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[Swift_Star]

Lol. I have been saying this for a while now. Between all this woke shit and greedy they have become,I swore I'll never buy a playstation shit ever again unless it's dirt cheap on PC. They are not getting money from me to play online crap. This model needs to change .

This is Sony right now after reading this:

 

[Neofire]

Buying PS+ directly from Sony on their own sale = "trying to pull a fast one."

To circumvent trying to pay full price for the New PSN bundles? Yes doesn't matter who sold it lol the intent is the point and I guarantee the influx of PSN subscription stacking has a direct correlation with the announcement of the new PSN bundles.

 

[graywolf323]

There’s now recorded audio on bilibili with the HongKong help desks confirming this is the deal and to pay the difference. But I’ll take the $200 and roll the dice on a rollback of this policy in the next 24 hours in double or nothing.

People are actually posting screenshots of stacked until 2032 and the massive differences, fuck me.

the help desk people are the last to know what the actual policy is, that doesn't prove this isn't a mistake, that just proves the help desk hasn't been told anything

 

[T-Cake]

Wait.......so about 2 years I bought a bunch of ps+ subs at a discount from CDKeys that staked till 2028.
Back in Dec 2021, I subed to 1 year of PS Now.

How does this affect me???????

So your PS Now sub doesn't expire until Dec 2022 which means you will be placed on the top tier (PS Premium) until 2028 and won't have to pay a single penny more.

 

[LucasBR]

Yup, if it isn't, and this is intentional, they should be absolutely raked over the coals for this one, because it's absolutely disgusting. The only reason I think it's a mistake so strongly is that I can see how a programmer would make the mistake easily by relating to how these backends usually work.

YEs and I honestly hope they realise is a mistake and fix it. If this is Sony's way of doing the upgrades I hope they receive a lot pf hate, bad PR etc etc etc they deserve, that's so anti-consumer.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Glad I don't resort to middle class tactics and just get billed monthly.

How is taking advantage of a sale and something that Sony openly knew about a "middle class tactic"?
What is a middle class tactic anyway?

 

[FalsettoVibe]

So your PS Now sub doesn't expire until Dec 2022 which means you will be placed on the top tier (PS Premium) until 2028 and won't have to pay a single penny more.

Ok, phew.........Sony is still wack for doing this though.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Wait.......so about 2 years I bought a bunch of ps+ subs at a discount from CDKeys that staked till 2028.
Back in Dec 2021, I subed to 1 year of PS Now.

How does this affect me???????

At this point nothing.

But if Sony implements this to everyone and they can track cdkeys you bought were on deal, they might grill you the difference of 6 years of subs you got to 2028 multiplied by the difference deal price you got so that it would be like you have 6 years bought at regular price.

 

[DarkMage619]

4 the payers. But i guess i get it, they spend a lot of money on their first party titles and dont want to devalue them. The only reason microsoft is so lenient with cheap gamepass subs is because they are one of the richest companies on the planet

I'd rather a company save me money because I'd then feel like buying more on their platform. When I see things like paid upgrades for crossgen titles, cloud saves paywalled, and sole source digital software stores it's clear the company isn't interested in saving me money. This whole thing will be ignored in the grand scheme of things. You'll pay and like it.

 

[Vognerful]

That is smart from Sony. They got a lot of people invested in the subscription stacking and could rack in good money of potion of people who agree to bite and pay the fee anyway.

I am sure it is all good for their financial reports and arranging funds for their devs that we always fight every week how they got so much revenue than any other competitor.

I am sure will forget this incident and will glee on the next financial quarter report.

 

[T-Cake]

At this point nothing.

But if Sony implements this to everyone and they can track cdkeys you bought were on deal, they might grill you the difference of 6 years of subs you got to 2028 multiplied by the difference deal price you got so that it would be like you have 6 years bought at regular price.

Impossible. There's no way they can legally back charge you for something. And they've already stated that PS Now i.e. PS Premium users won't see any price increases.

 

[Umbasaborne]

I'd rather a company save me money because I'd then feel like buying more on their platform. When I see things like paid upgrades for crossgen titles, cloud saves paywalled, and sole source digital software stores it's clear the company isn't interested in saving me money. This whole thing will be ignored in the grand scheme of things. You'll pay and like it.

I certainly agree that sony should be doing better in that regard. We shouldnt be paying to get a better fps or higher resolution if we already own the game. Could you imagine if steam charged you an “upgrade fee” for half life 2 when you bought a new video card or cpu

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

So your PS Now sub doesn't expire until Dec 2022 which means you will be placed on the top tier (PS Premium) until 2028 and won't have to pay a single penny more.

