The cost of game subscriptions on the PlayStation Store has increased four to five times

The cost of subscriptions to games on the PlayStation Store, which Russian console users buy from the Turkish PlayStation store through intermediaries, has increased four to five times over the past few days. The fact is that Sony has raised tariffs several times in the Turkish region. Sources among distributors suggest that this will lead to an increase in demand for boxed versions of games or for digital copies, which have not yet risen in price.

“Kommersant” noticed that intermediaries offering services to Russians through Avito and other platforms for purchasing PlayStation Plus subscriptions (PS Plus assumes that its owner has access to a certain set of games) through foreign accounts have begun to raise prices for their services several times . One of the sellers told Kommersant that the cost of the maximum annual subscription (Deluxe) has increased from 4 thousand rubles. up to 12.5 thousand rubles. Another seller spoke about an increase from 4 thousand rubles. up to 12 thousand rubles On Wildberries, prices for annual Deluxe increased from 2-3 thousand rubles. up to 10–13 thousand rubles, according to service data. At the same time, prices for digital copies of games (also purchased through intermediaries, but outside the subscription framework) remain the same.

The increase in prices for subscriptions from intermediaries is due to the fact that Sony increased prices for PS Plus worldwide on September 6, the company announced this in its blog on August 31.

At the same time, subscription prices for the Turkish region have increased most significantly, Kommersant was convinced. Thus, the price for the annual PS Plus Deluxe increased from 460 to 2.74 thousand liras (in rubles – from 1.68 thousand to 10 thousand), PS Plus Extra – from 400 to 2.34 thousand liras (from 1 ,4 thousand rubles to 8.5 thousand rubles), and PS Plus Essential – from 260 to 1.44 thousand liras (from 950 rubles to 5.2 thousand rubles).

And Russian gamers receive Sony products mainly from the Turkish market. In March 2022, Sony Interactive Entertainment (the gaming division of Japanese Sony) announced the suspension of official deliveries of game consoles to Russia, as well as the suspension of work in the country of the PlayStation Store video game store. Later, Russians were restricted from accessing the browser version of the site. The situation has led to the emergence of a market of intermediaries who register foreign accounts for Russians – usually in Turkey – and buy subscriptions and games for clients through these accounts.

Not only individuals, but also retailers sell subscription renewal services. Thus, on the M.Video-Eldorado website a card for the service “to activate a subscription to PS Sony PlayStation Plus” was published, but now, judging by the site, it is “temporarily unavailable for sale.” Kommersant’s interlocutor among distributors says that the retailer is now reviewing its price.

Restrictions on the purchase of games in the PlayStation digital store, introduced last spring, stimulated an increase in demand for boxed versions of games, he wrote in April last year RBC. They are imported by Russian importers – for example, Buka, Achivka, Softklab Company, etc., and sold by network retailers, including DNS and M.Video-Eldorado. A representative of M.Video-Eldorado told Kommersant that based on the results of eight months of 2023, the volume of the market for boxed versions of games amounted to about 3 billion rubles. The DNS did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

Kommersant’s source in one of the distributors suggests that rising prices for subscriptions will again increase demand for boxed versions of console games, which, based on the results of the six months of 2023, “adjusted somewhat” compared to the same period last year. The head of the Organization for the Development of the Video Game Industry, Vasily Ovchinnikov, however, suggests that gamers from Russia will prefer to buy from intermediaries not annual subscriptions, but digital copies of video games, the prices of which have not yet increased significantly: “In Russia, where the distribution of boxed versions of games is not so widely developed, as, for example, in the USA, the demand for “boxes” is formed by collectors and fans.”

Nikita Korolev, Timofey Kornev