Sony to increase PlayStation Plus annual membership prices

Sony has announced that it will be bumping up the annual cost of its PlayStation Plus subscriptions. In a statement on the PlayStation site’s blog,

We also wanted to let you know that starting September 6 we will be increasing the price for PlayStation Plus 12-month subscriptions globally across all benefit plans. This price adjustment will enable us to continue bringing high-quality games and value-added benefits to your PlayStation Plus subscription service. 

These price changes are as follows:

• PS Plus Essential: $80 annually (up from $60)
• PS Plus Extra: $135 (up from $100)
• PS Plus Premium: $160 (up from $120)

These considerable price hikes take effect starting on September 6. For current PS Plus members, they’ll take effect upon annual subscription renewals on or after November 6. Monthly and quarterly subscriptions don’t seem to be affected by the change. Even with the price increase, these annual subscriptions will still be less expensive than paying monthly over the course of a year.

The move comes just a couple months after Microsoft elected to increase the cost of its Xbox Game Pass service. Also, it announced that Xbox Live Gold will transition into a new (slightly more affordable) Game Pass tier known as Xbox Game Pass Core. This change will also take place in September.