Some numbers presented in the reports for Sony’s fiscal year 2022 2nd quarter revealed some interesting results concerning the gaming giant. These reports confirm that Sony’s PS Plus subscription service has lost nearly two million subscribers in the last three months alone. This news was announced on November 1 by Sony’s CFO, Hiroki Totoki.
Totoki confirmed that the number of PS Plus subscribers dropped from 47.3 million at the end of June to 45.4 million in September 2022. This means a decrease of about 4%. It’s not entirely clear why so many players choose not to renew their PS Plus subscriptions, but some possible contributing factors were mentioned during the November 1 presentation.
The drop in subscriber count comes after Sony has largely refreshed the PS Plus. The PS Plus refresh introduced several new membership levels for the service, each increasing both price and benefits.
Not enough promotion
The launch of the new PlayStation Plus has not received enough publicity, especially regarding the differences between the PlayStation Plus Essential, Extra and Premium tiers. This may have confused players about what the new PS Plus is and the benefits of subscribing.
In addition, Sony also states that the number of subscribers has increased astronomically during the epidemic, when players who are stuck at home during the quarantine seriously need entertainment.
As the world recovers from global pandemic events and life returns to normal, people are spending less time playing video games. The one-time purchases seem to outweigh the need for a subscription service that provides a constant rotation of games in the current environment.
Rising energy prices and the epidemic
On page two of Sony’s fiscal 2022 Q2 consolidated financial results report, Totoki noted that the decline in subscriber numbers was likely driven by “higher interest rates in various countries, as well as rising energy prices and expanding inflationary pressure.”
On page eight of the report, Sony estimates that as economies struggle in the wake of the pandemic, this is causing gamers to play fewer games with the desire to spend less.
In addition, Totoki highlighted on page eight of Sony’s report that the decline in PS Plus subscribers is driven by a larger-than-expected drop in user engagement among PS4 users. On the other hand, he also says that the proportion of PS Plus subscribers among PS5 users remains at a much higher level.
The past three months have seen a significant drop in Sony’s PS Plus subscribers, but there has also been a spike in PS5’s hardware sales.
PlayStation 5 sales soar
As the proportion of PS Plus subscribers remains high among PS5 users, Sony plans to accelerate the adoption of PlayStation 5 hardware. Thus, it is hoped that having more consoles in the hands of the demographic most interested in purchasing PS Plus subscriptions will increase subscriber numbers as a whole.
The trends Sony noted on page eight of the report show that “sales of legacy library games have fallen sharply, while sales of major new games remain strong.” So, focusing on getting newer hardware to gamers can provide more opportunities to engage with the active market and increase PS Plus subscriptions.
Sony is trying to devote more resources to PS Plus advertising and promotion and improve the service, after it said it did not engage in aggressive promotions in the second quarter.
Sony hopes to “sweeten” the deal, making up for the drop in subscriber numbers, by keeping in touch with gamers about what they’ll get from the service monthly, and improving the more expensive tiers of the service.
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