A PlayStation Plus price increase seems imminent, and may end up arriving alongside the upcoming PS5 price increase. The PS5 is set to increase in price on September 1, and it looks like another price increase may follow that. For most PlayStation fans, this isn’t a problem because they already own a PS5 or a PS5 Pro or both. It will be a problem when the PS6 releases next year and costs $1000, though. In the meantime, PS5 and PS5 Pro users may be looking down the barrel of a PlayStation Plus price increase.
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Speaking to investors, Sony recently confirmed that instead of constant expansion of PS Plus, it’s strategizing to extract more revenue from the base it has. And it feels like it is in a position to do this partially because of high demand for the subscription service, with roughly 40% subscribers subscribed to the most expensive tier, PS Plus Premium. Meanwhile, the subscription service achieved record-high profitability in the last financial year.
Sony Wants More Recurring Revenue
“We want to make sure that Customer LTV (Customer Lifetime Value) for every new user is profitable,” said Sony. “We aim to achieve this by driving higher Customer LTV, increasing recurring revenue, and implementing operational discipline and efficiency. By balancing growth in these areas, we can achieve our aim for profitable growth.”
One of the key points here is “increasing recurring revenue.” How is this achieved other than by raising the price? Incidentally, this sounds like what you say when you are hinting at a price increase.
Unfortunately, for PlayStation Plus subscribers, a price increase is inevitable due to inflation and worsening market conditions. The question is not if, but when. The start of the PS6 generation seems like a great time to raise the price, either at its launch, right before it, or right after it.
Since the launch of the PS5, the price of the Sony subscription service has increased twice. Only one of these times was a major increase, though, and that was in 2023. So it’s been a few years, making an increase even more likely.
All of that said, take everything here for what it is, which is speculation. This does sound like, at the very least, Sony is thinking of increasing revenue through PS Plus with a price increase, but it could also do this with other methods, like introducing new tiers. And with the PS6 set to be unaffordable for most, perhaps there will be a subscription model for it through PlayStation Plus. You could even lock access to it behind an active subscription. Almost like a rental. This would be very tricky to balance budget-wise in the short term for Sony, but could provide very profitable over a long enough period of time, and solve the PS6 affordability issue.
All of that said, and as always, feel free to leave a comment or two letting us know what you think, or join the video game conversations happening over on the ComicBook Forum.
