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[FunkMiller]

Sony really haven’t been all that great at corporate messaging or providing value to players recently, so this isn’t a surprise.

 

[Zekra Dezivad]

It's very good honestly. If they menage to stop there with the post pandemic down and bring more people to higher priced tiers it would be huge

 

[Guilty_AI]

Sony really haven’t been all that great at corporate messaging or providing value to players recently, so this isn’t a surprise.

They've been pretty good at making money tho, their revenue is even up.

 

[Magic Carpet]

PS5 pro will keep people defecting to PC.
Right?

 

[Moses85]

PS Plus is shit.

My membership will end in March 23 and I will not come back

 

[Calling 911 Melts Beams]

im going to round up to 6 million so it sounds more dramatic

 

[BennyBlanco]

People are gonna start cutting back on things they don’t really need.

 

[Aenima]

I've seen this sentiment across GAF and other sites a lot. People seemingly don't want to keep subscribed to PS+ long term. If Sony wants to make their sub service a core part of their services, they need to seriously look at either start giving day 1 games, or make it like 1~3 month or something instead of a full year's delay.

They just need to make discount deals. Since the relaunch the PS+ subscription hasent got a single discount deal. I only resub when they make deals.

 

[Fredrik]

Yeah I likely won’t resubscribe when my prepayment ends in 2024. The delayed game catalogue release strategy is messing it all up for me, it only work if you’re a notorious LTTP gamer.
The reality is that within a year no new 1st party games they upload will matter because I will have already played them all.

It was great at launch though. I got to play Returnal and Miles Morales among other big AAA Sony games.

But now it’s just about being cheap and stubbornly wait and then the service isn’t appealing anymore.

 

[The_Mike]

Wow. Loosing nearly 2 million subs especially after a relaunch is insane..

Not if you saw the new tiers price and what they give.

I guess everyone but Sony could see it.

 

[FoxMcChief]

I’m one of them.

 

[onnextflix5]

They need get ps5s out in wild, promote ps plus extra, most still have not heard of it, get more YouTubers and influencers to do vids on it, free trials is a must,

Stop releasing pc ports,
For fucks sake, u want PlayStation fans to stay loyal, do the same,

Release more day one games, like stray, why they did not release last of us part 1 day 1 or ps plus extra is beyond me,

Better games!!!

 

[Interfectum]

Subscription services don't work well with gaming. Neither does streaming. But they'll keep pushing both.

 

[K2D]

Subscription isn't a good value to me - I would have to be unemployed or full time streamer for it to make sense to me. I'll happily shell out if there's a game I want.

 

[GHG]

Yeah I likely won’t resubscribe when my prepayment ends in 2024. The delayed game catalogue release strategy is messing it all up for me, it only work if you’re a notorious LTTP gamer.
The reality is that within a year no new 1st party games they upload will matter because I will have already played them all.

It was great at launch though. I got to play Returnal and Miles Morales among other big AAA Sony games.

But now it’s just about being cheap and stubbornly wait and then the service isn’t appealing anymore.

Couple of things:

• As long as people are actually purchasing games (which they are, especially so with the larger titles as proven by recent COD and GoW numbers) then they have no incentive to change the structure and staggered approach. If anything what's happening is reinforcing their strategy as being the correct one.
• ARPU for PS Plus is up. Again, an indication that the current structure is working for them. They don't want everyone to be subscribed to anything beyond PS Plus essential.

 

[8BiTw0LF]

I've had GamePass for over 3 years and PS+ Extra for a couple of months and I will probably not re-sub to any of them again.

I have a huge backlog and 90% of the games on these services are not for me, so I'd rather buy the games I'm into than renting stuff I'm not using.

 

[akaFullmetal]

Two million isn't too bad when they've made up those losses with higher paid tiers. However Sony needs to do better with premium tier, drip feeding classic games won't do it.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Of course revenue is up, they just introduced 2 higher priced tiers. This isn't surprising at all.

