on console and absorb the cost of PS+ since you regularly play games with them that benefit from/need PS+ to do so.

I don't stress out anyway, I have it setup on auto renewal. So when it runs out I have no worries of it not being paid.

[handymanshandle]

17 minutes ago, Technous285 said:

As someone with a monster gaming rig, a PS3 & PS4, with folks I play games with on both sides of the spectrum; there simply are times when it's not worth the hassle of trying to convince your friends to buy the game on PC (say, their system can handle STO but crumple under Overwatch) when it's just easier for you to get the game on console and absorb the cost of PS+ since you regularly play games with them that benefit from/need PS+ to do so.

I should've put a /s to indicate I wasn't being exactly serious. I mean I'm kinda am serious, but yeah I agree. I got a PS4 under the presumption that maybe I have more friends that play on Playstation over Xbox, actually it would seems I know more people that play on PC.

 

I've been planning on building a PC for the past two years, likely early next year but possibly like December of this year I'll start building a PC since I'll be starting a job soon. But anyways, I don't think it's a huge deal that Sony is raising the price to $60, if it was a $20 price hike I could see it being more of a big deal.