Sony has reportedly disabled PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now subscription stacking ahead of the upcoming membership renewal.
An increasing number of PS4 and PS5 owners have not been able to redeem prepaid subscriptions in the last few days, and the issue appears to be widespread based on messages sent to PlayStation’s official support channels and forums reports, including ResetEra .
Although PlayStation has not yet officially commented on the matter, a number of affected users claim to have been informed by Sony’s customer support representatives that the company has temporarily blocked subscription stacking.
PlayStation Plus Monthly Games – PS5 & PS4 – May 2022
“Due to the upcoming changes to the PS Plus subscription, the PS Plus stacking is currently unavailable as we have removed the ability to do so,” a ResetEra user was reportedly told.
“We understand how important this is to you and we want answers on how this will work when the new PS plus membership becomes available.”
They added: “I understand how frustrating this must be. I can only advise you to wait until your current subscription expires, so use your code. Extension / stacking is no longer available.”
It is believed that the move may be the result of Sony’s attempts to stop gamers from making huge savings on the renewed PlayStation Plus service, which begins rolling out in May structured across three payment levels: Essential, Extra and Premium.
Earlier this month, dedicated PlayStation owners bought up many years of PS Now subscriptions while still available to save money on PS Plus Premium.
Before going on sale in early April, 12-month PS Now subscriptions cost $ 59.99 / £ 49.99. Sony had previously said that when the new PS Plus service launches, PS Now memberships will be converted to PS Plus Premium, which will cost $ 119/99 / £ 99.99 per year.
And in a recently updated FAQ, Sony also confirmed that players who subscribe to both PS Plus and PS Now when the new service launches will be migrated to PS Plus Premium with a new single payment date based on which subscription is set to to finish last.
A PlayStation support email sent to a Push Square reader also apparently confirmed that member stacking has now been disabled.
“I have checked the voucher and your account and can conclude that right now there is a temporarily disabled feature for PS Plus / PS Now subscriptions which does not allow stacking of both memberships on already active memberships,” it reads.
“This is only temporary and as soon as we have more information about [it] we want to let our players know ”.
VGC has contacted Sony for more information on the issues players have with redeeming PlayStation subscription codes.
The company recently announced the following target launch dates for the new PS Plus subscription service:
- Asian markets (excluding Japan) – targeted at 23 May 2022
- Japan – Targeted June 1, 2022
- America – Targeted June 13, 2022
- Europe – targeted at 22 June 2022
PS Plus Essential offers the same benefits as the current PS Plus service with monthly free games, discounts and online multiplayer. It will also cost the same: $ 9.99 / € 8.99 / £ 6.99 per month, $ 24.99 / € 24.99 / £ 19.99 for three months or $ 59.99 / € 59.99 / £ 49.99 per year.
PS Plus Extra will include the same benefits, but with access to a library of 400 downloadable PS4 and PS5 games. It will cost $ 14.99 / € 13.99 / £ 10.99 per month, $ 39.99 / € 39.99 / £ 31.99 for three months or $ 99.99 / € 99.99 / £ 83.99 per month the year.
PS Plus Premium will include the above benefits, while adding up to 340 additional games, including PS3 titles available via cloud streaming, and a catalog of classic games available in both streaming and download options from the original PlayStation, PS2 and PSP generations.
Priced at $ 17.99 / € 16.99 / £ 13.49 per month, $ 49.99 / € 49.99 / £ 39.99 for three months or $ 119.99 / € 119.99 / £ 99.99 per year , Premium will also include time-limited game trials.
It was recently claimed that new games priced at $ 34 or more will be required to offer a PS Plus Premium trial period lasting at least two hours.
In confirmation of a previous leak, Sony officially announced the May 2022 PlayStation Plus game on Wednesday. FIFA 22 (PS5 and PS4), Tribes of Midgard (PS5 and PS4) and Curse of the Dead Gods (PS4) join the subscription service on May 3rd.