PlayStation & Nintendo Change How Auto-Renewal Works On Subscription Services

screenrant.com:

PlayStation and Nintendo are altering the auto-renewal option for their subscription services. This follows an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority into auto-renewal practices in February 2022, and it comes on the heels of PlayStation announcing a new Plus service which is being criticized as worse than its predecessor, PlayStation Now.

PlayStation Plus originally started off as a subscription that offered free games and perks on the PS3, which offered free online play. On the PS4, it followed the same path as Microsoft's Xbox Live in becoming compulsory for gamers wanting online play on their console, something that then continued onto the current-gen with the PS5. When the Nintendo Switch launched, Nintendo Switch Online was also offered as a subscription for online play, whilst offering up further offers for members such as free DLC for titles such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons, as well as a library of games covering the NES, Super NES, and N64. PlayStation also offered up PlayStation Now, which offered a library of downloadable and streamable titles in a similar vein to Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass, but is being replaced with a new tiered PlayStation Plus model in June that will offer up to 700+ downloadable and streamable games on the highest tier.

Related: PlayStation Plus Premium: PS1, PS2, & PSP Games It Needs

Due to how subscriptions have become such a standard practice in media, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (via GamesIndustry.biz) launched an investigation into auto-renewal practices for subscription services, and offered up guidance that stated that customers "need to be able to make a fully informed choice about auto-renewal," and "should be reminded about auto-renewal in good