[0:00] - I feel like I can't go two weeks
[0:02] without talking about another controversy
[0:04] around PlayStation.
[0:06] This time around,
[0:06] they've raised the price
of PlayStation Plus
[0:09] by a dollar.
[0:11] Wait, that's it?
[0:12] That's just a dollar.
[0:13] Why are we making this video?
[0:14] And of course, just a few hours
[0:16] after we finished filming this video,
[0:18] Sony actually pushed the
price hikes live, plural.
[0:22] So initially when they announced it,
[0:24] they positioned it as a $1 price hike
[0:27] on the Essential tier.
[0:28] However, when they
actually went live with it,
[0:30] it also came with a $2 price hike
[0:33] on the middle and the upper
tiers of PlayStation Plus.
[0:36] So everything I'm about
to say in this video,
[0:38] double it, quadruple it.
[0:40] Why the hell not?
[0:41] And the real kicker is,
[0:42] if you're an existing subscriber,
[0:44] there's no change at all.
[0:45] This is just a price hike
for all those suckers
[0:48] who aren't subscribed yet.
[0:49] Now, my first instinct
[0:50] when I heard the news was that who cares?
[0:53] But the more I thought about this,
[0:55] the more it really started to feel
[0:56] like something different
than a normal price hike.
[0:59] Because here's the catch.
[1:00] If you are on a grandfathered plan,
[1:02] that rate is only yours as
long as you never cancel,
[1:05] you never pause,
[1:06] you never let it lapse,
[1:07] because the second you do,
[1:09] you come back at the new price,
[1:10] whatever they decide to
charge at that point.
[1:13] This feels less like a tiny price hike
[1:15] that we're all numb to at this point
[1:16] and more like the beginning of a trap.
[1:18] A very, very clever one.
[1:20] Now, to be fair,
[1:21] Sony has had a rough year.
[1:23] We spent a lot of time
covering the RAM Crisis
[1:26] and how it is driving up the prices
[1:27] of everything in the gaming space.
[1:29] So Sony at this point have
had to raise prices twice.
[1:32] And in March, the PS5 hit $650,
[1:36] and the PS5 Pro was sitting
at a ridiculous 900 bucks.
[1:40] Sales are down a full 46%
year over year at this point,
[1:43] and the PS5 is falling behind the PS4
[1:46] in overall sales.
[1:47] So under serious pressure from investors
[1:49] to right the ship on the gaming business,
[1:51] raising the price of
PlayStation Plus subscription
[1:54] that you basically need to play online
[1:56] feels like a no-brainer.
[1:57] If you need money,
[1:58] you have tens of millions
of captive-
[2:00] I mean gamers, who are
probably gonna be grumpy
[2:02] about a price hike and then move on.
[2:05] It's almost like every
company in 2026 has the
[2:08] "due to rising market conditions,
[2:10] we have to adjust our price"
[2:11] as an excuse for every
one of these price hikes.
[2:14] But changing the business model,
[2:15] or at least testing it
[2:16] as the way they're doing it here
[2:18] with grandfathering
people into existing rates
[2:21] and only charging new subscribers
[2:23] feels like it opens up
a whole can of worms.
[2:26] Here's the analogy that
won't leave my head.
[2:28] Imagine you're renting an apartment.
[2:30] It's maybe not great.
[2:31] There's a weird stain on the ceiling
[2:33] that's been growing for a year.
[2:35] The elevator breaks every third Tuesday,
[2:37] and your upstairs neighbor
[2:38] seems to exclusively play
Wii Bowling at 3:00 AM.
[2:41] But the rent is just low enough
[2:43] that you put up with it,
[2:45] and then your landlord raises the rent.
[2:47] Not by a lot, just a little bit,
[2:48] but you know it's enough
[2:50] to maybe think about leaving.
[2:51] But then wait a minute,
[2:53] how much are new tenants paying?
[2:54] Whoa, well, that's a
lot more than your rent.
[2:57] Well, you're grandfathered
into a good deal
[3:00] as long as you never move.
[3:01] Now in this scenario, leaving feels crazy.
[3:04] 'Cause if you do move,
you're paying way more
[3:06] for the same kind of place.
