PlayStation [6,448 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/playstation/”>Playstation Plus subscribers have dropped nearly 2 million users since the revamped service launched in June.
This is according to Sony Interactive Entertainment [2,624 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/sony/”>Sony’s latest subscriber estimates, which were released Tuesday as part of its second quarter fiscal 2022 financial results – the first full quarter since the launch of the revamped PS Plus.
Despite the revamp, PS Plus undersubscriptions declined for the third consecutive quarter. Total subscribers were 45.4 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2022, compared to 47.3 million in the prior quarter.
PlayStation Network monthly active users (MAUs) also fell in the three-month period to 102 million, from 104 million a year earlier and 103 million in the previous quarter. This appears to be Sony’s lowest MAU figure since it started reporting this data in early 2020.
God of War Ragnarok – PlayStation Showcase Video
However, despite the drop in subscriber numbers, Sony’s network services revenue – which encompasses PS Plus and advertising – actually increased by 10%, from 106 billion yen to 116 billion yen.
This means Sony’s games division is making more money per subscriber than before, potentially reflecting the adoption of the more expensive subscription tiers introduced by PS Plus.
Asked about the drop in an earnings call on Tuesday (transcribed by VGC), Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki blamed the decline of third-party gaming and the PlayStation 4 [5,584 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/playstation/ps4/”>Playstation 4 sales and “more people are going outside”.
The exec said he expects subscriber numbers to recover in the company’s next quarter, in part due to the impact of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. [104 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/call-of-duty/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2/”>Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and God of War Ragnarok [80 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/god-of-war-series/god-of-war-ragnarok/”>God of War Ragnarök.
“There has been a drop in PlayStation Plus membership,” he said. “However, in the second quarter, we renewed our services and there was not a great momentum overall. Also, we did not make aggressive promotions in the second quarter.
“So going forward we’re going to have more penetration on PS5 and we’re going to have some really good titles. Also, we’re able to do better promotions and we think we’re able to recover.
He added in a response to another investor about the PS Plus numbers: “More people are going outdoors now, and we still have to come out of the negative cycles. Sales of PS4 and third-party software were also rather slow, and sales of catalog titles also declined.
“On the other hand, PS5 engagement is quite high, so in Q3 we expect some recovery. We have strong first-party titles and we have seasonal effects. So in Q3 we can see some recovery from the downtrend – that’s what we expect.”
Update
Sony released an additional statement on the drop in PS Plus subscribers, saying it was influenced by “a larger than expected drop in user engagement among PlayStation 4 (PS4) users.”
“The number of PlayStation Plus subscriber accounts at the end of September fell 4% from the end of June to 45.4 million accounts. PlayStation 4 (PS4) users.
“On the other hand, the ratio of PS Plus subscribers among PlayStation 5 [3,877 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/playstation/ps5/”>Playstation 5 (PS5) users remain at a significantly higher level than PS4. We are working even harder to accelerate the penetration of PS5 hardware to recover this user engagement in the future.
On big third-party releases, Sony referenced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and said it had “a good release”, so “for Q3 we have very high expectations”.
Sony last week claims Call of Duty: Modern Warfare [518 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/call-of-duty/call-of-duty-modern-warfare/”>Modern Warfare 2 was the biggest PlayStation Store launch ever for a game Call of Duty, including pre-orders and day one sales.
The revamped PlayStation Plus service launched in June with the addition of Premium Tiers, which added a library of hundreds of modern and classic games.
Sony previously attributed the drop in user and subscriber numbers to the boost provided by stay-at-home restrictions during the pandemic. Compared to the pre-pandemic period (Q3 FY19), PS Plus subscribers increased by over 6 million.
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