With that being said, I guess you can also ask the question, what's more surprising?
A post-covid 4% drop in subscribers or a 21% increase in revenue post PS Plus reboot?

 

[phil_t98]

I mean obviously there's nothing impressive about it. They've hit their roadblock as far as subscriber growth goes and that's been obvious since 2021. The focus now is retention and increasing RPU

just be interesting to know which area it is, if its PSnow or PS+ that has lost them when they merged the service

 

[TheGodfather07]

Been a bad week for game subscriptions huh? First Phil Spencer downplays it, and now sony have lost subscribers even after revamping and including a big library of games. Are there still people who think sony will ever launch their games on plus?

 

[DaGwaphics]

Wow. Loosing nearly 2 million subs especially after a relaunch is insane..

It's really to be expected given the time we are at in the current-gen. It's normal for players to begin to disengage from the last-gen machines even before they've upgraded to current-gen systems. Spending on games and services sinks through the floor on the old platforms.

We probably won't have a huge thread over these losses, we reserve those for the services that grow by nearly 30%.

 

[Neo_game]

It is nice they are giving numbers. I wonder what is the split between consoles. If PS5 is 15 out of 25million consoles. That means PS4 still has 30million users. The expensive tier would definitely be the PS5 users.

 

[FunkMiller]

They've been pretty good at making money tho, their revenue is even up.

True, but that's not likely to continue if they don't ensure they're seen to be providing value for money to their customers.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Subscription services no the Balck Hole (gravitation Force) some people are expecting to be?

 

[Bo_Hazem]

4% drop in subscribers and 21% increase in revenue....... interesting.

That's what shill media don't wanna cover to please their payers.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

PS5 pro will keep people defecting to PC.
Right?

In all fairness Sony themselves (Andrew House) said they saw statics that about mid console cycle people started leaving Playstation and moving to PC and thats what the PS4 Pro was designed to try and stop

We recently had the huge crypto crash and a flood of used video cards at good prices hit the market not to mention a whole new video card

The flip side of Sony saying they want to stop people migrating to PC then they should have never started PC porting as I am one of those who stopped getting any Plyatstation to wait out PC ports

 

[DeepEnigma]

True, but that's not likely to continue if they don't ensure they're seen to be providing value for money to their customers.

Meanwhile, GoWR will drop and the revenue will continue to grow. Then Spider-Man 2, other deals they have in place, etc, etc..

But did you read in between the lines? Their sub service revenue is UP.

 

[jm89]

True, but that's not likely to continue if they don't ensure they're seen to be providing value for money to their customers.

They are though, they've given consumers quality exclusives games.

 

[Fredrik]

Couple of things:

• As long as people are actually purchasing games (which they are, especially so with the larger titles as proven by recent COD and GoW numbers) then they have no incentive to change the structure and staggered approach. If anything what's happening is reinforcing their strategy as being the correct one.
• ARPU for PS Plus is up. Again, an indication that the current structure is working for them. They don't want everyone to be subscribed to anything beyond PS Plus essential.

People purchase games because there is no alternative. Unless you’re okay with waiting and playing in a year or two. With rare exceptions like Stray.

For me the delays take away the value from the service. With every 1st party game I buy because I don’t like waiting one reason to keep subscribing goes away, eventually I’ll just subscribe for 3rd party games and then there is no reason imo.

 

[RoadHazard]

I don't see any proof of causation, if that's what's being implied. The old tier is still the same, and still costs the same, so it wouldn't make sense that people would unsubscribe BECAUSE OF the new tiers. So it's just natural variations I would guess.

More interesting data would be how many of those who are still subscribed (which is most) have upgraded to a higher tier.

 

[Goalus]

But did you read in between the lines? Their sub service revenue is UP.

Thanks to the weak JPY, yes.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Thanks to the weak JPY, yes.

Currency is weak in every country.

 

[marjo]

With that being said, I guess you can also ask the question, what's more surprising?
A post-covid 4% drop in subscribers or a 21% increase in revenue post PS Plus reboot?

