Sony has sneakily raised the price of PlayStation Plus Premium and Extra, not just Essential

It's time to pay up for PS Plus

(Credit: Sony)

• 📈 PlayStation Plus Premium and Extra monthly and three-month memberships have increased in price

• 💰 New monthly/three-month costs are $16.99/$43.99 for Extra and $19.99/$54.99 for Premium

• 🆚 PS Plus Premium is now priced near Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which offers day-one first-party games that Sony does not

• 😖 This follows recent price hikes for the PS5 and PS5 Pro consoles, reflecting a broader trend of increasing costs across the gaming industry

After announcing that the price of PlayStation Plus Essential was increasing for monthly and three-month memberships by $1 to $3 respectively, it turns out that PlayStation Plus Premium and PlayStation Plus Extra will also cost more from now on.

Sony didn’t specifically mention that PS Plus Premium or Extra would also be affected by the price increase. But now that the new prices are live (current subscribers aren’t affected), it turns out that you will indeed have to pay more for the higher tiers of PlayStation Plus (thanks, Eurogamer).

A PlayStation Plus Extra subscription now costs $16.99 per month or $43.99 for three months, and a Premium subscription has risen to $19.99 for one month and $54.99 for three. Annual subscriptions are not affected, at least for now.

It means that PlayStation Plus Premium almost costs the same as Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which thankfully came down in price from $29.99 to $22.99 a month in April. Unlike PlayStation Plus Premium, Microsoft’s service includes every first-party Xbox Studios game on day one, plus many other titles.

Only a few games have been released onto the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog on day one, and Sony has always been steadfast that it won’t bring its first-party games to PS Plus on release day.

The PlayStation Plus price hike comes shortly after Sony announced that the PS5, PS5 Digital Edition and PS5 Pro would become more expensive. The PS5 launched at $499.99 in November 2020 and, despite being redesigned to be smaller, lighter, and more efficient, now costs $649.99.

The PS5 Pro, which launched for $699.99, now costs $849.99, making it the most expensive console to date, putting it in the same ballpark as high-end graphics cards.

Even Nintendo has implemented price increases due to “market conditions”. The Nintendo Switch 2 is set to increase by $50 from September 1, 2026, and the price of the original Nintendo Switch increased last year.

Valve’s Steam Machine, which was rumored to cost around $699-$899, has been delayed due to the ongoing RAM crisis, and is now expected to cost at least $1,000. However, gamers will hope that isn’t the case, as their favorite pastime continues to become more and more expensive.

Up next: Sony reportedly won’t bring its single-player PS5 games to PC anymore, as it returns to console exclusives

Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.