Sony raised PlayStation Plus prices back in September when it revealed the PS Plus Essential games line-up. The users who had to pay extra for their annual subscription didn’t take this well. The PlayStation Plus subscription gives players access to new games every month and classic games from even the first PlayStation.
PS Plus was introduced in 2010 and later in 2022, Sony updated it into a three-tier service, Essential, Extra, and Premium, allowing players to choose as per their wishes and needs. These include online multiplayer, monthly games, cloud streaming, and more. It has now been reported that Sony has stopped updating subscriber numbers after the latest price hike.
Sony Stops Updating PS Plus Subscriber Numbers
According to a report by Push Square, Sony had not updated the PS Plus subscriber numbers for the past two months. Even in its latest earnings call, Sony only shared the data from the last fiscal year on PlayStation Plus, when the subscription service hit 50 million subscribers. Sony is under no obligation legally to share the subscriber numbers but it is seen as a standard practice to see how well a service is doing.
This move from Sony to not update the subscriber numbers is seen as a result of its latest significant price increase that must have had the users canceling their subscriptions. The new prices were rolled out in September and the prices of annual subscriptions went up. PlayStation Plus Essential price went from $59.99 to $79.99, PS Plus Extra went to $134.99 from $99.99, and PlayStation Plus Premium tier saw a price increase of $40, taking it to $159.99.
This isn’t the first instance that PlayStation is hiding numbers as it had something similar with the PS Vita by sharing the numbers of PlayStation 4 and PS Vita sales combined. It is also common for platforms to keep such things secret to avoid any losses or damage. PS Plus price hike did not go down well with the users when it was introduced and many had hinted at canceling their subscription. This is likely the cause that Sony is concealing the subscriber numbers.
The recent PS Plus price hike was defended by Sony when asked the reason behind it. In an interview with Barron’s, Eric Lempel, a senior executive at PlayStation talked about bringing games directly on PS Plus and also talked about the price hike.
Lempel said that it is done to adjust to the conditions in the market and this is the first PS Plus price hike after years. He also mentioned that players are very happy with the three-tiered subscription system. Lempel stated:
Like practically everything else in the world, we have to look at our pricing and we have to adjust to market conditions. We want to make PlayStation Plus great. With our reboot last year and introducing the tier system, a lot of consumers have recognized that there’s a lot of value in PlayStation 5.
I’m happy to say, that unlike a lot of other subscription services out there, we haven’t touched the PlayStation Plus pricing for 85% of the world in many years. So, this was the first time we did something there.
Sony had already announced in August 2022 that it would not share the PS Plus subscriber numbers at its earning results briefing and did not release the numbers. Sony did not give any reason behind this and only stated that it is focused on increasing the service overall. As for concealing the numbers, Sony seems to minimize the risks of losing subscribers as the latest price might have resulted in some of the users canceling their subscriptions.
Although Sony might have lost some subscribers due to the hike in prices, it is working on alternative ways to get people on board. For example, Overwatch 2 players can claim a free bundle right now and as for new free games on PS Plus this month, Aliens Fireteam Elite, Mafia II: Definitive Edition, and Dragon Ball: The Breakers are up for grabs.
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