Sony blame technical error for incorrect PS Plus upgrade pricing

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Sony have fixed what they call a “technical error” that saw upgrading PS Plus subscribers in Asia being charged extra if they had purchased their existing subscriptions with a discount. Those affected are being refunded the difference, but it looks like a lot of people are smashing the “doubt” dialogue option to the public statement.

The internet was abuzz with rage yesterday as this story emerged. Sony has regularly sold PS Plus subscriptions at a discount, and historically allowed users to ‘stack’ discounted subs for up to 10 years. With the announcement of an overhauled PlayStation Plus that mixed in PlayStation Now’s game library and streaming services, people were quick to jump aboard in the hopes of making a saving.

Sony has taken a hard stance on trying to avoid the situation that Microsoft finds themselves in, with effectively free upgrades from Xbox Live Gold to full Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. To that end, they withdrew PlayStation Now subscription cards from sale, and a few weeks ago blocked the ability to redeem and stack gift card codes.

That’s reasonable, but someone, somewhere slipped up when setting out the mechanism for upgrading subscriptions. Whether an oversight or an intentional decision that has now been backtracked, the system was set up in a way that would charge the difference in price, instead of simply looking at the time remaining for any upgrades to the higher PS Plus tiers. This was confirmed yesterday by PlayStation Hong Kong’s support team, though they were certainly just relaying how the system worked.

In response to this backlash, the Ask PlayStation support account on Twitter issued the following statement:

“Due to a technical error, players in Asia who have previously purchased a PlayStation Plus membership at a discount have been incorrectly charged for their upgrade pricing. This error has been fixed and impacted players will receive a credit. We thank you for your patience.”

People have been doubtful over whether or not this was an innocent error made amidst the complexities of rolling out the new PlayStation Plus around the world. Either way, a strong public backlash has seen Sony resolve the issue, similar to Microsoft’s poorly considered attempts to hike Xbox Live Gold prices last year.

Source: Twitter

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