Sony's New PlayStation Trap

[00:00] - I feel like I can't go two weeks

[00:02] without talking about another controversy

[00:04] around PlayStation.

[00:06] This time around,

[00:06] they've raised the price

[00:09] by a dollar.

[00:11] Wait, that's it?

[00:12] That's just a dollar.

[00:13] Why are we making this video?

[00:14] And of course, just a few hours

[00:16] after we finished filming this video,

[00:18] Sony actually pushed the

[00:22] So initially when they announced it,

[00:24] they positioned it as a $1 price hike

[00:27] on the Essential tier.

[00:28] However, when they

[00:30] it also came with a $2 price hike

[00:33] on the middle and the upper

[00:36] So everything I'm about

[00:38] double it, quadruple it.

[00:40] Why the hell not?

[00:41] And the real kicker is,

[00:42] if you're an existing subscriber,

[00:44] there's no change at all.

[00:45] This is just a price hike

[00:48] who aren't subscribed yet.

[00:49] Now, my first instinct

[00:50] when I heard the news was that who cares?

[00:53] But the more I thought about this,

[00:55] the more it really started to feel

[00:56] like something different

[00:59] Because here's the catch.

[01:00] If you are on a grandfathered plan,

[01:02] that rate is only yours as

[01:05] you never pause,

[01:06] you never let it lapse,

[01:07] because the second you do,

[01:09] you come back at the new price,

[01:10] whatever they decide to

[01:13] This feels less like a tiny price hike

[01:15] that we're all numb to at this point

[01:16] and more like the beginning of a trap.

[01:18] A very, very clever one.

[01:20] Now, to be fair,

[01:21] Sony has had a rough year.

[01:23] We spent a lot of time

[01:26] and how it is driving up the prices

[01:27] of everything in the gaming space.

[01:29] So Sony at this point have

[01:32] And in March, the PS5 hit $650,

[01:36] and the PS5 Pro was sitting

[01:40] Sales are down a full 46%

[01:43] and the PS5 is falling behind the PS4

[01:46] in overall sales.

[01:47] So under serious pressure from investors

[01:49] to right the ship on the gaming business,

[01:51] raising the price of

[01:54] that you basically need to play online

[01:56] feels like a no-brainer.

[01:57] If you need money,

[01:58] you have tens of millions

[02:00] I mean gamers, who are

[02:02] about a price hike and then move on.

[02:05] It's almost like every

[02:08] "due to rising market conditions,

[02:10] we have to adjust our price"

[02:11] as an excuse for every

[02:14] But changing the business model,

[02:15] or at least testing it

[02:16] as the way they're doing it here

[02:18] with grandfathering

[02:21] and only charging new subscribers

[02:23] feels like it opens up

[02:26] Here's the analogy that

[02:28] Imagine you're renting an apartment.

[02:30] It's maybe not great.

[02:31] There's a weird stain on the ceiling

[02:33] that's been growing for a year.

[02:35] The elevator breaks every third Tuesday,

[02:37] and your upstairs neighbor

[02:38] seems to exclusively play

[02:41] But the rent is just low enough

[02:43] that you put up with it,

[02:45] and then your landlord raises the rent.

[02:47] Not by a lot, just a little bit,

[02:48] but you know it's enough

[02:50] to maybe think about leaving.

[02:51] But then wait a minute,

[02:53] how much are new tenants paying?

[02:54] Whoa, well, that's a

[02:57] Well, you're grandfathered

[03:00] as long as you never move.

[03:01] Now in this scenario, leaving feels crazy.

[03:04] 'Cause if you do move,

[03:06] for the same kind of place.

[03:07] The landlord doesn't need

[03:10] 'cause where are you gonna go,

[03:12] pay double somewhere else?

[03:13] I don't think so.

[03:14] What seems like being nice

[03:16] is arguably just making

[03:19] You're not paying for

[03:21] You're paying to not lose your rate.

[03:23] Now I wanna be clear, it's early days.

[03:25] I think they're just testing this,

[03:26] but I think this is exactly

[03:28] what PlayStation Plus are doing here

[03:30] by introducing price

[03:33] and grandfathering existing people in

[03:35] on their original rates.