I should still be good til august 2026 then. Feeling relieved and selfish atm. haha. Hopefully they make the upgrade paths better than this when it gets here.

 

[Punished Miku]

Impossible. There's no way they can legally back charge you for something.

The issue is that everyone just now realized they weren't buying a full priced PS+ year on sale. They were buying a different digital item; a discounted PS+ year with the value of the discount only, essentially meaning that if you convert the sale didn't exist. So you're not buying PS+, you're buying a digital item called PS+ -33% that is only worth 67% of the value of what you thought you just bought. The sale basically never existed, retroactively - after you already bought it.

 

[adamsapple]

Glad I don't resort to middle class tactics and just get billed monthly.

Middle class tactics ?

Oh boy that's a new one

 

[T-Cake]

The issue is that everyone just now realized they weren't buying a full priced PS+ year on sale. They were buying a different digital item; a discounted PS+ year with the value of the discount only, essentially meaning that if you convert the sale didn't exist. So you're not buying PS+, you're buying a digital item called PS+ -33% that is only worth 67% of the value of what you thought you just bought. The sale basically never existed, retroactively - after you already bought it.

I bought my PS Now for 50% off. Which means because I get put on Premium, I'm only paying roughly 25% of the cost! Take that, Sony!

 

[MikeM]

Regardless of how long you stack for, the system allowed it. Suck it up Sony. You’ve been my #1 console since PS1 but this consistent nickle and diming is getting old quick. Don’t make me go to the green side.

 

[Punished Miku]

I bought my PS Now for 50% off. Which means because I get put on Premium, I'm only paying roughly 25% of the cost! Take that, Sony!

Right lol. Meaning your sale price is honored, but PS+ sale price is not. Not even consistent.

 

[ManaByte]

Regardless of how long you stack for, the system allowed it. Suck it up Sony. You’ve been my #1 console since PS1 but this consistent nickle and diming is getting old quick. Don’t make me go to the green side.

Join us.

 

[Brofist]

Playing devil's advocate here, what I imagine actually happened is likely much less sinister and this is probably the result of an uncaught code error. So in the backend, what I imagine they do is to pro-rata your existing subscription by taking value / total_days * days_left and subtract that from the upgrade fee. What probably happened there is that whoever wrote the code used some piece of data attached to the membership to get the price paid for the sub, rather than using the live store price. I could be totally wrong, but this decision seems so bizarrely bad that I'd feel it's more likely the result of an edge case in the backend handling of upgrades than an intentional decision.

I hope they fix it soon or if it does turn out to be intentional, they should get off their crack pipe and reverse it.

Understandable they'd make that kind of mistake being the small indie company that Sony is.

 

[MikeM]

Join us.

I have a Series X but its mainly a GP and back compat machine. I usually buy all games on PS but lately their moves are making me think its time for a change.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

The issue is that everyone just now realized they weren't buying a full priced PS+ year on sale. They were buying a different digital item; a discounted PS+ year with the value of the discount only, essentially meaning that if you convert the sale didn't exist. So you're not buying PS+, you're buying a digital item called PS+ -33% that is only worth 67% of the value of what you thought you just bought. The sale basically never existed, retroactively - after you already bought it.

If this is correct then what a sham. Although technically Sony might be good here???

When people were buying PS+ on deal, it never said 12 months?

I don’t know since I don’t have it. If you’re right then what they probably did was sell a deal price PS+ but purposely didn’t state the time frame. Everyone assumed it was a 12 month sub in deal but really all they did was lower the price and time the same amount.

It doesn’t make sense but legally it sounds ok to do if they buried in the fine print the price is prorated, and not a 12 month duration.

 

[Clear]

Playing devil's advocate here, what I imagine actually happened is likely much less sinister and this is probably the result of an uncaught code error. So in the backend, what I imagine they do is to pro-rata your existing subscription by taking value / total_days * days_left and subtract that from the upgrade fee. What probably happened there is that whoever wrote the code used some piece of data attached to the membership to get the price paid for the sub, rather than using the live store price. I could be totally wrong, but this decision seems so bizarrely bad that I'd feel it's more likely the result of an edge case in the backend handling of upgrades than an intentional decision.

I hope they fix it soon or if it does turn out to be intentional, they should get off their crack pipe and reverse it.

Yeah it seems like an error, although they really ought to have factored in this sort of effect.
Sorta surprised though that they wouldn't have realized that the back-end handling would need to be pretty complex to manage multiple subscription tiers at potentially different start/end dates.

