In an interview with Barron’s yesterday, Senior Vice President of PlayStation, Eric Lempel made several comments on PlayStation’s current state as a company. Among these comments was a justification for the recent PlayStation Plus price increase, which longtime fans have been vocally upset about.

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The price change, which occurred in September this year, hiked PS+ prices from $60 USD/year to $80 USD/year. Fans at the time were understandably upset about this, as the price has been consistent for a long time. Barron’s asked Lempel how he would justify the change, and he had this to say in response:

We want to make PlayStation Plus great. With our reboot last year and introducing the tier system, a lot of consumers have recognized that there’s a lot of value in PlayStation 5. Like practically everything else in the world, we have to look at our pricing and we have to adjust to market conditions. I’m happy to say, unlike a lot of other subscription services out there, we haven’t touched the PlayStation Plus pricing for 85% of the world in many years. So, this was the first time we did something there.

Long story short, Sony’s justification for jacking up the price? Market conditions. It’s a justification we hear pretty often in the gaming industry. The same is true of the recent trend of AAA games reaching a $70 price point. While it hurts our wallets to pay more for these products, at the end of the day, money changes, and costs move. It’s a safe answer for PlayStation, but it’s probably the truth.

How do you feel about the recent PlayStation Plus price increase? Do you think it’s fair, given the massive success they’re seeing with Spider-Man 2? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Barron’s