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Sony has confirmed that PlayStation Plus prices will increase in Europe starting 1st September. In a statement sent to us, the platform holder pointed out that it will be hiking the cost of one month and three month memberships in the UK, though there are no plans to change the annual subscription. We've reached out for firm pricing information, but all we know at present is that the quarterly option will increase from £11.99 to £14.99. We were told by a SCEUK representative that the changes are "different in some markets", so it may just be the three month sub that's increasing in mainland Europe, as originally reported.

"We are dedicated to bringing PlayStation Plus members the best possible service with the most compelling content," a statement sent to us from SCEUK said. "From 1st September we will be increasing the price of monthly and three month PlayStation Plus subscriptions in line with market conditions. We will continue to invest in PlayStation Plus to ensure an unparalleled experience, featuring the best quality games and features."

There's no indication that this change will be occurring in North America or Asia, so it seems limited to Europe for now. It strikes us that the manufacturer's trying to nudge gamers towards the annual option, though that's purely speculation on our part. Either way, the timing of this announcement couldn't possibly be worse, as the PlayStation Network continues to be flaky for most members. We're told that the platform holder is investing heavily in the service, but with regular outages, cloud storage issues, and slow download speeds, we're going to need to see some results soon.