While PlayStation Plus has been around significantly longer than Game Pass, each is still the other’s main rival. Like Game Pass, Sony’s service is a paid subscription that offers customers a selection of free games every month. It also gives subscribers early access to upcoming PlayStation titles and discounts on regular purchases from the PlayStation Store.
However, PlayStation Plus might be having a bit of trouble. According to a recent report, Sony is struggling to retain PS Plus subscribers, with memberships falling noticeably over the last several months. However, Sony executives claim to be unconcerned by the report.
According to the latest financial report from PlayStation 5 manufacturer Sony, PS Plus lost about 600,000 subscribers between December 2021 and March 2022. While that may not seem like a lot compared to PS Plus’s 47.4 million remaining subscribers, it’s still a noticeable dip in the number of members. This is also reportedly only the second time PS Plus saw a membership drop in the last eight years. In addition, the service also saw a decline in active users, defined as the expected total number of unique accounts that played games or logged in to the PlayStation network. Reportedly Sony has lost about 5.9 million active users since March 2020.
So, while PlayStation plus is hardly going through a crisis, the dip is still significant. Still, PlayStation CFO Hikori Totoki seemed unconcerned when he recently spoke to a reporter from the news website Toisthe. According to Totoki, while demand has declined since 2020, PS Plus has seen high levels of engagement from the remaining subscribers. He also expressed the opinion that the service will recoup its subscribers over time, describing the dip as a “transient issue.” He is also optimistic that PS Plus can maintain its high levels of engagement.
Furthermore, Totoki added that Sony expects an uptick in users following the subscription service’s planned redesign. Sony announced the PS Plus redesign in March, though rumors go back a good way. It’s also switching to a three-tiered model, with Essential, Extra, and Premium tiers. Sony plans to introduce the changes this summer, and hopefully, it will be better received than Sony’s redesigned PlayStation Store in 2020.
In the meantime, PlayStation Plus still has plenty to offer its members. Next month’s games include titles such as Hood: Outlaws and Legends and Slay the Spire. It’s also not too late to claim the hit JRPG Persona 5 before it leaves the PS Plus Collection tomorrow. Subscribers can also grab FIFA 22, Tribes of Midgard, and Curse of the Dead Gods as their free games for May.
Source: Toisthe