The PlayStation Plus relaunch did not go smoothly.
Sony recently relaunched PlayStation Plus into three separate tiers with different prices and features. It combines the old PlayStation Plus with PlayStation Now game streaming. The relaunch has not gone as planned with the number of PlayStation Plus subscribers declining.
Frustrated customers responded to the confusing new structure by dropping their subscriptions. In fact, Sony lost 1.9 million subscribers in the three months between July and September 2022. This has led Sony’s CFO, Hiroki Totoki, to note that there “hasn’t been great momentum” for the service.
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VGC reports:
Despite the revamp, PS Plus subs declined for the third quarter in a row. The total number of subscribers stood at 45.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2022, down from 47.3 million in the previous quarter.
PlayStation Network monthly active users (MAUs) were also down during the three-month period at 102 million, a decline from 104 million a year earlier and 103 million in the previous quarter. This appears to be Sony’s lowest MAUs figure since it began reporting this data in early 2020.
PlayStation Plus subscribers vs Xbox Game Pass subscribers
To be sure, the PlayStation Plus subscription numbers are still quite good compared to the closest competition. Earlier this year, Microsoft reported that Xbox Game Pass has 25 million subscribers, although it is at least trending in the right direction. Xbox Game Pass had 18 million subscribers in the previous year, so that’s healthy year-over-year growth.
Now that the services are comparable to each other in features, we’ll see if Microsoft can maintain its momentum and whether Sony can turn around the fortunes of the new PlayStation Plus.
