Sony Has Stopped Updating PS Plus' Subscriber Numbers 1

For the past two quarters, Sony has failed to provide an update on PS Plus’ total number of subscribers. The platform holder is not required to reveal this statistic, of course, but it’s always provided an interesting point of reference as the figure fluctuates throughout the year. Generally the service has hit a ceiling of around 50 million members, although it has managed to extract more money from existing users with the introduction of its Extra and Premium tiers.

It's particularly interesting that the organisation has stopped sharing updates as it rolls out a massive price increase, which is sure to have an impact on the number of paying members moving forwards. Subscriptions have generally hit a bit of a wall of late, with even Microsoft’s heavily publicised Xbox Game Pass service failing to find significant growth in the United States specifically. Once considered the future of the industry, that’s beginning to look unlikely right now.

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Awkwardly, the Japanese giant’s latest financial report does mention PS Plus subscribers, but only shares data for the previous fiscal year, with the previous two quarters completely absent. While we can’t imagine PS Plus is failing, the platform holder tends to conceal information when its numbers aren’t up to snuff, as observed during the PS Vita era, for example, when it combined the handheld’s sales numbers with PS4 to help shield them.

Back in August, the manufacturer said it’ll no longer share the numbers, but it’ll be interesting to see if it ever changes its stance. The company didn’t cite a reason for its decision, and instead implied it’s focused on improving the service primarily. In all likelihood, it’s probably hoping to avoid unfavourable comparisons with rivals, and the negative headlines that come associated with fluctuations in the total number of paying members.

[source sony.com]