PlayStation Plus users are starting to hit breaking point after Sony's rising costs came with a drop in value.
More and more users are saying they’re done with the service unless things improve.
The cost of a yearly PlayStation Plus subscription has never been cheap. But expenses hit hard when Sony hiked their price model in 2023.
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PS Plus is Sony’s monthly membership program that lets users access online multiplayer services.
While it's not needed for streaming apps like Netflix or for free-to-play games like Fortnite or Warzone, paid online games like Helldivers 2 or Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege require it.
For comparison, PS Plus Essential used to be $59.99 for a year (now $79.99), PS Plus Extra used to be $99.99 a year (now $134.99) and PS Plus Premium used to be $119.99 a year (now $159.99).
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Sony claimed the 'price adjustment' was to help them 'continue bringing high-quality games and value-added benefits' to the service. But nearly two years later, many long-time subscribers aren’t seeing the value of service anymore.
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Over on Reddit’s r/PlayStationPlus thread, one PS Plus user announced they'd be 'voting with their wallet' and letting their subscription finish its course.
"For the first time in almost 15 years, I cancelled my PS+ subscription and let it run out. I didn't want to do it, but I can't justity [sic] it anymore," they posted.
Justifying their decision to leave, they blamed the price hikes and the lack of flexibility in downgrading subscription tiers. Premium members get access to a huge catalogue of games and movies - but only for a limited time since the library refreshes monthly. As the original poster explained, this short window leads to 'FOMO due to games leaving the subscription catalog without enough notice to finish most of them.'
Now, judging by the replies, other PS fans are making the same move.
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“I realised I almost never play the monthly games I've been collecting for 10+ years,” said the first user. “It would be cheaper for me to just buy what I want to play when I want to play it rather than the annual ps+ cost.”
Another shared: "Me too, I don't have a lot of time now, so buying a subscription that only allows me to play specific games in a specific amount of limited timeframe is not at all profitable for me. Much cheaper to get games on discount or buying second hand games that I really want to play."
Someone else described that they 'don’t love subscription model,' adding: "I found myself prioritizing catalog games that I am less interested to play at the moment over the games I am in the mood for, all for the sake of getting “as much value as possible”. So I also let it ran out early this year and I am having so much fun going through my own backlog of games that I own."
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Sony has probably already factored in losing some subscribers after raising its prices. But, unless a large number of users leave the service, the company has little reason to make changes - especially since the current model is bringing in some hefty profits. Sadly, fans will either have to bite the bullet of higher costs or look to switch platforms like PC or Xbox.