PS Now is the most successful game subscription service. Many of you are immediately thinking I am way off base, so here is a link:
Source: PCgamesinsider
The actual report is at Superdata with a $,1999 subscription required SuperData source link.
For context, PS4 is estimated at double the install base of Xbox One, yet this data shows PS Now at ~3.5x of a subscriber base, which you'll see is still not accurate in a moment.
Now the main idea that goes around most news sites and Resetera has been that it is a resounding failure, so much so that certain pundits have released articles claiming Sony has been complacent as it pertains to services. Yet not only does PS Now have the highest revenue, they are already far ahead of their chief competitor the Game Pass as a service. On sheer game count alone: ~700 PS Now games (PS3 titles not downloadable, so a sizeable portion still requires streaming) vs ~250 Game Pass games (all downloadable). Base costs before sales is $120 a year for Game Pass and $100 for PS Now (based on Amazon). Which has other implications, as revenue is based on income and if PS Now is generating more revenue at a lower price point that means their subscriber count is even greater than the ~3.5x implication.
Phil Spencer has spoken about wanting Game Pass on PC and to include streaming, yet PS Now already streams to PC and was a streaming service from the start. PS Now was late on adding downloads, but as of now the only advantage Xbox has is that it launches new games day 1 onto the Game Pass service. Which as much as I would love that Sony did that, most of those day 1 Xbox Games Pass games tend to be more Games as a Service than Sony's first-party AAA release. Sea of Thieves given as part of the service gets Microsoft your monthly subscription plus the added MTX in a model similar to most free to play games, while neither Detroit nor God of War have either MTX or DLC.
Also Sony releases a lot more titles First Party than most realize, here is 2018 developed and published from Sony:
Retail
Detroit: Become Human
God of War
MLB The Show 18
Shadow of the Colossus (remake)
Spider-Man
PlayStation VR
Astro Bot Rescue Mission
Bravo Team
Déraciné
Firewall: Zero Hour
The Inpatient
Wipeout Omega Collection (PlayStation VR support)
PlayLink
Chimparty
Frantics
Just Deal With It!
Knowledge is Power: Decades
Melbits World
Ticket to Ride
UNO
WordHunters
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sony_Interactive_Entertainment_video_games
I do not think we can label this as a failure of marketing on Sony's part because they clearly have the revenue, so I would think it is a failure on game media for being unware of this. My guess is that since Sony doesn't send them free subscription codes they have nothing to check over the service, even after downloads were added to the service. Maybe better marketing can increase revenue with those of us who were unaware, though I do not have the information to make that judgement.
The questions that come to my mind are:
-If this is such a success without games media support, is games media even relevant when it comes to advertising these kinds of services?
-Where does the gaming audience tend to be found? There really has not been much positive Youtube or Twitch coverage of the service, so where is their marketing finding success?
-Does Sony need to bolster their efforts in PS Now's marketing for the overall, long-term value of the Playstation brand? Xbox tends to get a lot of goodwill for its overall image from its services, where PS has been hinging its marketing on selling its AAA exclusives. I remember seeing game devs tweeting and saying how Sony needs to match out this service over the last year, yet they already have a similar service that is more developed. Is the good will for Xbox from Game Pass purely niche, and irrelevant in the grand scheme of being a console manufacturer?
Source: PCgamesinsider
The actual report is at Superdata with a $,1999 subscription required SuperData source link.
For context, PS4 is estimated at double the install base of Xbox One, yet this data shows PS Now at ~3.5x of a subscriber base, which you'll see is still not accurate in a moment.
Now the main idea that goes around most news sites and Resetera has been that it is a resounding failure, so much so that certain pundits have released articles claiming Sony has been complacent as it pertains to services. Yet not only does PS Now have the highest revenue, they are already far ahead of their chief competitor the Game Pass as a service. On sheer game count alone: ~700 PS Now games (PS3 titles not downloadable, so a sizeable portion still requires streaming) vs ~250 Game Pass games (all downloadable). Base costs before sales is $120 a year for Game Pass and $100 for PS Now (based on Amazon). Which has other implications, as revenue is based on income and if PS Now is generating more revenue at a lower price point that means their subscriber count is even greater than the ~3.5x implication.
Phil Spencer has spoken about wanting Game Pass on PC and to include streaming, yet PS Now already streams to PC and was a streaming service from the start. PS Now was late on adding downloads, but as of now the only advantage Xbox has is that it launches new games day 1 onto the Game Pass service. Which as much as I would love that Sony did that, most of those day 1 Xbox Games Pass games tend to be more Games as a Service than Sony's first-party AAA release. Sea of Thieves given as part of the service gets Microsoft your monthly subscription plus the added MTX in a model similar to most free to play games, while neither Detroit nor God of War have either MTX or DLC.
Also Sony releases a lot more titles First Party than most realize, here is 2018 developed and published from Sony:
Retail
Detroit: Become Human
God of War
MLB The Show 18
Shadow of the Colossus (remake)
Spider-Man
PlayStation VR
Astro Bot Rescue Mission
Bravo Team
Déraciné
Firewall: Zero Hour
The Inpatient
Wipeout Omega Collection (PlayStation VR support)
PlayLink
Chimparty
Frantics
Just Deal With It!
Knowledge is Power: Decades
Melbits World
Ticket to Ride
UNO
WordHunters
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sony_Interactive_Entertainment_video_games
I do not think we can label this as a failure of marketing on Sony's part because they clearly have the revenue, so I would think it is a failure on game media for being unware of this. My guess is that since Sony doesn't send them free subscription codes they have nothing to check over the service, even after downloads were added to the service. Maybe better marketing can increase revenue with those of us who were unaware, though I do not have the information to make that judgement.
The questions that come to my mind are:
-If this is such a success without games media support, is games media even relevant when it comes to advertising these kinds of services?
-Where does the gaming audience tend to be found? There really has not been much positive Youtube or Twitch coverage of the service, so where is their marketing finding success?
-Does Sony need to bolster their efforts in PS Now's marketing for the overall, long-term value of the Playstation brand? Xbox tends to get a lot of goodwill for its overall image from its services, where PS has been hinging its marketing on selling its AAA exclusives. I remember seeing game devs tweeting and saying how Sony needs to match out this service over the last year, yet they already have a similar service that is more developed. Is the good will for Xbox from Game Pass purely niche, and irrelevant in the grand scheme of being a console manufacturer?