Considering their main competition was able to grow their subscription service in the same period, I'd say the 4% drop is more surprising.

 

[Shubh_C63]

Losing subscribers even when revenue is up is bizzare. Maybe they lost casuals but dug deep on long lasting customers.

Either way, nothing compares to GP.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Considering their main competition was able to grow their subscription service in the same period, I'd say the 4% drop is more surprising.

Is the main competition increasing prices?

 

[marjo]

Is the main competition increasing prices?

Did the price of ps+ essentials go up? Not a gotcha question, I honestly don't know.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

I don't see any proof of causation, if that's what's being implied. The old tier is still the same, and still costs the same, so it wouldn't make sense that people would unsubscribe BECAUSE OF the new tiers. So it's just natural variations I would guess.

More interesting data would be how many of those who are still subscribed (which is most) have upgraded to a higher tier.

People getting hit the hardest by inflation cutting a subscription service AND those who stayed subscribed and jumped on the highest paid tier increasing revenue can both be true though

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

I see some people doing the spin.

But this is just weird. Losing 2M people is insane. I dont think this is ideal at all. I mean, Netflix was freaking out for 200.000

 

[DeepEnigma]

I see some people doing the spin.

But this is just weird. Losing 2M people is insane. I dont think this is ideal at all. I mean, Netflix was freaking out for 200.000

Does Netflix have game sales and MTX to fall back on? Netflix's only model is subscriptions, that is why they freaked out. Yet, they still raised the prices as well, even with the loss.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Did the price of ps+ essentials go up? Not a gotcha question, I honestly don't know.

No.

 

[Games of Today]

I'm not surprised Playstation was never set up to have a subscription based multiplayer service. I wish it would go back to being free. That would really fuck with Xbox. I guess they were basically forced to go to a subscription model in order to be able to afford their AAA games.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

I see some people doing the spin.

But this is just weird. Losing 2M people is insane. I dont think this is ideal at all. I mean, Netflix was freaking out for 200.000

Sony saw this drop during other consoles and admitted they saw the stats so not sure why it would surprise people it happened again

 

[Duchess]

I'd like a Tightwad tier, where I get online save backups, and a (shit) free game each month, for £1.99

 

[DaGwaphics]

I see some people doing the spin.

But this is just weird. Losing 2M people is insane. I dont think this is ideal at all. I mean, Netflix was freaking out for 200.000

They are likely just shedding some PS4 users. I'm sure this was a factor that slowed GP growth on console as well.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Does Netflix have game sales and MTX to fall back on?

No. But that is not he point I am making. The point is about losing this amount of subscribers (regardless of how people interact with your ecosystems).

Netflix's only model is subscriptions, that is why they freaked out. Yet, they still raised the prices as well, even with the loss.

I am bringing Netflix because they have like 200M subscribers right?

So 200,000 of 200M ain't that big.

2M of 60M is a huge.

 

[DeepEnigma]

No. But that is not he point I am making. The point is about losing this amount of subscribers (regardless of how people interact with your ecosystems).


I am bringing Netflix because they have like 200M subscribers right?

So 200,000 of 200M ain't that big.

2M of 60M is a huge.

They said why. They anticipated it as well, it was not a shock to them.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Sony saw this drop during other consoles and admitted they saw the stats so not sure why it would surprise people it happened again

I think it is because of the introduction of new tiers and "day one" games. (Even if not explicit) in other words: more exciting content because it's new = people would feel more enticed to subscribe.

 

[Ceadeus]

Me included, I'm tired of paying to occasionally playing online. Waste of money

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

They said why. They anticipated it as well, it was not a shock to them.

People are reading too much into it.

It happens Sony knew it would happen it’s part of the life cycle.

Sony isn’t concerned and they have to be thrilled revenue is up.

Its a big nothing burger but have those concerned citizens

 

[vaibhavpisal]

I guess they were basically forced to go to a subscription model in order to be able to afford their AAA games.

Their AAA games are not that expensive.

These services generate revenue in billions.