Sony had it all figured out: armed with its revamped PlayStation Plus, it had to finally beat rival Xbox Game Pass to the punch. The reality, by the way, is that the Japanese company is embarrassingly going down in that battle.
Whatever Sony had in mind with the revamped PlayStation Plus, the chances of it going as expected seem extremely slim to WANT editor Mark Hofman.
PlayStation Plus vs. Xbox Game Pass: downright embarrassing
As a kid, I desperately wanted to be as cool as my friends. Friends who could wheelie like crazy on their hip mountain bikes. So I decided to do it too. Gear up, weight back and let’s go. Only problem is that during my valiant attempt I lost my front wheel. The landing was painful.
It’s exactly what Sony is currently experiencing with PlayStation Plus. The Japanese company saw the success of Xbox Game Pass and already tried to match it with PlayStation Now. After little success, it threw its subscription service into turmoil and the bitter battle had to begin.
Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales (Image: Sony)
What Sony could not have imagined, however, is that the opposite would happen. Since the revamped PlayStation Plus, the position of the Xbox Game Pass has become stronger and stronger. The position of PS Plus? Not so much…
Goodbye, 1.9 million users!
Since the launch of the revamped PlayStation Plus, Sony has been losing active users. So while the new service was supposed to ensure a great success, this seems to be anything but the case. Between July and September, PS Plus lost 1.9 million gamers.
Although sales were up 10%, figures like these are striking. Especially considering Sony wanted to re-ignite the battle with Xbox Game Pass with the new setup. Currently, PlayStation Plus has 45.4 million subscribers left, but not all subscribers use the game library.
“The momentum is not great” is how Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki responds.
Xbox Game Pass (Image: Microsoft)
What about Xbox Game Pass?
With over 45 million subscribers, PlayStation Plus still has a strong position within the market. At least, so it seems. One compares PlayStation Plus’s numbers almost directly to those of Microsoft’s gaming service before the battle with Xbox Game Pass.
Only problem, however, is that PlayStation Plus is also required for playing online games and does not provide direct access to the game library. So there is another service from Microsoft that needs to be factored in.
Xbox Game Pass had a whopping 25 million active users in January this year. Figures that are impressive, but not quite close to PlayStation Plus. By the way, take into account Xbox Live Gold, the service that simply allows players to play online, Microsoft is dominant. Early last year, it was revealed that the service had 100 million subscribers.
The revamped PlayStation Plus
PlayStation Plus went through a shake-up, which caused quite a bit of confusion among gamers. Something also clearly reflected in the loss of users.
In fact, Sony now offers consumers three different variants of PS Plus. They are the following:
Essential | Online / monthly games / Exclusive discounts and content / PlayStation Plus collection | 8.99 euros per month / 59.99 euros per year
Additional | Same as Essential + Game Catalog and Ubisoft+ Games |. 13.99 euros per month / 99.99 euros per year
Premium | Same as Extra + Catalog of classics, Trial versions of games + cloud streaming | 16.99 euros per month / 119.99 euros per year
For more information, check the PlayStation website.
