---
title: 'Sony''s New PlayStation Trap'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=4TUEic7Sdhw'
video_id: '4TUEic7Sdhw'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 757
---

# Sony's New PlayStation Trap

> Source: [Sony's New PlayStation Trap](https://youtube.com/watch?v=4TUEic7Sdhw)

## Summary

Sony raised PlayStation Plus prices by $1 for Essential and $2 for higher tiers, but only for new subscribers. Existing subscribers are grandfathered in at their current rate, creating a lock-in mechanism that discourages cancellation. This strategy, described as a dark pattern, could normalize such pricing tactics across the industry.

### Key Points

- **Price Hike Announcement** [0:00] — Sony raised PlayStation Plus prices: $1 for Essential, $2 for middle and upper tiers, but only for new subscribers.
- **Grandfather Clause as Trap** [0:49] — Existing subscribers keep their rate only if they never cancel or pause; returning means paying the new higher price.
- **Sony's Financial Pressure** [1:20] — PS5 sales down 46% year-over-year, PS5 Pro at $900, and rising component costs drive the need for revenue.
- **Apartment Rental Analogy** [2:26] — Grandfathering locks customers in by making leaving more expensive, similar to a landlord raising rent only for new tenants.
- **Dark Pattern Definition** [4:20] — Dark patterns are deceptive designs that trick users into actions they wouldn't normally take, exploiting cognitive biases.
- **Microsoft's Game Pass Lesson** [5:14] — Microsoft raised Game Pass Ultimate from $20 to $30, causing massive cancellations, then cut to $23 but removed day-one Call of Duty.
- **Sony's Different Lesson** [7:16] — Sony learned from Microsoft's backlash: a small, targeted hike on new subscribers avoids outrage while locking in existing users.
- **Historical Examples** [8:10] — AT&T's grandfathered unlimited data plan and Adobe's subscription model with cancellation fees are earlier examples of lock-in.
- **Outdated Concept** [10:56] — Paying for online multiplayer is becoming obsolete as PC offers free multiplayer; Sony's model relies on this revenue stream.

### Conclusion

Sony's price hike for new subscribers only is a clever dark pattern that locks existing users in, potentially setting a dangerous industry norm. While small now, it could lead to larger increases and make cancellation financially painful.

## Transcript

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