Sony Doesn't Want Nintendo To Be Lonely, So The Price Of PS+ Is Increasing

1 week ago 4

Published May 18, 2026, 1:35 PM EDT

Scott Baird is a Staff Writer at DualShockers with over a decade of experience writing about video games, board games, and tabletop RPGs. He has been writing professionally since 2013 and covering games since 2018, with work spanning news, reviews, lists, guides, interviews, and event coverage.

Before joining DualShockers, Scott contributed to publications including The Escapist, Dexerto, TheGamer, CBR, and Gamepur. He has also worked as a full-time Pokémon writer at Dexerto and a features writer at TheGamer. Scott holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Film & TV Production.

Nintendo recently took a lot of heat for raising the price of the Switch 2, and Sony has decided to follow suit by raising the price of PlayStation Plus Essential for seemingly no reason.

With the announcement that the Nintendo Switch 2's price will increase in September, all current-gen consoles have become more expensive over the past year. This is due to a combination of tariffs imposed by President Trump and the memory/hardware crisis caused by companies buying up components to build AI data centers.

April 2026 PlayStation Plus Extra Leak Features A Revamped Classic

Some of the PlayStation Plus Extra leaks for April 2026 have made their way online and they include a remastered version of one of the best PS4 games.

It's understandable why Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo would need to raise the price of their consoles in the current climate, even if fans don't like it. What's less forgivable is an announcement made on the official PlayStation Twitter/X account that the cost of PlayStation Plus Essential is going up in certain regions.

The Price Of PlayStation Plus Essential Is Going Up Just Because

astro bot on playstation 5 is the best exclusives of 2024-1

According to Sony, the price of PlayStation Plus Essential is increasing to $10.99 USD / €9.99 EUR / £7.99 GBP for 1-month subscriptions and $27.99 USD / €27.99 EUR / £21.99 GBP for 3-month subscriptions. The reason given for this is "ongoing market conditions", though the specifics aren't mentioned.

The only thing is, fans are wondering how the current hardware issues are forcing Sony to increase the price of a digital-only service. It's not like Sony needs to buy specific parts to build hardware, since the infrastructure is already in place.

Additionally, the price change won't affect people who are already subscribed and will continue to do so. This makes it feel more like a shakedown: a threat meant to ensure people keep paying for Sony's digital services.

It's a pretty bad look for Sony to nickel-and-dime fans when so many people are hurting for money, especially since so many games rely on PlayStation Plus Essential for multiplayer. Hopefully, fans will decide the current price is too high and leave Sony hanging, especially after the PlayStation 5 price increase.