[3:07] The landlord doesn't need
to make the apartment better
[3:10] 'cause where are you gonna go,
[3:12] pay double somewhere else?
[3:13] I don't think so.
[3:14] What seems like being nice
[3:16] is arguably just making
leaving more expensive.
[3:19] You're not paying for
the apartment anymore.
[3:21] You're paying to not lose your rate.
[3:23] Now I wanna be clear, it's early days.
[3:25] I think they're just testing this,
[3:26] but I think this is exactly
[3:28] what PlayStation Plus are doing here
[3:30] by introducing price
hikes for new customers
[3:33] and grandfathering existing people in
[3:35] on their original rates.
[3:37] Now I know plenty of people
[3:38] who hop in and out of
subscriptions, right?
[3:40] I mean, just think about it.
[3:41] How many subscriptions do you have
[3:42] at any one time?
[3:44] Probably more than you want.
[3:45] So maybe you just want PlayStation Plus
[3:48] for a few months.
[3:49] Or maybe you just wanna
game during the summer.
[3:51] So normally it's easy,
just pause subscription,
[3:54] save some money, and then
the moment you're back in,
[3:56] oh wait, what?
[3:57] I have to pay a higher price now?
[3:59] What?
[4:00] Now, sure, it might only be a dollar,
[4:01] but if this works, you've gotta assume
[4:04] that they're gonna keep
cranking that dial, right?
[4:06] It's a dollar more today,
[4:07] but it's $3 more next year,
[4:09] $5 more the year after that, right?
[4:11] Like, you kind of see where this is going.
[4:12] So the logical move is you stick around
[4:14] to not lose your price.
[4:16] You just leave that autopay on,
[4:18] which is exactly what they want.
[4:20] This is what's called a dark pattern.
[4:23] (voice laughing)
[4:24] You have activated my trap card.
[4:27] My dark pattern card
[4:28] will keep you trapped in subscription hell
[4:30] for four turns.
[4:32] I'll now place four
Chocobos in defense mode.
[4:35] No Kuribohs Kuribohs!
[4:36] No, not Chocobos!
[4:38] (Austin laughs)
- You know, it's fine.
[4:40] Keep it in there.
- Yeah, you're right.
[4:41] That was almost cool.
[4:42] (Austin laughs)
[4:44] - Dark patterns, also
known as deceptive design,
[4:47] are user interfaces and user experiences
[4:49] meticulously crafted to trick, manipulate,
[4:53] or nudge you into doing things
[4:54] you might ordinarily not want to do.
[4:56] Dark patterns exploit
human cognitive biases,
[4:59] like our tendency to skip text,
[5:01] our desire to avoid friction,
[5:03] or our fear of missing out,
[5:05] all to benefit the company
[5:06] at the expense of the consumer.
[5:08] And it's not exactly new,
[5:10] but I'll say that companies
[5:11] are getting really, really sophisticated
[5:13] at taking advantage of these.
[5:14] The elephant in the room here
[5:15] is absolutely what's been
going on with Microsoft.
[5:19] So you probably remember last October
[5:21] when Microsoft cranked
Game Pass Ultimate pricing
[5:23] from $20 to $30 a month,
[5:25] a full 50% hike overnight.
[5:28] And the reaction was,
[5:29] shall we say, not great.
[5:31] Tons of subscribers canceled.
[5:33] Xbox hardware revenue has
continued dropping like a rock.
[5:36] I mean, the whole thing
became this perfect analogy
[5:39] for everything that was
already wrong with Xbox.
[5:41] Now, I don't think Microsoft did this
[5:43] because they're cartoon villains
[5:44] and they're tying your credit card
[5:46] to the train track of subscription fees
[5:48] and twirling their mustache and laughing.
[5:50] I mean, my understanding
is that the situation was
[5:53] corporate Microsoft demanded the Xbox team
[5:55] to hit a much higher profit margin,
[5:58] supposedly around 30%.
[6:00] And when you can't push sales up,
[6:01] the only lever you've got left
[6:03] to play with is to raise the price.
[6:05] Then Xbox hit a massive reset
button earlier this year.
[6:09] Phil Spencer retired.
[6:10] Asha Sharma stepped in as the new CEO,
[6:12] and one of her first
moves was to cut pricing.
