The revamp of Sony’s PlayStation Plus doesn’t appear to be proceeding exactly as expected. Sony’s most recent financial reports show that following its June relaunch PS Plus lost approximately 2 million subscribers in the past 3 months.
The VGC report demonstrates that despite the relaunch, PS Plus subscription statistics actually decreased, falling from 47.3 million to 45.4 million.
These are obviously still solid numbers, nearly twice that of Game Pass. However, they are below what Sony intended given just how good the subscription service had become.
The number of PS Plus subscribers who were actively using the service each month fell from 103 million to 102 million. However, users probably contributed to this in part by choosing higher tiers when they signed up, and the business’s revenue has increased by roughly 10%.
This includes both advertisement and PS Plus revenue, which increased to 116 billion (788 million Yen) from 106 billion (720 million Yen). Existing users will probably upgrade their membership tiers and increase their monthly payments to account for this.
Despite the decrease in subscribers, monthly subscription earnings have risen as a result of higher revenue per user. It has surged by 21% year over year due to new subscription tiers that are more expensive than the old PS Plus plan.
Sony Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki said on an earnings call that “overall, there hasn’t been much momentum for the revamped service.” He admitted that Sony had not actively pushed it, but anticipated that it will revive after better promotions in the future.
On the extra tier of the new tiers, a significant library of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 titles is accessible. The Premium tier, on the other hand, offers classic games and game streaming. Several fans were happy to see Sony increase the value of its membership service by offering these features.
Sony’s CFO anticipates a rebound in sales for the upcoming quarter as a result of the eagerly anticipated release of God of War Ragnarok.
