Bad news for PlayStation fans living in Europe: Sony has just announced subscriptions for its PS Plus online service will be increasing by a significant amount from August 31. Emails sent to members earlier today revealed the cost of a yearly subscription will be raised from £39.99 to an eye-watering £49.99, while the price for its 3-month and 1-month plans have gone up from £14.99 and £5.99 to £19.99 and £6.99 respectively. Ouch.

The email itself reads: “We will alter the price of a PlayStation®Plus membership at 00:01 BST on 31 August 2017. As you are an existing member, this means that all recurring subscription fees payable by you on or after 31 August 2017 will be charged at the new price. “Up until 31 August 2017, you may purchase a PlayStation®Plus subscription at the current price, which will then be added (or “stacked on”) to your current membership period.”

You’ll notice the email fails to explain or even refer to the reasons behind Sony’s decision to up its prices, leading many to accuse the company of simply using its position at the forefront of the console market to make a quick buck off its vast player base which, at time of writing, is reportedly around the 60 million mark. An ironic #fortheplayers has been doing the rounds since gamers first got wind of the change.

An increase in price of this magnitude was never going to be popular, but aside from having access to a monthly selection of ‘free’ games, the fact a PS Plus membership is a prerequisite online play, the lack of explanation is particularly grating.

Still, at least Sony was gracious enough to remind us how to turn-off the auto-renewal function: “If you want to prevent your PlayStation Plus membership continuing at the new price, you will need to cancel it – turn OFF ‘auto-renew’ in your account settings at least 48 hours before your next payment on or after the 31st August 2017”.

Let’s just hope the recent string of high-quality monthly games (Tales from the Borderlands, Until Dawn, and Just Cause 3 to name but 3) and regular sales continue, providing at least some compensation for the additional impact this will have on our wallets.

Via Eurogamer