The relaunch of PlayStation Plus is well underway, but long-time PS Plus subscribers who have been enjoying a discounted rate on the service may soon be asked to pay back the difference.
According to a report by Forbes, players who have "stacked" their PS Plus memberships by adding more time to their subscription, usually at a discounted rate, may be expected to pay back the money saved to upgrade to the new subscription tiers. According to players in Asia, who have received early access to PS Plus Extra and Premium, even those who already stacked their memberships when they were still able to will now be expected to pay the price.
PS Plus stacking was a major cost-saving measure for prospective PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium members, but within a couple of weeks of its widespread adoption, Sony began cracking down on the method. Now, Sony seems to be taking things a step further. A Sony support representative in Hong Kong explained that, because no discounts are currently available for PS Plus Extra or Premium, in order for players to upgrade to the new service, they'll have to pay back the money saved from the initial discount.
The relaunch of PS Plus was announced in March as Sony's alternative to Xbox Game Pass. The service comes in three tiers -- PlayStation Plus Essential, which is essentially identical to current PS Plus offerings, PlayStation Plus Extra, which offers a much larger back catalog of PlayStation 4 and 5 games, and PlayStation Plus Premium, which includes the benefits of all previous tiers as well as a library of games from past PlayStation consoles.
PS Plus Premium combines PS Plus and Sony's game streaming service, PlayStation Now. PS Now's infrastructure will be used to stream PlayStation 3 games for subscribers since the PS3 is infamously difficult to emulate. The service will also include games from the original PlayStation, the PS2 and the handheld PSP.
The new tiers of PlayStation Plus are already available in some territories in Asia, but the rest of the world will have to wait for its official launch in June. The service will be available in Japan on June 2, North and South America on June 13 and all remaining territories on June 23. It remains to be seen if all players who are currently subscribed to PS Plus at a discounted rate will be expected to pay the difference to upgrade to the new tiers or if the experience from early access holders changes.
Source: Forbes