[03:37] Now I know plenty of people

[03:38] who hop in and out of

[03:40] I mean, just think about it.

[03:41] How many subscriptions do you have

[03:42] at any one time?

[03:44] Probably more than you want.

[03:45] So maybe you just want PlayStation Plus

[03:48] for a few months.

[03:49] Or maybe you just wanna

[03:51] So normally it's easy,

[03:54] save some money, and then

[03:56] oh wait, what?

[03:57] I have to pay a higher price now?

[03:59] What?

[04:00] Now, sure, it might only be a dollar,

[04:01] but if this works, you've gotta assume

[04:04] that they're gonna keep

[04:06] It's a dollar more today,

[04:07] but it's $3 more next year,

[04:09] $5 more the year after that, right?

[04:11] Like, you kind of see where this is going.

[04:12] So the logical move is you stick around

[04:14] to not lose your price.

[04:16] You just leave that autopay on,

[04:18] which is exactly what they want.

[04:20] This is what's called a dark pattern.

[04:23] (voice laughing)

[04:24] You have activated my trap card.

[04:27] My dark pattern card

[04:28] will keep you trapped in subscription hell

[04:30] for four turns.

[04:32] I'll now place four

[04:35] No Kuribohs Kuribohs!

[04:36] No, not Chocobos!

[04:38] (Austin laughs)

[04:40] Keep it in there.

[04:41] That was almost cool.

[04:42] (Austin laughs)

[04:44] - Dark patterns, also

[04:47] are user interfaces and user experiences

[04:49] meticulously crafted to trick, manipulate,

[04:53] or nudge you into doing things

[04:54] you might ordinarily not want to do.

[04:56] Dark patterns exploit

[04:59] like our tendency to skip text,

[05:01] our desire to avoid friction,

[05:03] or our fear of missing out,

[05:05] all to benefit the company

[05:06] at the expense of the consumer.

[05:08] And it's not exactly new,

[05:10] but I'll say that companies

[05:11] are getting really, really sophisticated

[05:13] at taking advantage of these.

[05:14] The elephant in the room here

[05:15] is absolutely what's been

[05:19] So you probably remember last October

[05:21] when Microsoft cranked

[05:23] from $20 to $30 a month,

[05:25] a full 50% hike overnight.

[05:28] And the reaction was,

[05:29] shall we say, not great.

[05:31] Tons of subscribers canceled.

[05:33] Xbox hardware revenue has

[05:36] I mean, the whole thing

[05:39] for everything that was

[05:41] Now, I don't think Microsoft did this

[05:43] because they're cartoon villains

[05:44] and they're tying your credit card

[05:46] to the train track of subscription fees

[05:48] and twirling their mustache and laughing.

[05:50] I mean, my understanding

[05:53] corporate Microsoft demanded the Xbox team

[05:55] to hit a much higher profit margin,

[05:58] supposedly around 30%.

[06:00] And when you can't push sales up,

[06:01] the only lever you've got left

[06:03] to play with is to raise the price.

[06:05] Then Xbox hit a massive reset

[06:09] Phil Spencer retired.

[06:10] Asha Sharma stepped in as the new CEO,

[06:12] and one of her first

[06:15] Game Pass Ultimate came

[06:19] Finally, someone did the thing

[06:21] and actually lowered

[06:24] But wait, hang on.

[06:25] $23?

[06:26] That's still more expensive

[06:28] than the $20 price this

[06:31] And they pulled day-one Call of Duty

[06:33] out of the deal at the same time.

[06:35] So while there's no doubt

[06:37] that this is better

[06:39] ultimately we end up

[06:42] unless you really like that Fortnite Crew,

[06:45] and somehow everyone is stoked about it.

[06:47] It's a hell of a magic trick.

[06:49] But corporate machinations aside,

[06:51] here's the part I

[06:53] The reason this price cut happened at all

[06:55] is because the price hike was visible,

[06:57] and presumably someone took a look

[06:58] at the dashboard of

[07:01] People could see the price hike.

[07:03] They could complain about it.

