PlayStation Plus price rises significantly as Sony makes it more expensive to play online

The increase will happen automatically

(Imgur/MeinFewer)

It's about to get a lot more expensive to play PlayStation online.

Sony has announced that it will increase the price of its Plus membership – required to play the console over the internet – significantly next month.

And the price rise will happen automatically unless people go through a complicated process to cancel it.

The hikes apply differently according to how people pay for their membership: the yearly price is increasing from £39.99 to £49.99, and the monthly one will rise from £5.99 to £6.99. Similar price rises will happen to those that pay in euros.

The change will go into effect at midnight on 31 August, and every charge after that will be increased.

Sony notes that people can buy extra memberships at this price now, which will be added onto their existing membership. So even if an annual membership isn't due to expire until 2018, for instance, a subscriber can buy another year and delay the price until that is finished.

The only way to get out of the price hike permanently is to cancel the PlayStation Plus membership. That's done by heading to the account settings and turning off auto-renew – that must be done at least 48 hours before the next payment is due, or it will go through at the increased price.

Sony has provided useful links to cancel an account or to check the next renewal date.

The increases are happening across Europe, making it less likely that it is being done because of currency fluctuations.