What I suspect they might be doing is simply doing a price calculation at time-of-upgrade which basically takes the current-tier end date and produces a pro-rata calculation to that time because there's no provision for independent start-ends for each tier. Something that I suspect they'll absolutely have to factor in in order to support promotions and purchase codes.

The retroactive elimination thing seems like a weird claim because as I'd be very surprised to see anything beyond existing duration at pro-rata to be used as a starting balance. To be honest engineering in an effect that is likely only to affect a small minority whilst being of frankly dubious legality just strikes me as unlikely.

 

[skit_data]

This has to be fixed, otherwise they are both greedy and stupid to not see how bad this looks. Bad look, Sony.

 

[AGRacing]

How on EARTH do things like this happen? How did this pass the finish line without anyone important thinking "Hmm.. perhaps this is a bad idea?".

Also - what the hell were they thinking with the initial offering of PSP, PS1 & PS2? Joke tier.

 

[NeonGhost]

Does this mean I’m fucked because I stacked 2 years of ps now from sony at a discount

 

[Smoke6]

Well someone pointed out that Sony never said your subs can stack to the highest tiers. Which so far I’ve seen to be true and it was just an assumption from the gamers that this would work. Communication was clear tho so yeah, can’t really be mad at them for this as much as people are going ape shit over.

 

[sainraja]

This is pretty insane if intentional. Wouldn't it just be easier to do it the normal easy way that is also good for consumers?

Very big difference between defending a decision and believing that a decision is a mistake and will be fixed. I said in my post that if this was intentional, it is unacceptable. Have the balls to quote me next time.

Don't let them get to you....that is there shtick, they have a habit of seeing everything with with a console war perspective.

 

[Thief1987]

Does this mean I’m fucked because I stacked 2 years of ps now from sony at a discount

No, you will be just transferred to premium tier.

 

[Three]

Does this mean I’m fucked because I stacked 2 years of ps now from sony at a discount

No this doesn't affect anyone who has PS Now stacked. It's those who have stacked PS+ only, were converted to Essential and now want to upgrade to Extra or Premium for the remainder of their Essential. I actually think the reddit poster source might be bullshit anyway. Those people can convert their stack to Extra or Premium without an upfront cost based on months.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Well someone pointed out that Sony never said your subs can stack to the highest tiers. Which so far I’ve seen to be true and it was just an assumption from the gamers that this would work. Communication was clear tho so yeah, can’t really be mad at them for this as much as people are going ape shit over.

I thought Sony said that if you got ps+ and ps now your sub will be converted to ps premium at the longest duration you got between the two.

That’s why people stacked.

They never said it was not allowed at a certain day going forward. I’d don’t think they ever stated a cut off date.

They also never said if you got a ps+ on deal then upgrading to a better tier means you pay in full as if you never got it on deal to begin with.

 

[EverydayBeast]

I get the tiers, I just don’t see the issue.

 

[Chukhopops]

I find it hilarious but from a technical point of view I struggle to see how it can be accidental.

Fetching the amount you paid initially when pricing the upgrade is absolutely not necessary for the upgrade to work, all that would matter is to look at what plan you have currently and until when it is valid.

Im sure it will be reverted but I think it was deliberate (although I won’t pretend I know how their backend works, just looking at it from a functional perspective).

 

[reksveks]

This is pretty insane if intentional. Wouldn't it just be easier to do it the normal easy way that is also good for consumers?

The fact it is 'easier' makes me think slightly that it's intentional but it might not be easier based on the back end setup, although it still seems pretty easy to get the 'max date' out of a list of segmented subscription periods.

 

[Andodalf]

Sony is doing everything it can to have this fail, just so they can say that the system doesn’t work and no one should support subscription services

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

This sounds like a potential lawsuit somewhere in there right?

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

 

[marjo]

1st page = zero people defending this.

You're right. It took until page 3.

Well someone pointed out that Sony never said your subs can stack to the highest tiers. Which so far I’ve seen to be true and it was just an assumption from the gamers that this would work. Communication was clear tho so yeah, can’t really be mad at them for this as much as people are going ape shit over.

 

[adamsapple]

Oh wow, so it's an official tactic.

They're probably testing in a smaller territory first to gauge reactions before rolling it globally, I guess.

 

[Topher]

This sounds like a potential lawsuit somewhere in there right?

Depends on the laws in the region, I guess. Right now, this is only happening in Hong Kong and Taiwan, I believe.

