The conversion of PlayStation Plus into its new tiered form arrives in June and current subscribers are evaluating whether or not they should give the new service a try. The decision has been made easier for some with various conversion options made available by Sony, allowing users to prepare for the new PlayStation Plus by stacking currently available subscription gift cards. Sony has since decided that it's unhappy with this conversion option, however, and has officially blocked subscription stacking.
An update has been made to the PlayStation Plus upgrade FAQ as of Friday morning. The FAQ now states that subscription stacking has been "temporarily" blocked. In other words, those who currently have a PlayStation Plus or PlayStation Now subscription will no longer be able to redeem voucher codes. Voucher codes will only work once a PlayStation user's subscription has expired, or following the launch of the new PlayStation Plus and its dramatically altered conversion rates.
The idea is that, prior to now, PlayStation Plus subscribers have been able to stack multiple years of PlayStation Now using relatively affordable 12-month voucher codes. When this new PlayStation Plus subscription arrives, these PlayStation Now subscriptions will automatically convert to the highest tier of the new subscription. Stacking PlayStation Now before the conversion would lead to massive savings that could last for years.
Sony has also issued a new conversion chart that those with PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now vouchers can reference once the new service launches in June. It's significantly more complicated than seems necessary, but at its simplest, a one-month voucher for PlayStation Plus is equatable to one month of PlayStation Plus Essential and one month of PlayStation Now is valued at three weeks of PlayStation Plus Premium.
What Sony has effectively done is prevented subscribers from high-value account conversion via subscription stacking in favor of a much less valuable conversion rate set to launch in June. At the time, there doesn't appear to be any way to avoid the change. Any PlayStation Plus subscribers with vouchers will have to wait until June to use them.
There's likely to be a vocal minority of PlayStation Plus subscribers who are very frustrated with this decision, subscribers who planned to stack PlayStation Now before the conversion but who no longer have the option. It's not just that subscribers will lose out on a valuable upgrade to the new PlayStation Plus' highest tier, a conversion Sony had initially dedicated itself to. It's also that Xbox, when Xbox Game Pass Ultimate launched through now, continues to offer subscription stacking for Xbox Live Gold converts. Regardless, PlayStation has decided this is the correct decision for its new tiered PlayStation Plus service going forward.
Source: PlayStation Plus