UPDATE: PlayStation has now confirmed that this was a technical error and fixed the issue as well as credited anybody who was effected. You can read more HERE.
PlayStation users in Asia region countries where the new, tiered PlayStation Plus subscriptions have started to roll out are learning that the ‘easy upgrades’ that Sony had promised for existing subscribers wanting to move up tiers aren’t quite as simple as we may have initially thought.
Users have taken to social media to express anger with PlayStation over certain aspects of the upgrade system, in particular the way that upgrade fees work for users who obtained their original PS+ subscriptions at a discount. Essentially, where many people expected that the fee to upgrade tiers would simply be the difference between the cost of an original PS+ subscription and the desired tier, it turns out that the fee also factors in any discount that the user got when purchasing the original subscription.
Aside from price differences between Essential & upper tier,why do we also have to pay back the discounted amount we've got in the past,when upgrading our membership?
Or is this just a thing for Asia region?
And remaining days of membership must be upgraded at once?How absurd.— DJ100W (@Dj100W) May 24, 2022
So, if you paid $79.95 for your 12 month plan and the next day upgraded the entire 12 months to PlayStation Plus Deluxe ($154.95 per year), you’d pay approximately $75 more. However, if you’d purchased your 12 month sub during a sale for something like $59.95 then your upgrade will actually cost an extra $95 instead.
Framed the right way, it can be argued that it makes sense to pay the difference in cost between what you initially forked out and what the cost of the new plan is, but punters are understandably upset about the surprise sting of an extra cost and the lengths PlayStation has seemingly gone to in order to ensure everyone pays the full amount.
Adding fuel to the fury is the fact that it’s also currently only possible to upgrade a user’s entire PlayStation Plus subscription at once, so if you’re subbed for a total of three years and want that Premium upgrade you’re up for a whopping $225 to get the new benefits. That’s an eye watering amount, and worse when you consider that some users have 5-10 years of PS+ stacked up on their accounts.
VGC reports that the PlayStation UK site’s information supports this claim:
“When the new PlayStation Plus membership plans launch, you will be able to upgrade to a plan with more features and benefits.
“When you upgrade you will be charged a pro-rated fee to level up the remaining time on your existing membership to the desired level.”
PlayStation is yet to confirm whether these issues are an error, an oversight or completely intentional.
