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[X-Wing]

There was lot of doubt for a long time as to whether the tier model would work, but looking at the numbers they have shown now this seems to be the case.
PlayStation Now had about 3 million subscribers but the total amount of subscribers for the higher subscription tiers is now on the 14 million.
Granted a lot of these gamers were already PS+ subscribers that migrated to the higher tiers but the revamp seems to have worked out to do just what it was supposed to do, right? By providing an easy and cheap upgrade option they managed to not only not alienate previous PlayStation Now subscribers but also lure a lot of base subscribers to the higher tiers.
Both the quality and quantity of the games offered every month has als been extremely high which, of course, contributes to these 14 million subscribers.

So, what do you think? Do you think the tiers were a good idea or do you think they would have attracted more subscribers with an apart service with another name and branding?

 

[MaKTaiL]

I think it was a good decision.

 

[feynoob]

Premium is bullshit.
Extra is good and have good value.

The problem with psnow was that the service was shit. It took long time to allow the download option. That affected the growth of the service. Plus you had to get the PS+ on top of that.

The current plan is nice and serves it's purpose. You get the online mode, free games and monthly drop games.

 

[Captain Toad]

Yeah, most of the best stuff is on Extra for only $100 a year. That sounds amazing and really has taken the crown as "best deal in gaming".

But, as can be seen, most opt for the extra $20 to have the "best" tier, even if the difference is pretty minimal, at this point.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Great decision and great service.

I think premium needs tweaking to offer some better incentives to upgrade but I'm a big fan of my extra subscription. Will deffo keep it going after my 3 years has ran out.

 

[Captain Toad]

The problem with psnow was that the service was shit.

I had PS Now and, by the time PS+ Premium released, it was literally the same thing. They just changed the name and reset the narrative that PS Now was just a streaming service, which it hadn't been for quite a while.

It was the right decision from a marketing perspective, but that doesn't change the fact that they are still basically the exact same service.

 

[Thirty7ven]

Premium looks like nickel and diming and doesn’t live up to the “premium” tag at all. What’s premium about it?

 

[bender]

Premium looks like nickel and diming and doesn’t live up to the “premium” tag at all. What’s premium about it?

I think the value proposition is off, but the classics catalogue and game trials is where I've got the most usage of my subscription. Thankfully I was able to upgrade my 11 years of PS+ to the highest tier for $149.99. lol

 

[Thirty7ven]

I think the value proposition is off, but the classics catalogue and game trials is where I've got the most usage of my subscription. Thankfully I was able to upgrade my 11 years of PS+ to the highest tier for $149.99. lol

11 years?


Bro

 

[bender]

11 years?


Bro

I loaded up back when Sony was giving away those 1 month trials that stacked, then that Playstation credit card that gave you $100 PSN Credit + 1 Year PS+ for your first store purchase ($10 PSN wallet credit) and then the $25 black Friday deals. I think the most I've ever paid for a year is $27 via CDKeys. /cheap bastard.

 

[StealthGoblin]

Extra is incredible value and for me a better deal than GamePass due to my game preferences.
I subbed to premium and mostly am unsatisfied. I expected far more PS1 and PS2 games. I have tons I had on PS3 - I assume adding in trophies takes time.

 

[gothmog]

Great decision and great service.

I think premium needs tweaking to offer some better incentives to upgrade but I'm a big fan of my extra subscription. Will deffo keep it going after my 3 years has ran out.

The reasonable answer. In my opinion it seems to have gotten better since launch. I like the tiers but want premium to be the one I keep paying for.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

I find it confusing.

 

[Gone]

Yes.

 

[X-Wing]

I find it confusing.

How come?

 

[SEGAvangelist]

How come?

First, the naming scheme is kind of confusing because PS Plus was always something else in the past. Second, it's hard to tell in the store which games are free to keep and which ones will eventually be unplayable once they leave the service. It's kind of a mess to navigate compared to other subscription services. The web store makes it confusing as well. I think the whole naming scheme and organization needs a rework. Value is good, though.

 

[DrFigs]

It's a good idea to limit the number of subscriptions people have to worry about. but i've been really disappointed by premium.

 

[yurinka]

Their huge success shows it was a great idea

 

[X-Wing]

First, the naming scheme is kind of confusing because PS Plus was always something else in the past. Second, it's hard to tell in the store which games are free to keep and which ones will eventually be unplayable once they leave the service. It's kind of a mess to navigate compared to other subscription services. The web store makes it confusing as well. I think the whole naming scheme and organization needs a rework. Value is good, though.

I agree with this since 'add to library' shows up by every one of them. They could have maybe different colors for the PS+ logo for each tier and have this next to the games...

