This Summer, we saw PlayStation relaunch PlayStation Plus as a multi-tiered service, while also merging it with their game streaming subscription PlayStation Now. The result of that change seems to have been a negative for Sony, because the latest financial report for the company shows that they lost 2 million subscribers in the process. Prior to the relaunch, there were 47.3 million PS+ users, but by the end of September, that number had dropped by 4%, to 45.4 million. It was also noted that active online users on PSN dropped by about a million, though Sony hopes to recapture that audience in due time. Beyond those two stats, sales, income, and PS5 console production are on the rise all across the board for PlayStation.

The number of PlayStation Plus subscriber accounts at the end of September decreased 4% from the end of June to 45.4 million accounts. We see that this decrease results from a greater decline in user engagement among PlayStation 4 (PS4) users than expected. • On the other hand, the ratio of PS Plus subscribers among PlayStation 5 (PS5) users remains at a level significantly higher than that of PS4. We are putting even more effort into accelerating the penetration of PS5 hardware to recover this user engagement going forward.

Source

 

[nWo]

As a player that started with NES and grew up playing alone and with friends trough all the posterior consoles, to me, paying for a subscription and playing online has always looked like a complete bad and cashgrab idea. I felt very stupid paying for my internet, the console, the game!! and then the subscription to play it online.


A standard today, sadly.

 

[ldeveraux]

Just resort to piracy instead.

Or I just won't buy games or pay for their services. That'll show em