More people than ever are using the PlayStation Network, with monthly active users topping 90 million in November 2018 according to Sony. This means that almost 100 million accounts connected to the PSN at the tail-end of last year, and while the figure is bloated by multiple users from the same console or duplicates for different regions, it’s still a phenomenal number.
With pricey PlayStation Plus subscriptions and the increasing prominence of the PlayStation Store, the Japanese giant is making fistfuls of cash from its digital services these days. This means that monthly active users are almost as important as console sales to the company right now, and with the figures actually increasing year-over-year, it can rest easy that it’s both attracting new consumers and retaining old ones.
[source venturebeat.com]
Comments 12
The best gaming network in the world.
@Shepherd_Tallon spot on mate. Many billions a year in guaranteed revenue from PS Plus alone.
How many outages does PSN get per year? I think it's descended in recent times but there are still a few occasions when I know my internet is fine but nothing online works at all. It's funny how bare the PS4 UI looks when it doesn't have a connection.
Wow, and why would they want to share this user base with anyone else that's huge numbers
I'm waiting to hear what changes they make, if any, once the PS3 and Vita games are stopped. Will they add an extra PS4 item? A movie rental?
You can bet there'll be no end of whining - probably even justified - about decreased value if nothing else changes.
@TalentedGamer have you changed any of your router or network setting by logging into the IP address on a web browser on PC?
I once inadvertently turned off the WiFi in these settings and disabled all access for the whole family. Amazingly they survived a whole day without it whilst I was at work.
Other than that could need a router reset, but I would suggest googling it.
I’m personally getting lots of value from PS Plus. I bought the £30 for 15 months offer during Amazon Prime Day last year and have stacked them so I’m covered up until 2021.
The free games have been a huge benefit to me and my son. We have both gotten many hours from the freebies we keep getting. I’m liking that they have given some good kid friendly games alongside more grown up ones.
I’m hoping they give an extra benefit, but also feel like they might know the stats are low for PS3 and can try justify it. But that would seem like we are getting less for more.
I’m thinking in future Sony will merge the PS Plus and PS Now a bit more. Subscription based gaming will probably be the way forward with PS5.
Just hope they don’t do a Nintendo and take forever to reveal their future online plans.
@Shepherd_Tallon the article talks about number of PSN users, NOT number of PS+ users
Isn't that more than Steam? I believe I've read that Steam has 80m active monthly users.
Possibly being overly optimistic here, but... if Sony holds true to their commitment to single-player experiences and quality content, doesn't make any big errors transitioning to PS5, and continues to improve their services, we may be entering a new golden era of gaming.
Let's just hope the market can fend off the dystopian digital-only future all the usual suspects (read: greedy, anti-consumer publishers) seem to be clamoring for.
@zekepliskin only one real outage since the christmas fiasco that hit the ps4 and other networks a few years ago. Im happy with that.
Had to add a PSN account for my son so we could play Portal Knights together. Didn't seem to be a 'just play it local' co-op mode?
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