New stats from Sony reveal that it has managed to increase the percentage of PS Plus subscribers that are signed up to the two most expensive tiers of the service. Its data claims that 19% are subscribed to the top tier, PS Plus Premium, and 16% are on the PS Plus Extra tier (up from 17% and 13%, respectively). While it appears that Sony is doing a good job at converting PS4 and PS5 players to these pricier plans, it continues to hold back the one stat we really want to see: the total number of subscribers.
The new data comes from Sony’s Business Segment Meeting, which provides updates on the health of its various ventures. Its PlayStation briefing includes plenty of encouraging stats around console sales and player engagement, but the way in which it’s reporting its PS Plus stats has really caught our eye. Overall, 35% of subscribers are getting access to some of the best PS5 games on the enormous PS Plus games list (and various other benefits too) through the Extra and Premium tiers, and that’s a pretty decent split.
However, we have no idea if that actually constitutes an overall increase in the number of subscribers to these tiers, as Sony continues to refuse to reveal how many total subscribers the service has. While it used to give fairly regular updates on this, it stopped including those figures last year.
While Sony’s new update shows that the split has improved, that doesn’t necessarily mean more people are forking out for those tiers now than in previous years. Unless actual subscriber counts start getting reported again, we’ll never know.
The last time we got this kind of insight was in an update last May, which revealed that the total number of PS Plus subscribers across all tiers was 47.4 million, with 8 million subbed to Premium and 6.1 million subbed to Extra.
It’s no secret that PS Plus has flatlined when it comes to growing its subscriber base – the number has floated between 45 and 48 million for almost four years at this point. Sony’s decision to stop reporting these numbers suggests that it’s still failing to break past this ceiling, or worse, subscriber counts are actually dropping. Even if that is the case, it’s somewhat encouraging to see a higher split of subscribers on those higher tiers, as it shows the effort Sony has put into improving its offerings is either converting Essential subscribers or retaining more Extra and Premium subscribers.
In recent months, PS Plus has been providing very good value. While it can’t keep up with Xbox Game Pass when it comes to the number of day-one games hitting its library, it has still managed to get the likes of Animal Well and Tales of Kenzera: ZAU on the service straight out the gate. Blockbusters like Red Dead Redemption 2 have also returned, and you can even find top PS5 exclusives such as Horizon Forbidden West on there too. The Premium tier’s bonus Classics Catalog continues to grow as well – just this week, Sony revealed three iconic PS2 games would be joining the party as part of a special drop during the Days of Play event.
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