Sony raises PlayStation Plus prices for new subscribers in select regions
New PS Plus sign-ups now cost $10.99 a month for Essential, a higher entry fee for the PS5 online door that many players need just to play multiplayer.
For players who need PS5 online multiplayer, PlayStation Plus Essential just got more expensive. New subscribers in select regions now pay $10.99 for one month or $27.99 for three months, up from $9.99 and $24.99, a $1 jump on the monthly plan and a $3 jump on the short-term option in the U.S. Essential still includes online multiplayer, monthly games and exclusive discounts, so the first place Sony raised the price is the tier many people buy simply to get online.
Sony said the increase took effect May 20 and was tied to ongoing market conditions. The company’s messaging says the new prices apply to new customers in select regions, while current subscribers are generally protected unless they let a membership lapse and come back later. Sony also raised monthly and three-month pricing for Extra and Premium, while annual pricing remains unchanged for now.
The new entry price looks even sharper when stacked against rivals. Xbox Game Pass Core costs $9.99 a month and includes online console multiplayer and member deals, while Nintendo Switch Online is $19.99 a year for online play on Switch hardware. Sony’s Essential plan now sits above Microsoft’s basic multiplayer tier on a monthly basis and far above Nintendo’s annual entry price, even before players climb into PlayStation Plus Extra or Premium.
The move also fits Sony’s broader pricing push. In March, Sony said PS5 console price changes were a necessary step after careful evaluation to keep delivering high-quality gaming experiences, and its 2025 corporate strategy presentation said it expects stable growth in network-business revenue and profit, helped by higher PlayStation Plus revenue. That makes the subscription hike look less like a one-off adjustment and more like part of a wider effort to extract more from the PlayStation ecosystem.
This is not Sony’s first PlayStation Plus price hike, either. North America saw an increase in 2016, and annual PS Plus prices went up worldwide in 2023, with most existing annual subscribers feeling the hit on renewal. The latest change keeps the multiplayer gate in place, but for new sign-ups that door now costs more to open.
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