[07:04] They could cancel, and they did.

[07:06] Microsoft listened kind of

[07:08] because they had no other choice.

[07:10] This is the way that things should work.

[07:12] When a company pushes too far,

[07:13] consumers should be able to push back.

[07:16] Which brings us to Sony,

[07:18] because I think Sony,

[07:21] learned a very different lesson.

[07:23] A $10 price hike?

[07:24] What are you, crazy?

[07:25] People hate that.

[07:27] Terrible idea.

[07:27] But what if, and we're just

[07:30] what about a small hike on no one at all

[07:33] besides "future customers?"

[07:35] What if the price increase is so quiet,

[07:37] it's so targeted

[07:39] that there's nothing for anyone to do

[07:41] besides grumble on Twitter for a minute

[07:42] and move on?

[07:44] Existing subscribers, we love you.

[07:45] We're keeping your special rate protected.

[07:48] There's nothing to see here.

[07:50] But meanwhile, every new subscription

[07:51] from now until forever pays more.

[07:54] And every existing subscriber,

[07:55] they probably think twice

[07:57] We're just a bunch of

[08:00] with a boil so slow

[08:02] Now this stuff absolutely

[08:05] The grandfather rate trick

[08:08] Companies are just sharpening it up

[08:09] for the modern era.

[08:10] So back when the original iPhone launched,

[08:12] AT&T offered a truly unlimited data plan

[08:15] for $30 bucks a month.

[08:17] This was back when data was expensive,

[08:19] so it was a hell of a deal.

[08:20] Then smartphones got really good

[08:22] at burning through data

[08:23] when, you know, apps were invented,

[08:25] and AT&T realized that

[08:28] were absolutely cooking their network.

[08:30] Now, they couldn't just kick

[08:32] So instead, they made

[08:36] progressively more miserable,

[08:37] basically not allowing you

[08:40] without removing that unlimited data,

[08:42] not allowing new features

[08:45] that they actually ended up

[08:47] And then there's the king of all of this:

[08:50] Adobe.

[08:51] Now this is probably worth

[08:52] a whole video on its own,

[08:53] but Adobe basically rewrote

[08:56] They aggressively push everyone

[08:58] into year-long subscriptions

[08:59] with brutal cancellation fees

[09:01] or even higher monthly rates.

[09:03] They magically discover a discount

[09:05] the moment you try to leave.

[09:06] They crank the prices

[09:09] that no longer has any buy-it-once option.

[09:12] Now look,

[09:13] Adobe have made some great

[09:15] but at this point,

[09:16] it's hard not to see them

[09:19] Now take a second

[09:20] and look through PS

[09:23] The grandfather clause isn't a feature.

[09:25] It's a lock-in mechanism.

[09:26] You're not getting protected.

[09:27] You're getting trapped.

[09:29] And once they've got everyone trained

[09:30] to stay subscribed continuously,

[09:33] that's when the bigger hikes come

[09:34] 'cause then the cost of

[09:37] Now, sure, I understand you

[09:40] and be like, Austin, they

[09:43] Feels small.

[09:44] Who cares?

[09:44] And it is small.

[09:46] But by only targeting new subscribers

[09:48] and making it seem like

[09:50] the entire concept of

[09:53] They looked at what

[09:55] and saw the huge backlash,

[09:57] and they found a really

[09:59] And at the same time,

[10:01] they're locking you in more and more

[10:02] 'cause today it's, yeah,

[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

[10:14] It would be a shame if we

[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

[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

[10:46] Not every price hike is evil.

[10:48] But the grandfather clause,

[10:49] the "we're not raising

[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

[11:01] starting to feel kind of out of date.

[11:03] Xbox is pivoting harder

[11:05] and on PC, online

[11:09] That's the baseline.

[11:10] The whole reason

[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

[11:21] But the second that the

[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

[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

[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

[11:50] but you can make it outright

[11:52] just way more expensive

[11:53] It really incentivizes you

[11:55] to stick around with things

[11:56] that you might ordinarily

[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

[12:11] And I think that is a very

[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,

[12:29] Maybe pause the subscription first.

[12:32] Oh wait.