GoKawiilPlayStation Plus, the subscription service for the PlayStation platform, is seeing a price increase for new subscribers. "Ongoing market conditions" were cited as the reason for the price increase, which has been the go-to explanation for gaming hardware companies such as Microsoft and Nintendo's increases in hardware pricing for the Xbox and Switch 2 consoles.
The price for PS Plus subscriptions for new customers will increase by $1 from $10 to $11 for a 1-month subscription starting on May 20, according to a post from the official PlayStation X account on Monday. The 3-month subscription price will jump $3 from $25 to $28 on the same effective date.
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"Starting May 20, PlayStation Plus prices for new customers will increase in select regions," the post read. "Due to ongoing market conditions, prices will start at $10.99, 9.99 euros and £7.99 for 1-month subscriptions and $27.99, 27.99 euros and £21.99 for 3-month subscriptions. This price change doesn't apply to current subscribers (except in Turkey and India) unless the existing subscription changes or lapses."
Sony didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the specific market conditions.
Although it wasn't specifically mentioned in the post, this increase appears to be only for the PS Plus Essential tier of the service, which is the lowest-priced tier. PS Plus Essential is needed for online play with PS4 and PS5 games, as well as having access to a select number of games each month.
This doesn't appear to affect the PS Plus Extra and Premium tiers, both of which allow subscribers to access a catalog of hundreds of games. Those two subscription options will, as of now, stay at the same price of $15 and $18 a month.
The post did say this price change affects new customers, not current subscribers, except for those in India and Turkey. This would include those who have never subscribed to the service before, and very likely, individuals who canceled their subscription and are looking to restart it. Sony rarely provides PS Plus subscription numbers, but an Icon Era report from January estimates the number of subscribers at just over 50 million as of the end of 2024.
Back in March, Sony increased the price of its PS5 console lineup across the board. Microsoft had to do the same with its Xbox consoles. Nintendo announced earlier in the month that it was increasing the price of the Switch 2 in September. The most likely reason for these jumps in pricing is the current memory shortage, also referred to as RAMageddon. A spike in demand for computer hardware to run AI data centers has led to huge jumps in costs for both RAM and SSDs.