PlayStation Plus subscriber count adds up to 7.9 million
7.9 million users are signed up to PlayStation Plus, a figure Sony said was a factor behind the success of the company's games division last quarter. Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Kenichiro Yoshida divulged the subscriber count during Sony's investors call, following its earnings release last week.
When asked about the PlayStation division's prolific second quarter which saw an 83.2 percent year-on-year improvement in revenue, Yoshida first put down the momentum to Destiny and FIFA 15, noting both games contributed "quite significantly." He then added that "at the same time" the PS Plus subscription service had reached "7.9 million members."
As GI.Biz notes, Sony's previously veered from revealing how many users are subscribed to PS Plus, instead tiptoeing around proportional increases. As Sony's John Koller revealed to Joystiq in our feature on the service's growing popularity, subscription numbers have grown by more than 200 percent since the launch of the PS4.
It's worth noting many of Sony's console packages, such as the Destiny PS4 bundle, include free trials for the subscription service. Also, Plus is required for online multiplayer in most games on PS4. However, as Koller noted in our September interview, it's the Instant Game Collection and its monthly slew of freebies that remains a "key component" of Plus.
Currently, Plus members gain access to two PS4 games, two on PS3 and two on Vita each month, and retain that access as long as they're subscribed. Since the introduction of PS Plus, Microsoft and EA have followed suit with similar services.
"The Instant Game Collection ushered in a brand new model for the industry that really helped to define PS Plus as a premium service for gamers," Koller told Joystiq in September. "PS Plus needs to continue this evolution as the industry changes, and you can be sure that we'll continue to anticipate gamers' wants and needs and find the best ways to serve them."
That said, it's not all been good news for PS Plus recently. Fees for the service rose in several countries last month, and the Plus edition of Driveclub is still stalled on the grid.
[Image: Sony]
