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Update #3: messages from PSPlus Upgrades in Asia, potentially undermining any historical rebates, resonated, and did, around the world forced Sony to issue a statementwhich claims it was a technical error that has since been fixed:
We’d argue that the only flaw here is that the company got caught, but at least its response was quick.
Update #2: After effectively admitting that historical discounts are meant to be wiped out for those looking to upgrade PSPlus memberships, it looks like Sony has backed down. The company, potentially feeling a colossal backlash, has made some adjustments to its upgrade calculation tool, ignoring any previous deals that might have been exploited.
A few pictures from a user in Thailand show the change:
Let’s hope the company has come to their senses and this will be the last we’ll hear from it because this whole sad story was sickening to say the least. Those of you with stacked subscriptions will still need to prepay your full term if you want to upgrade.
Update #1: A Sony support email from a Hong Kong employee, spotted by ResetEra, appears to confirm that the platform owner will remove discounts on previously purchased subscriptions if users attempt to upgrade theirs PSPlus memberships. While some had argued that this might be a mistake and that the organization would never sink that low, the translated correspondence suggests otherwise.
The message, translated by Google, explains: “If you need to upgrade to the second or third level of membership, you must first make up the difference from the previous discounted price in order to return to the normal price. Example: A one-year PS Plus membership was HK$308 and the concession price was HK$187.60, so the difference is HK$120.40 divided by the number of months remaining.”
So those with stacked subscriptions not only have to prepay the full term of their membership to upgrade, but any previously earned discounts will be wiped out. amazing! We contacted Sony yesterday to try to clarify if this policy will apply in the West, but have not received any comment yet.
We sincerely hope the company makes an effort to correct this ahead of next month’s rollout.
Original story: Sony has about two weeks to avoid a storm of epic proportions in the west, assuming news out of Asia will be consistent here. The new PSPlus rolled out overnight in countries like Hong Kong and Taiwan, but local players are absolutely annoyed with the way the platform owner is handling upgrades. It effectively wipes out any discounts memberships might have been purchased with, and also charges an upfront fee to upgrade stacked subscriptions.
All of this leads to some users being offered $100 to upgrade from the Moor standard PS Plus Essential to PS Plus extra or PS Plus Deluxe (the alternative version of PS Plus Premium available in countries without cloud streaming functionality). It’s worth noting that cases like this will be limited as the frankly staggering numbers only apply to people who have subscriptions stacked several years into the future, but the backlash will be huge if this also happens in the United States and Europe . Those who stack subscriptions are probably the most engaged, loyal, and noisy customers.
To further address what Asian gamers are upset about, those who have active PS Plus Essential memberships through, say, 2026 are being quoted the price of four full years to upgrade to PS Plus Extra or PS Plus Deluxe. There’s no way to upgrade for, say, a year and then return to PS Plus Essential after that term is up. Sony will charge you the difference for the upgrade, but some of the shared upfront payments are huge.
To make matters worse, the Japanese giant is inscrutably wiping out historic discounts on subscriptions purchased through the PS store. So, for example, if you bought your membership while it was on sale and then decide to upgrade, the difference in price will increase to erode the savings you originally earned. This basically means that any offers it may have offered on subscriptions in the past will be retroactively eliminated – unthinkableYes, really.
There is enough evidence online to confirm that this is all happening in Asia right now – but of course it’s possible things are handled differently in the West. We will be in touch with Sony to try and get confirmation on how this issue is being addressed in North America and Europe and will update if or if we receive feedback. If that’s the path the company has planned, though, maybe it’s a good thing it chose a staggered launch because it has a couple of weeks to correct course before it has a whopping riot on its hands.
