Sony has reportedly disabled PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now subscription stacking ahead of the upcoming revamp of the membership services.
A growing number of PS4 and PS5 owners have been unable to extend their memberships over the last few days, and the issue appears to be widespread based on messages sent to PlayStation’s official support channels and reports on forums including ResetEra.
While PlayStation has yet to officially comment on the matter, a number of affected users claim to have been informed by Sony customer support representatives that the company has temporarily blocked subscription stacking.
PlayStation Plus Monthly Games – PS5 & PS4 – May 2022
“Due to the upcoming changes in the PS plus subscription, currently the PS Plus stacking is not available as we have removed the ability to do that,” one ResetEra user was reportedly told.
“We understand how important this is for you and we will have answers on how this will work once the new PS plus membership becomes available.”
They added: “I understand how frustrating this must be. I can only advise you wait until your current subscription is over then use your code. Extension/stacking is no longer available.”
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It’s believed the move may be the result of Sony attempting to stop players making savings on the revamped PlayStation Plus service, which will begin rolling out in May structured across three payment tiers: Essential, Extra and Premium.
Earlier this month, dedicated PlayStation owners bought up years’ worth of PS Now subscriptions while they were still available to save money on PS Plus Premium.
Prior to being pulled from sale in early April, 12-month PS Now subscriptions cost $59.99/£49.99. Sony had previously said that when the new PS Plus service launches, PS Now memberships will be converted to PS Plus Premium, which will cost $119/99/£99.99 per year.
And in a recently updated FAQ, Sony also confirmed that players who are subscribed to both PS Plus and PS Now when the new service launches will be migrated to PS Plus Premium with a new single payment date based on whichever subscription is set to end last.
A PlayStation support email sent to a Push Square reader also seemingly confirmed that membership stacking has now been disabled.
“I have checked the voucher and your account and can conclude that as of now there is a temporarily deactivated function for PS Plus/PS Now subscriptions which does not allow for stacking of either membership on already active memberships,” it reads.
“This is only temporary and as soon as we have more information about [it] we will let our players know”.
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VGC has contacted Sony for more information about the issues players are having extending PlayStation subscriptions.
The company recently announced the following target launch dates for the new PS Plus subscription service:
- Asia markets (excluding Japan) – targeting May 23, 2022
- Japan – targeting June 1, 2022
- Americas – targeting June 13, 2022
- Europe – targeting June 22, 2022
PS Plus Essential offers the same benefits as the current PS Plus service, with monthly free games, discounts and online multiplayer. It will also cost the same: $9.99/€8.99/£6.99 a month, $24.99/€24.99/£19.99 for three months, or $59.99/€59.99/£49.99 a year.
PS Plus Extra will include the same benefits but with access to a library of 400 downloadable PS4 and PS5 games. It will cost $14.99/€13.99/£10.99 a month, $39.99/€39.99/£31.99 for three months, or $99.99/€99.99/£83.99 a year.
PS Plus Premium will include the above benefits while adding up to 340 additional games including PS3 titles available via cloud streaming, and a catalogue of classic games available in both streaming and download options from the original PlayStation, PS2 and PSP generations.
Priced at $17.99/€16.99/£13.49 a month, $49.99/€49.99/£39.99 for three months, or $119.99/€119.99/£99.99 a year, Premium will also include time-limited game trials.
It was recently claimed that new games priced at $34 or above will be required to offer a PS Plus Premium trial that must be at least two hours long.
Confirming an earlier leak, Sony officially announced May 2022’s PlayStation Plus games on Wednesday. FIFA 22 (PS5 and PS4), Tribes of Midgard (PS5 and PS4) and Curse of the Dead Gods (PS4) will join the subscription service on May 3.
