Sony has announced its official roster of Black Friday deals this week, but I'm most excited about those PS Plus discounts. While savings will hit controllers with up to 25% off, up to 40% off the PSVR 2 system, and additional discounts across the Pulse headset series, we're long overdue some PlayStation Plus deals.
I've been waiting for Black Friday PS5 deals to fully kick off to upgrade my membership, and it looks like there's just another few days left to hold off. We already know that the biggest discounts will be reserved for new members, but you'd think us loyal customers would receive some kind of saving on top. Right? Right? Sony's sale will start on Friday November 22, running across the PS Direct store and a number of third party retailers at the same time.
You'll need to head straight to PS Direct for these PS Plus deals, though. Sony hasn't sold its subscriptions direct via retailers since it swapped to a tiered system, which has put a real stopper on the kinds of savings we used to see. The brand's Black Friday marketing is typically vague, with savings reaching 'up to 30% off' but with no mention of which tier this top discount applies to. There's also the additional problem of different payment tiers.
I've covered Black Friday for five years now, and in my experience these kinds of subscription savings rarely apply to the cheaper monthly plans. Instead, I expect we're looking at 30% off the most expensive 12 month payment options, with lower discounts moving further down the chain. It's highly unlikely that every tier will receive a 30% discount on every payment plan, but I've done the math for the following breakdown of a best case scenario across each subscription.
| Tiers | MSRP | 30% off |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | $9.99 / month | $24.99 / 3 months | $79.99 / year | $6.99 / month | $17.49 / 3 months | $55.99 / year |
| Extra | $14.99 / month | $39.99 / 3 months | $134.99 / year | $10.49 / month | $27.99 / 3 months | $94.49 / year |
| Premium | $17.99 / month | $49.99 / 3 months | $159.99 / year | $12.59 / month | $34.99 / 3 months | $111.99 / year |
That's a potentially solid saving wherever that 30% goes, but I expect this discount will be applied to annual memberships, with a smaller price cut for three month options. Whichever membership you opt for, there's a way to save even more. Amazon was previously offering 10% off its supply of PlayStation Store gift cards - a deal which has since been stripped from the shelves but is likely to return when Black Friday gaming deals officially commence next week. It's well worth checking in here once all the cards are on the table - it's an excellent way to double down your savings.
Today's best early Black Friday PS5 deals
- Amazon: games from $19.99
- Best Buy: up to $100 off accessories
- GameStop: up to 40% off PowerA
- Newegg: SSDs from $36.99
- Walmart: $10 off DualSense Edge
Sony isn't exactly giving us the numbers on its hardware deals either, but 25% off DualSense controllers mean they will sit at $56.24. That's still not exactly cheap considering I've seen the same gamepads drop as low as $49.99 in previous Black Friday sales, so that recent price hike isn't exactly being covered by this year's discounts. Meanwhile, the PSVR 2 system will be dropping to a new record-low if that 40% off discount holds true. With a $549.99 MSRP, we'll be seeing the brand's VR headset down to just $329.99 over Black Friday. That beats the $449 record-low we saw during the brand's summer Days of Play sale.
Plus I'm sure we'll see a good supply of digital discounts across the PS Store, so it's well worth keeping your console warm and ready to go over the next week.
We're also rounding up all the latest and greatest PS Plus deals on the market, or if you're upgrading your whole setup this holiday season check out the best Black Friday PS5 SSD deals and the best Black Friday gaming headset deals for more.