[6:15] Game Pass Ultimate came
down from $30 to $23.
[6:19] Finally, someone did the thing
[6:21] and actually lowered
the price of something.
[6:24] But wait, hang on.
[6:25] $23?
[6:26] That's still more expensive
[6:28] than the $20 price this
was before all this, right?
[6:31] And they pulled day-one Call of Duty
[6:33] out of the deal at the same time.
[6:35] So while there's no doubt
[6:37] that this is better
than $30 bucks a month,
[6:39] ultimately we end up
paying more, getting less,
[6:42] unless you really like that Fortnite Crew,
[6:45] and somehow everyone is stoked about it.
[6:47] It's a hell of a magic trick.
[6:49] But corporate machinations aside,
[6:51] here's the part I
actually want to focus on.
[6:53] The reason this price cut happened at all
[6:55] is because the price hike was visible,
[6:57] and presumably someone took a look
[6:58] at the dashboard of
Game Pass cancellations.
[7:01] People could see the price hike.
[7:03] They could complain about it.
[7:04] They could cancel, and they did.
[7:06] Microsoft listened kind of
[7:08] because they had no other choice.
[7:10] This is the way that things should work.
[7:12] When a company pushes too far,
[7:13] consumers should be able to push back.
[7:16] Which brings us to Sony,
[7:18] because I think Sony,
watching all of this happen,
[7:21] learned a very different lesson.
[7:23] A $10 price hike?
[7:24] What are you, crazy?
[7:25] People hate that.
[7:27] Terrible idea.
[7:27] But what if, and we're just
floating this idea here,
[7:30] what about a small hike on no one at all
[7:33] besides "future customers?"
[7:35] What if the price increase is so quiet,
[7:37] it's so targeted
[7:39] that there's nothing for anyone to do
[7:41] besides grumble on Twitter for a minute
[7:42] and move on?
[7:44] Existing subscribers, we love you.
[7:45] We're keeping your special rate protected.
[7:48] There's nothing to see here.
[7:50] But meanwhile, every new subscription
[7:51] from now until forever pays more.
[7:54] And every existing subscriber,
[7:55] they probably think twice
before ever canceling.
[7:57] We're just a bunch of
frogs chilling in the pot
[8:00] with a boil so slow
you don't even notice it.
[8:02] Now this stuff absolutely
didn't start with PlayStation.
[8:05] The grandfather rate trick
has been running for decades.
[8:08] Companies are just sharpening it up
[8:09] for the modern era.
[8:10] So back when the original iPhone launched,
[8:12] AT&T offered a truly unlimited data plan
[8:15] for $30 bucks a month.
[8:17] This was back when data was expensive,
[8:19] so it was a hell of a deal.
[8:20] Then smartphones got really good
[8:22] at burning through data
[8:23] when, you know, apps were invented,
[8:25] and AT&T realized that
those legacy customers
[8:28] were absolutely cooking their network.
[8:30] Now, they couldn't just kick
people off of contracts.
[8:32] So instead, they made
staying on the old plan
[8:36] progressively more miserable,
[8:37] basically not allowing you
to make changes to your plan
[8:40] without removing that unlimited data,
[8:42] not allowing new features
like tethering, and throttling
[8:45] that they actually ended up
getting sued by the FTC over it.
[8:47] And then there's the king of all of this:
[8:50] Adobe.
[8:51] Now this is probably worth
[8:52] a whole video on its own,
[8:53] but Adobe basically rewrote
the modern playbook.
[8:56] They aggressively push everyone
[8:58] into year-long subscriptions
[8:59] with brutal cancellation fees
[9:01] or even higher monthly rates.
[9:03] They magically discover a discount
[9:05] the moment you try to leave.
[9:06] They crank the prices
up on a captive audience
[9:09] that no longer has any buy-it-once option.
[9:12] Now look,
[9:13] Adobe have made some great
products over the years,
[9:15] but at this point,
[9:16] it's hard not to see them
as just plain greedy.
[9:19] Now take a second
[9:20] and look through PS
Plus through this lens.
[9:23] The grandfather clause isn't a feature.
[9:25] It's a lock-in mechanism.
[9:26] You're not getting protected.
