PlayStation Plus loses 1.9 million subscribers, 55% of players don't subscribe

PlayStation Plus loses nearly 2 million subscribers during a critical expansion point for the popular subscription service.

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Back in June, Sony combined PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus together in a value-oriented mega service. The new PlayStation Plus has three tiers, Essential, Extra, and Premium, all of which offer distinct advantages--Premium, for example, is quite expensive at $119 per year but will eventually offer access to over 700 games across six generations of PlayStation consoles.

Unfortunately for Sony, the PlayStation Plus revamp has not gained traction. Instead of gaining new subscribers, Sony actually lost 1.9 million users in the quarterly period shortly after the new service launch. This represents the largest subscriber loss since 2018. PlayStation Plus subscribers went from 47.3 million at the end of June to 45.4 million subscribers at the end of September. PS Plus subscribers have reverted to pre-pandemic levels and are currently the lowest they have been since Q4 2019.

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This loss may signify a few things for Sony, but the most interesting trend is that it did not gain multiple millions of subscribers from the combination of PlayStation Now, which had 3.2 million subscribers as of March 2021. This is a curious development that could mean that Sony did not count PS members as PS Plus members.

But if it did, then PlayStation Plus could have lost far more than just 1.9 million subscribers.

There's a few other signals too. One is that PlayStation Plus is facing steeper competition as Xbox Game Pass subscriptions grow (primarily on PC, which is up 159%). Two is that the new service needs some adjustments and gamers may not be satisfied with the three-tiered model.

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We've talked about PlayStation Plus' skewed pricing scheme and how it offers significant discounts to users who pay on an annual basis (Essential is 50% cheaper annually than monthly, and both Extra and Premium are 44% cheaper annually than monthly), and it's possible this pricing has deterred users.

The biggest reason that PS Plus subscribers are down, though, is probably due to the inflation market. Sony already chargers $69.99 per PlayStation 5 game and recently raised the price of its PS5 console in every region except for the United States. That's a lot of pressure on consumers, who are being forced to cut costs wherever possible.

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It's worth remembering that PlayStation monthly active users (MAUs) are also down to their lowest point in the last 3 years. This has affected everything from microtransaction and game spending to full game purchases and subscription adoption.

Based on the numbers, we can see that 55% of total PlayStation users still are not subscribed to PlayStation Plus.

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If Sony wants to not gain new subscribers and keep the ones it has, then it should think about adding new value to PlayStation Plus in creative ways. Here are some ideas.