PlayStation Plus And PlayStation Now Reach New Subscriber Records

PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now, which are Sony's marquee digital games subscription services, have reached new heights in terms of subscribers. As part of a recent investor presentation, Sony announced that PS Plus added 2.7 million subscribers in the latest quarter to reach 41.5 million in total as of March 31.

Sony said it will be important for the company to "expand this increased engagement going forward" as it heads into the PlayStation 5 generation. The company also saw an uptick in PlayStation Now subscribers, which reached 2.2 million for the end of April 2020.

Both PS Plus and PS Now benefitted from how people are spending more time at home during the global COVID-19 pandemic. "At a time when people are voluntarily not going outside, demand for digital entertainment such as games is increasing globally. In this environment, PlayStation users have increased significantly," Sony said.

For PS Now specifically, Sony said its recent price drop and the addition of marquee titles, including Marvel's Spider-Man, have helped the userbase grow. Some have compared PS Now to Xbox Game Pass, but it's not a perfect comparison. Xbox Game Pass is a download-only subscription program (at least until xCloud becomes integrated later this year), while PS Now is primarily a streaming service that provides the option to download in some cases. Xbox Game Pass has more than 10 million subscribers, but the company continues to give it away for $1, so that's surely beefing up the numbers beyond normal.

Looking ahead, Sony will release the PlayStation 5 later this year. The company has yet to show off the console design or reveal many of its games, but that is expected to happen soon.