If you subscribe to Sony’s premium PlayStation Plus membership service, then you might be miffed at some news that came out of Sony today. The PlayStation maker is increasing the price of PlayStation Plus memberships in Canada and the U.S., with Canada getting an especially big spike for annual fees!
PlayStation Plus memberships currently cost $49.99 for a 12-month membership in Canada and the U.S. (averaging out to about $4 a month), with 3-month memberships costing $17.99 in both territories, and 1-month memberships costing $9.99 in both territories. The price changes will go into effect on September 22nd of this year, and will see 12-month memberships increase to $59.99 USD/$69.99 CDN (this means that year-long PlayStation Plus membership renewal will now cost more in Canada than the $59.99 year-long Xbox Live Gold membership fee), 3-month memberships increase to $24.99 USD/$29.99 CDN, with 1-month memberships increasing to $11.99 here in Canada, though they will remain at $9.99 for the U.S.
Sony issued a statement that the price increase was necessary due to the current state of the market, though they are still committed to delivering the same high value to PlayStation Plus members with benefits like free monthly game selections and exclusive discounts and beta access. Currently, there has been no word on potential PlayStation Plus price increases for Sony’s native Japan, nor the U.K., Europe or Australia, and at this point, the price increase only seems to apply to North America. The price hike will be especially annoying to PlayStation 4 owners here in our native Canada however, since a yearly membership now costs $20 extra, and unlike PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, a PlayStation Plus membership is required in most cases to play PlayStation 4 games online. On the plus side however, this could be a sign that Sony plans to offer more full retail packages as free PlayStation 4 games for PlayStation Plus members soon, since most free PlayStation 4 rewards for PlayStation Plus members are cheaper, smaller indie games.
Keep revisiting Eggplante for all major news and updates on PlayStation Plus, and other PlayStation incentives.