[9:27] You're getting trapped.
[9:29] And once they've got everyone trained
[9:30] to stay subscribed continuously,
[9:33] that's when the bigger hikes come
[9:34] 'cause then the cost of
leaving is even higher.
[9:37] Now, sure, I understand you
might be watching this video
[9:40] and be like, Austin, they
raised the price by a dollar.
[9:43] Feels small.
[9:44] Who cares?
[9:44] And it is small.
[9:46] But by only targeting new subscribers
[9:48] and making it seem like
they're giving you a deal,
[9:50] the entire concept of
subscriptions is changing.
[9:53] They looked at what
happened with Game Pass
[9:55] and saw the huge backlash,
[9:57] and they found a really
clever way of sidestepping it.
[9:59] And at the same time,
[10:01] they're locking you in more and more
[10:02] 'cause today it's, yeah,
we're gonna be nice
[10:05] to our existing subscribers.
[10:06] But tomorrow it's,
[10:08] yeah, sure, you wanna cancel
[10:09] and lose that great rate, buddy?
[10:11] This lower tier doesn't even
exist anymore if you leave.
[10:14] It would be a shame if we
broke your PS kneecaps.
[10:17] (Alex laughs)
[10:22] (somber music)
[10:26] - Are you sure you want to leave
[10:28] this great rate, buddy?
[10:30] It would be a shame
[10:31] if we broke your PS kneecaps.
[10:34] (beep)
[10:35] - Look, I get that some of this
is just the world we're in.
[10:38] Components cost more.
[10:40] AI data centers are eating the planet.
[10:42] And as we've seen,
[10:43] companies like Sony
are being squeezed too.
[10:46] Not every price hike is evil.
[10:48] But the grandfather clause,
[10:49] the "we're not raising
your price" framing,
[10:52] I mean, that's not a response to cost.
[10:54] That's a tool to keep you locked in.
[10:56] The irony here is that this is in the face
[10:58] of the whole concept of
paying for online play
[11:01] starting to feel kind of out of date.
[11:03] Xbox is pivoting harder
toward PC at the moment,
[11:05] and on PC, online
multiplayer is just free.
[11:09] That's the baseline.
[11:10] The whole reason
PlayStation Plus Essential
[11:12] exists as a product
[11:13] is because Sony decided years ago
[11:15] that they wanted to get some
[11:16] of that sweet, sweet revenue
[11:17] that Xbox Live was
pulling in, and it worked.
[11:21] But the second that the
rest of the industry
[11:22] stops charging for online,
[11:24] the entire foundation of this tier
[11:25] starts to get a lot shakier.
[11:27] I understand that I'm a YouTuber
[11:28] making a video on a $1 price hike
[11:30] and calling Sony out for that.
[11:32] And you know, if you do have
PlayStation Plus right now,
[11:34] you're not paying any extra, right?
[11:35] This is gonna apply to new subscribers,
[11:38] but I just wanna highlight that.
[11:40] I think everyone can recognize
[11:41] that subscriptions are
getting out of hand,
[11:43] but this feels like
[11:44] it is like sort of almost weaponizing it
[11:46] to a new degree of,
[11:47] not only can you make it
difficult to have people cancel,
[11:50] but you can make it outright
[11:52] just way more expensive
for them to come back.
[11:53] It really incentivizes you
[11:55] to stick around with things
[11:56] that you might ordinarily
not want to keep.
[11:59] So it's worth keeping an eye on, I think,
[12:01] because while it's a test right now,
[12:03] it's just $1, I think they're kind of
[12:04] putting the toe in the water.
[12:06] If this works, which I expect it will,
[12:08] this I think will
absolutely become the norm.
[12:11] And I think that is a very
dangerous place to be.
[12:13] Now on that cheery note,
[12:15] if you enjoy this video
[12:15] and you wanna subscribe to the channel,
[12:17] make sure to subscribe for free
[12:19] and ring that ding-a-ling button
[12:20] for the Austin Evans channel.
[12:21] And if you want the deeper story
[12:22] on the entire mess Sony is into right now.
[12:25] You can check out that video here.
[12:26] Until next time, my friends,
go and play something.
[12:29] Maybe pause the subscription first.
[12:32] Oh wait.