Every year around December 21, my PlayStation Plus subscription begs for renewal.
Just when I’ve shelled out all I can for every obligatory holiday purchase and have depleted every dime I found that had fallen between the couch cushions, I realize I have to pull another $50 out of my you-know-where to renew the service. However, throughout the other 11 months of the year, I realize just how much of a value that $50 becomes.
Sony recently announced that starting September 1 in Europe, the cost of one-month and three-month subscriptions to PlayStation Plus will see an increase, specifically from £11.99 to £14.99 for the quarterly subscription (The annual option appears to be unaffected for now). Sony responded to the price increase by saying, “We will continue to invest in PlayStation Plus to ensure an unparalleled experience, featuring the best quality games and features.”
In my opinion, unparalleled it is. Call me a fanboy (and inevitably, some will), but I wouldn’t blink twice if a price increase ended up making its way to PlayStation Plus in America. Like I said before, that $50 hurts at the time, but on multiple occasions, video gaming websites have figured out the service itself translates to hundreds and hundreds of dollars of value.
Sure, the PlayStation Network seems to be operated by a few pieces of wired taped together, and I don’t venture into multiplayer on a daily basis (until Rocket League came along, that is), but for me, the value of PlayStation Plus comes across in its free games – something that I capitalize on by owning all three of the included systems. Should PlayStation users feel cheated out by such an unreliable network as the online gaming world thrives? Probably, but the value is made up to me through these games.
In the past year, that $50 investment alone has given me: Rocket League, Limbo, Rogue Legacy, InFamous First Light, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Thief, Dishonored, Valiant Hearts, Sound Shapes, God of War: Ascension, and Guacamelee! – and this is just a small taste. For comparison, I paid $60 for The Order: 1886. That’s all I’ll say about that.
Sure, the games released aren’t usually AAA titles, but honestly, I own a lot of those anyway, and often turn to PlayStation Plus for different kinds of experiences: games I probably never would’ve given a second thought (see: Rocket League), games I somehow missed out on (see: Limbo) or games that I simply never found the time for (see: InFamous First Light).
In the end, we all know the physical value of the PlayStation Plus membership service is a lot more than we’re actually paying, but I love the offerings that it gives me across all of my systems. It’s inflated my backlog through the free monthly drops, along with saving me a few additional dollars on flash sales here and there. A price increase could be around the corner sometime in the future, but there’s no arguing that PS Plus is a bargain at where it is today.