PlayStation owners who subscribe to the PlayStation Plus subscription service gain several perks, but the biggest is the ability to claim a new selection of free games every month. It appears that this chance for players to get their hands on free PlayStation games has become so popular in recent years that PlayStation Plus is currently seeing an incredible number of subscribers.

Although PS Plus subscriber numbers dropped in the recent past, possibly because of PS Plus' conflict with other free games subscription programs, they rebounded from July to September of 2021. Now, Sony has reached a total of 47.2 million active members, with the massive milestone of 50 million subscribers fast approaching.

This isn't the highest number of PS Plus subscribers that Sony has ever seen--in the past, the service has gotten up to 47.6 million subscribers, a number reached in January through March of 2021--but it's still a very impressive height, especially considering that PlayStation has multiple subscription services available. This split in focus hasn't kept PS Plus from racking up enough subscribers that it's nearly crossed a truly impressive milestone. However, it's unclear when or if the number of PS Plus subscribers will reach 50 million, particularly given the unpredictable influence of the pandemic.



Depending on what happens with the COVID-19 situation, millions of gamers could be stuck inside for another year--a fact which appears to have led to a significant increase in PS Plus subscribers. The January through March period of 2020 saw PS Plus set a record at 45.9 million members, and the numbers have sharply increased from there. However, these numbers can't keep growing indefinitely, and it's likely that the increase will eventually level out. The question is whether or not the numbers will stop growing before the 50 million subscriber milestone is reached.

Several major multiplayer titles are expected to come out in the near future, including Activision's Call of Duty: Vanguard, a game confirmed to have exclusive PlayStation content, and EA's Battlefield 2042. Both titles require PS Plus subscriptions for their online multiplayer and both are expected to launch in time for the winter holidays, which could bring Sony to record-setting subscription numbers. However, PS Now and Nintendo Switch Online's Expansion Pass may provide some competition to PS Plus, and if the pandemic safeguards are lightened in more areas, it's also possible that more gamers will end up canceling their subscriptions in favor of doing other things.



Posted: Nov 01, 2021 7:00 pm
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: https://gamerant.com/ps-plus-subscribers-count-50-million/