In what would normally have been a great decision, many players thought they would stack up on discounted PS Plus and PS Now codes when Sony first announced the PlayStation Plus upgrade prices. This meant they would automatically be upgraded to PS Plus Premium when the new tiers were introduced. Sony then cracked down on that, halting the redemption of codes for those who had existing memberships. Now Sony has confirmed that they’re now actively punishing those who bought PS Plus through any discount by charging a higher price to upgrade to PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium.
Upgrading to PS Plus Premium at a premium price
When the new PS Plus subs launched in Asia earlier this week, reports started emerging that those who purchased PS Plus through any discount were having to pay a higher upgrade price to change to PS Plus Extra or PS Plus Premium. Now Sony has confirmed this is indeed the case in a Customer Service email that was put on the VGTime forums. As translated by ResetEra, the e-mail reads:
Thanks for contacting PlayStation Support.
About your inquiry about PlayStation Plus membership subscription price, thank you for your support. Since you purchased the PlayStation Plus membership at a discounted price at that time, after the new PlayStation Plus membership is launched there are two PlavStation Plus memberships that cannot enjoy other discounts:
1. PlayStation Plus membership bought with a discount.
2. PlayStation Plus membership redeemed with redemption code.Therefore, if you need to upgrade to the second or third tier of premium membership, you need to make up for the difference in the previous discounted price first to return to the normal price. For example: the one-year PlayStation Plus membership was HK$308, the discount price was HK$187.6, and the difference was 120.4 X the number of remaining months, please rest assured, if you need to upgrade, the system will automatically calculate the amount that needs to be paid back for the difference.
Of course, you can also choose to upgrade or downgrade the membership service according to your own preferences. If you do not upgrade, the PlayStation Plus membership service you are currently using will not be affected. Game discounts, monthly free games and the usage rights of 100GB of online storage space remain unchanged, please rest assured.
Finally, we have recorded and dealt with your valuable comments, thank you for your support.
I hope this helps. But if you have any other questions, please contact PlayStation Support and a support person on our team will be happy to assist you.
The e-mail even seems to suggest that even if you paid full price for a PS Plus redemption code, you will be charged a premium to upgrade to PS Plus Extra or Premium, although it isn’t completely clear what that premium will be. As can be expected, this is causing a lot of frustration amongst gamers. Sony is yet to respond to any of the feedback these decisions are generating.
In other news, Dino Crisis looks set to join PS Plus Premium and the PS Classics catalog in the future. Elsewhere, PS Plus Premium game trials are seemingly of varying lengths after it turns out the Cyberpunk 2077 and Horizon Forbidden West trials are 5 hours long.
