If you’re a South African who owns an Xbox and frequents South Africa’s home-grown streamer Showmax, today just isn’t your day, is it? After Microsoft’s massive price hike heading for Game Pass in September, the last thing you’ll want to hear about is Showmax’s new prices. Oh, how we wish we had better news to tell you.

Could be worse, we guess

The new price hikes, which only affect two of the five subscriptions, only come into play from 1 August 2024. While Microsoft’s increase only serves the $3.42 trillion company’s bottom line, Showmax’s relatively small price hikes are simply reverting to its original 2015 launch prices – a well-earned increase, all things considered.

We’re of course talking about the relaunch of Showmax 2.0, which brought along a vastly improved content library and a greatly improved app, though admittedly a watered-down sports selection that was confined to mobile devices, we reckon it’s about time Showmax received its dues.

“As a lifelong football fanatic, I can’t tell you how excited I am for the return of the greatest football league in the world. Pricing is something that all businesses have to review regularly, and we launched with attractive pricing on the new Showmax platform. We are thrilled that we’ve been able to keep Showmax Premier League and bundled Showmax plans unchanged, bringing all 380 Premier League matches to millions of football fans in Africa and continuing to focus on making streaming affordable and effortless,” says Showmax CEO Marc Jury in a statement.