Last month, Sony raised the price of all its PlayStation Plus 12-month subscriptions globally, across all tiers, by roughly 30%. In a new interview, PlayStation’s top business executive defended the decision, insisting the company had to “adjust” to market conditions.
In September, Sony increased the price for 12 months of PlayStation Plus Essential from $59.99 to $79.99, PlayStation Plus Extra from $99.99 to $134.99, and PlayStation Plus Premium from $119.99 to $159.99. At the time, Sony issued a brief statement explaining the significant price hike: “This price adjustment will enable us to continue bringing high-quality games and value-added benefits to your PlayStation Plus subscription service.”
In a recent interview with Barron’s, Sony Interactive Entertainment business chief Eric Lempel was asked to justify the price hike to consumers. Lempel responded to say Sony had no choice but to raise the price of PS Plus. “We want to make PlayStation Plus great,” he said. “With our reboot last year and introducing the tier system, a lot of consumers have recognized that there’s a lot of value in PlayStation 5.
“Like practically everything else in the world, we have to look at our pricing and we have to adjust to market conditions.
“I’m happy to say, unlike a lot of other subscription services out there, we haven’t touched the PlayStation Plus pricing for 85% of the world in many years. So, this was the first time we did something there.”
The PS Plus price hike came not long after Microsoft raised the prices of Xbox Game Pass. Subscription services across entertainment have seen price rises this year, most recently to Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade. Disney+ and Netflix have also raised their prices. Be sure to check out our roundup to see what other streaming services got a bit more pricey.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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