During the madness that was rAge 2014, Jan and I got to sit down with the CEO of Ster-Kinekor Entertainment, Mario Dos Santos, and ask him a few questions with regards to PlayStation in South Africa.
Ster-Kinekor handles the PlayStation brand in South Africa, and is responsible for bringing the consoles into the country.
One of the questions we put to Dos Santos was with regards to Sony’s recent price increase for local PS Plus subscriptions, and what contributed to the hike.
Although Ster-Kinekor is not responsible for the pricing of PS Plus subscriptions, Dos Santos said that the hike was to bring local pricing inline with European pricing. Pricing was also influenced by exchange rates.
Below is a table demonstrating the new and old pricing, along with the percentage price increase.
| PlayStation Plus Subscription | |||
| Duration | Was… | Now… | Hiked by |
| 1 Month | R69 | R99 | 43% |
| 3 Months | R 145 | R 219 | 51% |
| 12 Months | R 489 | R 749 | 53% |
As a point of reference, PS Plus pricing in the UK is as follows:
- 1 month – £5.49/R97
- 3 month – £11.99/R212
- 12 month – £39.99/R707
While a direct Rand/Pound comparison is not completely accurate due to discrepancies in the respective countries’ citizens purchasing power and average income, it does show that our PS Plus prices were below the UK’s.
Do you think the price hike is justified? Let us know in the comments and forum.
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This is utterly bullshit!!! If they want to bring our prices inline with that of the UK then they should put more content into our PlayStation store! They cannot expect us to pay more for our subscription and still receive the same service. The least Sony can do is give us the same content that is made available in the UK.