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Sony is raising the subscription price of its PlayStation Plus service across Asia and Europe from August 1st, 2019. According to correspondence received by subscribers as reported by VG24/7, France, Germany, and Norway will only see a rise to their one-month subscription price, while both Sweden and Switzerland will see the prices increase across all three of its subscription prices: one-month, three months, and one year.
The price hike will not affect UK subscribers this time, as British PS Plus users saw the price rise by 25 per cent to £50 in 2017 along with some other European countries. While the price will automatically increase from August 1st, any subscriptions purchased between now and then will remain at the current price for the annual duration. As PS Plus subscriptions are “stackable”, this means players can buy and redeem three annual subscriptions at the current price now, for example, and not have to re-subscribe for another three years.
Asian territories will also see an increase, with the one-month and three-month plan increasing to ¥850 and ¥2150 respectively in Japan. China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand will also see a price increase.
As of December 2018, the PlayStation Plus service – which launched in 2010 – had over 36 million subscribers, increasing by 28 million users in just four years 2014. In addition to permitting PlayStation 4 owners to play online games together and with party chat, the service also comes with several other perks, including early access to new games, discounts in the PlayStation Store, and its Instant Game Collection which gives away a number of games each month, including both Triple-A titles and notable indie games.
According to Statista, the combined cost of the “free” games offered PlayStation Plus subscribers was $1,508.74 in 2018.
