In a recent PlayStation business update, Sony Interactive Entertainment president Hideaki Nishino told investors that PlayStation Plus subscribers were increasingly picking the more expensive tiers.
According to Nishino, roughly 38% of PS Plus members now subscribe to Extra and Premium. That’s despite the global price increases implemented in 2023.
“PlayStation Plus is highly valued by our players and continues to drive engagement,” Nishino explains. “We’re already seen a trend toward the option of higher tiers within our service, as evidenced by the subscriber mix we achieved in FY2024, where approximately 38% of players are now subscribed to PlayStation Plus Premium or Extra tiers.
“This is even after the global price increases we implemented in FY2023, and more recently, the local price increases in selected countries, to improve our pricing strategy across certain market clusters, and also to account for [foreign exchange] movements.”
Explaining the decision to raise prices, Nishino said that the increases were “partly a result of increasing value we bring to the players”. This includes “the quality and diversity of content we continue to add”, as well as the introduction of new features such as “player personalisation and enhanced content discovery”.
While the reasoning is debatable – especially when you look at the lack of classic games coming to Premium in recent months – more worrying were Nishino’s comments about future pricing strategies.
“The PlayStation Plus service offers great value for our players, and we will continue to add more value and adjust our pricing strategy in a dynamic way to maximise profitability,” he added.
The comments come just days after Sony announced the next batch of games joining PS Plus Extra and Premium for June 2025.
The new PlayStation Plus Extra games include FBC: Firebreak, Battlefield 2042, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help wanted 2, The Hunter: Call of the Wild, We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie, Eiyduen Chronicles: Hundred Heroes, Train Sim World 5 and Endless Dungeon.
FBC: Firebreak is a brand new release set in the same federal agency building seen in Control. The first-person shooter sees players team up to destroy hordes of enemies and complete objectives.
Elsewhere, Deus Ex joins the PlayStation Plus Premium line-up on June 17.