There is currently trouble about the upgrade for PlayStation Plus. Users from Asia report sometimes high additional payment requests. What does that mean for the start in Germany?
While we are often annoyed in this country that innovations such as the upgrade for PlayStation Plus only arrive with some delay, in this case it might not be so bad. Reports from Asia, where the changes have already been implemented, are currently piling up. There, Sony is now unexpectedly claiming retrospective fees – to no small extent. That’s what PS Plus subscribers should know about the upgrade.
Upgrade for PS Plus comes with three packages
Sony announced in March that it wanted to restructure its PlayStation Plus subscription model. In Germany, these changes should come in June; TECHBOOK reported. In the future, the individual packages should look like this:
PlayStation Plus Essential should cost 8.99 euros per month (24.99 euros every three months or 59.99 euros per year). All PlayStation Plus benefits are now included, such as discounts, two downloadable games per month, cloud storage and online multiplayer access.
PlayStation Plus Extra should cost 13.99 euros per month (39.99 euros every three months and 99.99 euros per year). Subscribers to this pack also get a catalog of up to 400 PS4 and PS5 titles. All included games are available for download.
The third package calls Sony PlayStation Plus premium and it will cost 16.99 euros per month (49.99 euros every three months or 119.99 euros per year). In addition to the advantages of the first two tariffs, subscribers get over 300 additional titles, including old PS, PS2 and PS3 classics. Also, this option comes with time-limited trials so players can have a look before making a purchase.
Existing memberships will be transferred to the new model according to the tariff. A basic version will then correspond to the essential package in the future. So far so good and also communicated by Sony. On the Reddit platform, however, posts from Asian subscribers are now piling up, reporting additional costs. Long-standing customers in particular complain about problems and unequal treatment.
PlayStation Plus upgrade more expensive than expected
Nothing has changed in the stated subscription costs themselves. However, if you previously had your subscription discounted and now want a higher-level package, you have to pay extra. The reason for this is that Sony apparently deducts the money already paid from the more expensive package and demands the difference. However, the previously granted discount is not included.
Here is the sample calculation from a user in Taiwan: There was a 25 percent discount for the Plus package, so it cost NT$45 instead of NT$60. But now the user wants to upgrade to the extra package that costs NT$100. However, instead of charging the difference of NT$40, Sony also wants the actually discounted amount, so the user now has to pay NT$55.
Converted to the German model, the first package would have been available for EUR 41.99 instead of EUR 59.99 per year. For the upgrade to PS Plus Extra for 99.99 euros per year, you would have to pay an additional 58 euros instead of 40 euros, as originally suggested by Sony. With PlayStation Plus Premium, up to 78 euros a year are due.
Upgrade only valid for the complete period
However, subscribers in Asia are even more annoyed that the upgrades are not flexible, but are only counted over the entire period. What is meant is that an upgrade to PS Plus Extra or Deluxe is not only possible for part of the term. So if you have already ordered for several years as a precaution and now want to upgrade your package, you cannot compensate for this proportionately with the subscription time window you have already paid for. Instead, the full period must be paid for in one fell swoop.
This means that the previous discount is completely gone. To stay with the bill from just now: If you want to switch from Essential to Premium and paid three years in advance because of the discount in the past, you will now receive a bill of 225 euros.
In plain language, this means that anyone who has taken out a long-term PlayStation Plus membership will get off particularly badly. Long-time fans and subscribers in particular are annoyed by this practice.
Do the problems with the PS Plus update also affect Germany?
It is not yet known whether the same model will also apply to Germany. Sony has not yet commented on the reports from Asian countries where the PlayStation Plus upgrade has already started. It is therefore quite possible that by the time Sony starts in this country on June 22, 2022 reacted again.
While some Reddit users even firmly expect that the Europe and US launch will be adjusted again because the willingness to complain is greater there, many see black in this regard. Precisely because Sony remains very vague in its FAQs, many suspect that the unfavorable upgrade strategy should also be carried out elsewhere. TECHBOOK will keep you up to date on this