PS Plus subscriber numbers have slightly dipped, but Sony isn’t worried. The gaming boom that coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed as restrictions have lifted, and the company is taking a realistic look at the numbers. So, even though there’s been a decline in users, it’s seen net growth over the last few years.
PS Plus subscriber decline is nothing to worry about
FY2021 financial results for the company reported that PS Plus had 47.4 million subscribers as of March 2022, which is down 0.6 million from the previous quarter ending in December 2021 and by 0.2 million year-on-year. This comes alongside a decline in monthly active users with 106 million in March 2022, which is 5 million less than in December 2022 and 3 million less year-on-year.
Sony has also seen a slight dip in Monthly Active Users. Q3 FY2021 saw an average of 111 million users, while in Q4, that number declined to 106 million users. However, this looks like a normal fluctuation when looking at the numbers over time.
VGC reported that CFO Hikori Totoki stated:
The stay-at-home demand was a temporary factor, but after it subsided, it seems to me that the high levels of engagement has been maintained. So on a mid-term basis, I don’t see much concern on PS Plus. I am sure that the high level of engagement will continue. That’s a positive take that I have.
We will start the renewal [of PS Plus] from June onwards in a staged manner and we would like it to stably grow and be supported by users. I would like you to have great expectations for this together with me.
It’s good to see that Sony isn’t entering panic mode because of a slight drop in PS Plus and overall users. The gaming market saw a massive burst of popularity thanks to the pandemic, and we’d hate for companies to project future success based on a (hopefully) one-off occurrence.
In other news, new PS3 and PS Vita firmware updates disabled PSN account creation, and a Duke Nukem Forever build from 2001 has leaked.
