Sony’s June relaunch of the game streaming service with a complete overhaul has resulted in a loss of 2 million PlayStation Plus users. The number of PS Plus subscribers dropped from 47.3 million to 45.4 million.
Moreover, the most recent earnings were reported by Sony provided on Tuesday. This was analysed in the quarter ending September 30, 2022.
What are the sales figures mentioned by Sony’s Team?
An updated version of PS Plus was released by Sony earlier this year, making the online service more comparable to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass. Many games are available on the platform. Moreover, it includes classics you would not have thought to look for. Sony has not yet seen any benefits from the redesign.
The company claims that PlayStation Network has the fewest MAUs (monthly active users) since 2020, at 102 million. That’s down from 104 million in the same period a year ago and 103 million in the first quarter.
Why was there a decline in membership?
The decline in PS Plus membership has multiple causes, according to Sony’s CFO Hiroki Totoki, who spoke with VGC. It’s the fault of Sony’s marketing department, he says, that the redesigned PlayStation Plus.
Moreover, its tiered pricing options for subscribers haven’t been more successful. He said people aren’t using the new and enhanced service. As they want to get out of the house, this may also be a reason.
There hasn’t been a lot of forward movement. However, they renewed the services in the second quarter. Another factor is that they didn’t do any significant advertising during the second quarter,” Totoki explained. “People spend more time outside, but we haven’t broken the bad cycles yet.”
Sony said a “greater reduction in user engagement among PlayStation 4 (PS4) users than planned” contributed to the decrease in PS Plus subscriber numbers. Additionally, Totoki reported a decline in PS4 and third-party game sales.
Sony, meanwhile, has sold a whopping 25 million PS5s. At the same time last year, when users still had problems obtaining the console due to supply chain shortages brought on by the epidemic, it managed to sell 3.3 million systems in July and September.
Why did subscriptions fall after releasing of a new game?
Sony revealed its latest subscriber projections on Tuesday as part of its FY2022 Q2 financial results, which covered the first full quarter after the company debuted the updated PS Plus.
For the third consecutive quarter, PS Plus subscriptions fell despite the update. For the three months ending September 30, 2022, the overall number of subscribers was 45.41 million. However, it went down from 47.3 million in the preceding quarter.
PlayStation Network MAUs dropped to 102 million during the quarter from 104 million a year ago and 103 million in the preceding quarter.
This is Sony’s lowest monthly active user count since the company began providing this information in early 2020.
