Sony launches their new more expensive PlayStation Plus tiers in June, and those hoping to nab themselves a sweet deal by purchasing pre-paid subscription cards are out of luck. Most notably, many thrifty folks picked up on the fact that existing PlayStation Now subscriptions will roll over to the new PS Plus Premium tier when it goes live. A 1-year card for PS Now only costs $60, while 1 year of PS Plus Premium with be $120, so people began snapping up PS Now cards to “stack” on their existing subscriptions, potentially getting themselves years of PS Plus Premium at a nice little 50 percent discount.

　　Not so fast, says Sony. In recent days people have discovered they can’t redeem their pre-paid cards to extend their subscriptions, and Sony has confirmed this is intentional…

　　As we prepare to launch the new PlayStation Plus membership service, we are doing some work behind the scenes to make the transition as smooth as possible for all of our existing members. As part of this work, we’ve temporarily disabled stacking memberships for existing customers until after the launch. Rest assured that your voucher code is still valid, and you will be able to redeem your code either when your existing membership expires and deactivates, or after the new PlayStation Plus service launches in your area, whichever happens first.

　　Now, don’t throw those pre-paid cards in the trash just yet. Sony says you’ll still be able to redeem them after the new PS Plus launches, although there will be a complex conversion scheme based on the value of the original cards and the pricing on the new PS Plus tiers. So, for instance, a 12-month PS Now cards will redeem for 365 days of PS Plus Essential, 219 days of PS Plus Extra, or 183 days of PS Plus Premium. You can check out the whole mind-boggling conversion chart, below.

　　Here is the PS+/PS Now voucher conversion chart after the new PS+ launches https://t.co/mIFcRrhluP pic.twitter.com/NLPZ8NJlWt

　　— Wario64 (@Wario64) April 29, 2022

　　Sorry folks, no such thing as a free lunch (or free months of PS Plus Premium) I guess. The new PlayStation Plus rolls out from late May to late June, depending on where you live – you can check out the worldwide release dates here.