Earlier today, we reported that Sony had planned to make PS Plus subscribers that purchased the service at discounted rates pay the difference to upgrade to PS Plus Extra or PS Plus Premium. However, it seems like this policy is being slowly rolled back as more and more PlayStation owners register their ire. Users on Reddit (via ResetEra) are reporting that their upgrade pricing no longer requires them to pay back the discount amount.
Sony no longer requires users to pay back PS Plus discounts before upgrading to PS Plus Extra or Premium
PS Plus goes on sale several times a year, and many PlayStation owners stock up when this occurs. So, it’s not unusual for someone to have several years of PS Plus service activated on their accounts. Under Sony’s previous policy, you’d have to pay back the discounted difference before upgrading to PS Plus Extra or Premium. So, if you got a year (usually $59.99) at 33% off, you’d have to pay back $19.80, then pay the upgrade fee of $40 for PS Plus Extra or $60 for PS Plus Premium.
Obviously, people got a little upset at Sony’s penny-pinching behavior, especially considering Microsoft’s much more relaxed approach to discounts on Xbox Game Pass. The rollout of the new tiers has released in Asia only as of now. Still, plenty of PS Plus subscribers worldwide were incensed as they anticipated having their discounts invalidated.
Sony hasn’t issued an official comment on the incident yet, which is leading to conspiracy theories that this was the real reason behind the regional rollout. Some think the company wanted to test how far they could push consumers and counted on the language barrier to minimize potentially bad PR on western social media. Whether that’s true or not is anyone’s guess.
In other news, Dino Crisis might be joining the PS Plus catalog in the future, and a Sly Cooper announcement might be coming in September.