PlayStation Plus Membership Soared During E3 2012

[Sarah LeBoeuf]

PlayStation Plus Membership Soared During E3 2012

The last financial quarter yieled the PSN's highest transactional sales yet.

At Sony's E3 press conference [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117645-E3-Sony-Connects-the-Dots-Between-its-Devices] in June, SCEA President Jack Tretton announced that a slew of new titles would be made available to PlayStation Plus subscribers for the low, low price of free. Just under four months later, it appears the move was a success: subscriptions to the $50 annual service "almost doubled" during the week of E3, according to Jack Buser, Senior Director of PlayStation digital platforms. The jump in memberships was helped immensely by Instant Game Collection titles inFamous 2, LittleBigPlanet 2, Just Cause 2, Ratchet & Clank All 4 One, and Gotham City Imposters, which were the five most downloaded PS+ games.

The good news continues for Sony, as the last quarter was one of the best yet for the PlayStation Network. From April to June, the PSN posted its highest "transactional sales" ever, meaning more people downloaded games from the PSN during that time than any other quarter in the PSN's six-year existence. Buser didn't elaborate on which PSN titles were the best sellers, but he did say that the service was continuing to grow.

While some gamers balked when Sony announced PlayStation Plus in 2010, the amount of free content subscribers receive is commendable. The $60/year Xbox Live Gold feels necessary to fully appreciate the Xbox 360's features, like online multiplayer and use of Netflix streaming. On the other hand, PlayStation Plus has remained an optional bonus, and it seems to be living up to its promise of providing plenty of value for PS3 fans.

Source: Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2012/09/28/psn-sales-up-last-quarter-ps-plus-membership-nearly-doubled-dur/]

Permalink

 

[GenGenners]

PS+ for life, baby! ^-^

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Just pointing out,
those free games are only free for as long as you have PlayStation Plus.
If you cancel, you lose all those games.

PlayStation Plus will however give you discounts on some games,
and you can keep those even after you've canceled.

 

[Mr. Omega]

I'm not personally interested in PS Plus because I don't get much downloadable stuff from the PSN store, but I do think it's the right way to go about this sort of thing, especially compared to XBL. So good for Sony.

 

[cerebus23]

Just pointing out,
those free games are only free for as long as you have PlayStation Plus.
If you cancel, you lose all those games.

PlayStation Plus will however give you discounts on some games,
and you can keep those even after you've canceled.

And the new thing they are doing discounting new release games on their plus service for subbers.

And i think the success of sonys approach will make sure than psn and psn plus will remain seperate, and we will not have the doomsday predictions of psn forcing the good old free days out.

 

[antipunt]

So...this is like health insurance except with games >_>

 

[Oly J]

I've been subscribed to PS+ for about a year and a half, and I've never regretted it the online data storage you get with it saved my ass once or twice quite apart from all the free stuff

 

[Beautiful End]

The only reason why I got PS+ is because I'm afraid my fat PS3 will die any given second. So I use the Online storage, just in case. As far as discounts and stuff, I don't really use them. Because of my job, I have access to demos and betas. But hey, 50 bucks for a whole year is kind of a deal.

 

[Kroxile]

Just pointing out,
those free games are only free for as long as you have PlayStation Plus.
If you cancel, you lose all those games.

PlayStation Plus will however give you discounts on some games,
and you can keep those even after you've canceled.

if it takes you 3 months to play through the free games they put on there I would say that you still got more than your $18 worth.

I wish people would stop saying that you lose the free content if you unsub like its a bad thing or something you would be shocked to learn.

Well, no shit I can't play because I unsubbed this month. Well, no shit I won't be getting the latest Game Informer because I unsubbed.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Just pointing out,
those free games are only free for as long as you have PlayStation Plus.
If you cancel, you lose all those games.

PlayStation Plus will however give you discounts on some games,
and you can keep those even after you've canceled.

if it takes you 3 months to play through the free games they put on there I would say that you still got more than your $18 worth.

I wish people would stop saying that you lose the free content if you unsub like its a bad thing or something you would be shocked to learn.

Well, no shit I can't play because I unsubbed this month. Well, no shit I won't be getting the latest Game Informer because I unsubbed.

I didn't say it was a bad thing or imply that Sony was somehow wrong in doing it, they will tell you themselves that you lose the content if you cancel. However I dislike people using "Free stuff" as a selling point considering it's not actually free. Which is why I pointed it out, and also why I included the part about being able to keep discounted games.

 

[GAunderrated]

Just pointing out,
those free games are only free for as long as you have PlayStation Plus.
If you cancel, you lose all those games.

PlayStation Plus will however give you discounts on some games,
and you can keep those even after you've canceled.

if it takes you 3 months to play through the free games they put on there I would say that you still got more than your $18 worth.

I wish people would stop saying that you lose the free content if you unsub like its a bad thing or something you would be shocked to learn.

Well, no shit I can't play because I unsubbed this month. Well, no shit I won't be getting the latest Game Informer because I unsubbed.

I didn't say it was a bad thing or imply that Sony was somehow wrong in doing it, they will tell you themselves that you lose the content if you cancel. However I dislike people using "Free stuff" as a selling point considering it's not actually free. Which is why I pointed it out, and also why I included the part about being able to keep discounted games.

I agree with your sentiment. I wish they would state that you can lease games for free as long as you have PS+ account. Saying that you get free games with the subscription is a bit disingenuous.

 

[Allthingsspectacular]

To be fair, it is a fantastic deal. For 18 dollars, I got hundreds worth in game content.

It's the closest thing to online renting I've ever gotten.

 

[cookyt]

Compared to the recent deal that Microsoft is striking to give you a 1-2% MSP return on monthly purchases, I can easily say that PS+ is the stronger competitor as far as subscribed game services go. Really, that deal, while better than nothing, feels like a joke. This, feels much more tangible, and the subscription numbers back its success.

 

[gphjr14]

Was pissed off when they automatically renewed my subscription (great way to get $50 without asking) but I guess it was alright. I managed to download inFamous 2 for free and recently fell in love with Borderlands which I probably never would've downloaded if it wasn't free.
Cloud save didn't come in handy till recently when I had corrupt save that needed replacing.

With the next Playstation they need to just offer a yearly subscription fee for online play, have a better connection, and offer a cloud save system.