PlayStation hits hard in Japan: for a few weeks, certain new players can get 3 months of PS Plus Premium at -98%. Concretely, the subscription goes from ¥4,300 (around €27) to just ¥100, or barely €0.60 for three months of service.
Behind this shocking figure, however, hides an ultra-targeted operation, reserved for a very specific player profile, and which ends on June 22, 2026. Enough to intrigue European subscribers, who are wondering if Sony intends to apply the same treatment elsewhere or if it is a local test.
PS Plus Premium at -98%: what does Sony really offer in Japan?
The campaign, detailed on PlayStation.Blog Japanis simple on paper: any new owner of PS5 Or PS5 Pro eligible can purchase 3 months of PlayStation Plus Premium for ¥100 instead of ¥4,300. We therefore go from around €9 per month to… €0.20 per month, a discount that we never see in Europe.
During these three months, the subscriber has access to the complete Premium catalog: more than 300 games for download, a selection of classics, cloud streaming and temporary trials of big new releases. For a player who has just purchased their console, it is a very aggressive entry point into the PlayStation ecosystem.
Be careful however, the automatic renewal is activated by default: at the end of the 3 months, the subscription returns to the standard rate on the PlayStation Storeunless manually terminated before expiry.
New PS5, Japanese account: who can actually activate this discount?
The list of conditions seriously dampens the enthusiasm of most players. First you need a Japanese PlayStation accountnew or existing, who was not a PS Plus subscriber at the time of first connection. This first connection to the console must take place between April 14 and June 22, 2026.
On the hardware side, the campaign only concerns PS5 And New PS5 Prowithout any connection history. The console must see this PSN Japan account for the first time during this period, then the purchase for ¥100 is possible between April 24 and June 22, 2026. The offer can only be used once per account.
Unsurprisingly, the community quickly understood this. “I don’t think this offer really concerns anyone here. You have to buy a new PS5 and create a Japanese account to take advantage of it,” summarizes Reddit user “Aforumguy26”, quoted by Gamingbible. Importing a Japanese PS5 just to save around twenty euros over three months simply doesn’t make sense, especially when you add shipping costs, taxes and warranty constraints.
PS Plus offer at ¥100: until when, and what to do from France?
The window is therefore very tight: first connection eligible until June 22, 2026, promotional purchase possible until this same date. If you live in Japan and were planning to buy a PS5 before then, this is obviously a huge bonus, provided you remember to turn off the auto-renewal once the ¥100 period is over.
For a classic French player, the real battle is played out more on the Days of Play. In recent years, Sony has offered up to -30 to -33% on 12-month subscriptions. PS Plus Essential, Extra Or Premiumgenerally between the end of May and mid-June. This is, to date, the most realistic and accessible reduction in our territory.
This Japanese operation shows above all that Sony Interactive Entertainment is ready to cut prices locally to push PS Plus Premium among new PS5 buyers. From there to one day seeing a -98% in Europe, nothing is guaranteed, but the message is clear: if subscription growth slows down, Sony will not hesitate to test shock campaigns to restart the machine.