 

[Smoke6]

I thought Sony said that if you got ps+ and ps now your sub will be converted to ps premium at the longest duration you got between the two.

That’s why people stacked.

They never said it was not allowed at a certain day going forward. I’d don’t think they ever stated a cut off date.

They also never said if you got a ps+ on deal then upgrading to a better tier means you pay in full as if you never got it on deal to begin with.

I think if they had just psnow or both. I don’t see having regular plus and convert it to premium alone. But we shall see

 

[StreetsofBeige]

To see if punished Miku’s assumption is right about someone buying PS+ at a deal price but it also involves reduced time, does anyone have an e-receipt they did where they bought PS+ on deal price and see if it states 12 months, or they left it vague, or buried in the fine print the purchase price prorates it by time.

 

[DenchDeckard]

No way this happens in the west. There's just no way.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

It’s worth noting that instances like this will be limited as the frankly frightening figures only apply to people who’ve stacked subscriptions several years into the future, but the backlash will be enormous if this also occurs in the United States and Europe. Those who stack subscriptions are, after all, likely to be the most dedicated, loyal, and vocal customers.

Not really defending them on this, but...did Sony ever technically, outright state they were supporting stacking? I remember them saying they would convert any active PSNow subs to PS+ Deluxe/Premium for the duration remaining on the Now sub, and I think that applied if even only just had now, not PS+ & PS Now. Additionally, they said something else WRT those with PS+ and PS Now but I can't recall what it was.

That said I don't think they ever said anything validating people who were trying to buy PS+ subs for like a decade to stack them for a higher tier of PS+ Extra or Premium; not only does that sound like an obviously stupid loophole, it kind of also defeats the purpose of what it seems like they're trying to do here i.e grow service revenue. If these service revamps are going to mainly apply to core/dedicated users anyway (at least to start with), and they have a propensity to try taking advantage of things like extreme stacking, that probably creates a net stagnation or negative for what the company wants in terms of revenue growth.

Yes I know as a gamer it probably sucks you can't stack PS+ & PS Now to 2040 and save like 90% off the normal sub rate but, were you ever actually legally told that was going to be an option with what they allowed beforehand? Again I'm just going off the info I remember, but I do remember a lot of people rushing to try buy PS Now cards to "take advantage" of the revamp. I considered it, but ultimately rejected it because for 1, I don't think $90/year or $120/year is a bad deal for what's being offered in my specific use-case, and 2, I knew it would result in some messy BS like how things always get messy when you try gaming the system.

Also to the bolded, I actually think that's somewhat false. You'd think the "most dedicated, loyal, and vocal customers" would be willing to pay the normal rate if the pricing was fair. It's like saying someone who waits for all your big AAA releases to hit clearance prices or steep discount sales before buying is a "most dedicated, loyal, and vocal customer". Well, they're probably vocal. "Dedicated and loyal"? Well in terms of being a revenue driver for the ecosystem, definitely not

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Depends on the laws in the region, I guess. Right now, this is only happening in Hong Kong and Taiwan, I believe.

I don't know about America but the European Union must have some protection laws against this I hope...

 

[Shmunter]

Sony next….. We are removing the following previously claimed xyz games from your PS Plus account as you are subscribed to Ps+ Essentials. These games now sit in the Ps+ Premium tier. Please upgrade to Ps+ Premium to play these games. PlayStation, for the gamers!

 

[Banjo64]

You're right. It took until page 3.

1 in every 123 posters, pretty good ratio.

 

[Pantz]

Will have like 6 months left of 30% discount PS+ and 9 months of full price PS Now...

Might already owe them money.

 

[Banjo64]

I don't know about America but the European Union must have some protection laws against this I hope...

You’d think, but then when you see that Nintendo and Sony (and MS too to a lesser extent) can just say ‘fuck off, no refunds for digital content’ then it gives me less optimism.

 

[Three]

This sounds like a potential lawsuit somewhere in there right?

I don't think the reddit post is even factually accurate.

If you go read what the article source is about it's some guy saying "yeah I read that somewhere" with that having 3 upvotes. The original reddit poster is not even very active except maybe complaining about PS every now and then. Same with Godot the thread creator here to be honest.

The way the system works from my understanding is that there is a conversion based on months that R reksveks has posted in the past. Nothing happens to your discounts. It's based on month to month conversions. Somebody mentions this in the reddit thread and it has the upvotes. It also has the official Hong Kong twitter account confirming it. They don't just wipe out discounts they have a conversion and people who are irate are those who cannot go in and out of the sub while keeping their essential stacked.