Key conclusions
- Sony reveals PS Plus revenue grew last year.
- PS Plus revenue rose 18% year-on-year despite negative sentiment surrounding a big price hike for the service in 2023.
- The growth is driven by increased revenue per PS Plus subscriber due to price increases and increased migration to additional and premium tiers of the service.
Sony's latest earnings report bears this out PlayStation Plus making more money than ever. Even though the price of PS Plus went up significantly last year, the profitability of the subscription service did not decrease as some might have expected.
Back in 2022, Sony made a major restructuring of PlayStation Plus, dividing the subscription service into three levels – Essential, Extra and Premium. PS Plus Essential offers a monthly bundle of games, cloud storage, online play and more, basically working exactly the same as before. The pricier PS Plus Extra tier features a Netflix-style library of hundreds of PS4 and PS5 games, while the flagship Premium tier adds PS5 and PS3 cloud streaming and emulation of classics from the PS1, PS2 and PSP generations.
3:08 a.m
Relatives
PS Plus Premium Adding 5 Games November 19th
PlayStation confirms five games that will enter the Premium tier of the PlayStation Plus subscription service in November 2024.
In August 2023, Sony announced a significant price increase of 35% across all PS Plus tiers. Many subscribers criticized the price hike due to a selection of critically disliked PS Plus add-ons at the time, such as Saints Row and Zero generationand no new benefits for the service. Despite the complaints, Sony's recent Q2 FY25 earnings report showed that PS Plus revenue is up 18% year over year. The PS Plus price increase took effect on September 6, 2023, and the report covers data through September 30, 2024.
PS Plus subscribers have largely been subject to price increases in 2023
Sony cited an increase in ARPU (average revenue per user), mainly due to price increases in 2023 and an increase in PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers, as a key driver of the service's growth last year. This means that raising the price of PS Plus has done little to reduce subscriptions to the service or motivate Extra and Premium members to upgrade to the cheaper Essential tier. Since Sony has stopped updating PS Plus subscriber numbers, it's unclear how many PlayStation users are currently subscribed to the service.
PS Plus provides a stable profit base as US dollar sales increased 18% year-over-year. This is due to an increase in ARPU (average revenue per user), mainly as a result of the transition to higher service levels and the impact of price revisions.
It remains to be seen whether these results will prompt Sony to consider a future PS Plus price increase. However, given the nature of subscription services, there could be more PS Plus price hikes in the future, whether or not the latest boost to the service's bottom line has helped. Fortunately, PS Plus is gradually adding more value to subscribers, especially at the Premium level, with a new PS2 emulator and a greater focus on classic games. PS Plus Extra and Premium add-ons for November 2024. also include heavy hitters such as GTA 5, Dying light 2, Like a Dragon : Isshinand much more.
PlayStation 5
Sony's PlayStation 5 is part of the ninth generation of consoles and debuted with a launch lineup that included Demon's Souls and Astro's Playroom. The console comes with a Blu-ray disc, although a digital edition is also available for a lower price.