Jim Ryan: hire me for this great idea.

 

[Swauny Jones]

I don't think so. I think their numbers will greatly drop the moment all the premium members who became part of the service through the Gold conversion 'exploit' memberships become up for renewal and don't want to pay the hefty price tag for this service. They would need to add more to the service to retain it's members

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

I usually like to buy my games (physically if possible), but that aside I'm very content with the value that PS+ Extra is providing me with (upgraded from basic to extra earlier this year when they were running a 30% discount). Will probably resub once it expires next year.

 

[Kerotan]

Since it's launched the constant shilling online for Gamepass by media outlets has almost disappeared.

Short term it's providing a big boost for PlayStation revenue. Long term we'll have to see how it affects buying habits.

 

[Clear]

I don't think so. I think their numbers will greatly drop the moment all the premium members who became part of the service through the Gold conversion 'exploit' memberships become up for renewal and don't want to pay the hefty price tag for this service. They would need to add more to the service to retain it's members

Huh?

1. Its not that expensive a service even at the highest tier.
2. Most importantly if people were paying for streaming already, which is a pre-requisite for conversion, why would they suddenly stop in future when the price of premium over extra is so low and offers more content for that money than just streaming?

 

[DrFigs]

I don't think so. I think their numbers will greatly drop the moment all the premium members who became part of the service through the Gold conversion 'exploit' memberships become up for renewal and don't want to pay the hefty price tag for this service. They would need to add more to the service to retain it's members

I will say that i did the trick but was only charged 60 dollars for the renewal a few weeks ago. Not sure if this is permanent though.

 

[AJUMP23]

I didn't care, but I thought it was confusing.

 

[Imru’ al-Qays]

I didn't care, but I thought it was confusing.

Same. I have no idea what I stand to gain from going to Extra, and Premium seems straightforwardly like trash.

 

[Swauny Jones]

Huh?

1. Its not that expensive a service even at the highest tier.
2. Most importantly if people were paying for streaming already, which is a pre-requisite for conversion, why would they suddenly stop in future when the price of premium over extra is so low and offers more content for that money than just streaming?

I know plenty of people with Premium that only got it because the base level Gold was converted to it. Pretty much all of them have said they won't reup for premium once it expires.

 

[X-Wing]

I know plenty of people with Premium that only got it because the base level Gold was converted to it. Pretty much all of them have said they won't reup for premium once it expires.

I don't know what 'base level Gold' is. The only ones that got upgraded to premium were the ones that had PS Now...

 

[Pelta88]

They converted a third of their existing PS subscribers to higher payment tiers.

How is this even a question?

 

[Sleepwalker]

Considering that, as per their report there are a bunch of suckers paying for premium, I would say yes, they have a winner here.

 

[Leonidas]

It was the right move. PS+ Extra for $60 for a year over the holiday period was the only reason I re-upped, for the first time in a very long time.

It's the main thing that got me to use my PS5 a bit...

I'll only get it when I can get ~$60 for a year of Extra again though. Still got like 7 months left on my current sub

It would be better if there was a PC component though, I'd rather play those games on my PC, like MS allows with Game Pass.

 

[Swauny Jones]

I don't know what 'base level Gold' is. The only ones that got upgraded to premium were the ones that had PS Now...

Yes, but what everyone did, including myself was sign up for like a month to 3 months of PS Now before the launch of the new sub and it would automatically convert all your PS+ gold years to PS Now for the new service. I know people that stacked up to 8 years if not more of PS+ Gold before doing the short PS Now sub to have it apply to the new converted system.

 

[Portugeezer]

I loaded up back when Sony was giving away those 1 month trials that stacked, then that Playstation credit card that gave you $100 PSN Credit + 1 Year PS+ for your first store purchase ($10 PSN wallet credit) and then the $25 black Friday deals. I think the most I've ever paid for a year is $27 via CDKeys. /cheap bastard.

I wish they shut down PSN next year just to spite you.

 

[Aenima]

Yes. PS Now could only be available on countries that had streaming servers, leaving alot of countries that have PSN without the service. It took 5 years for PS Now to reach my country. The new PS+ tiers allows Sony to put the service in all countries , it just dont include the Premium Tier for countries without streaming servers, it offers the Deluxe tier in those countries that is some of the premium offers but not the streaming ones.

 

[bender]

I wish they shut down PSN next year just to spite you.

 

[Clear]

I know plenty of people with Premium that only got it because the base level Gold was converted to it. Pretty much all of them have said they won't reup for premium once it expires.

It didn't work that way. Sony offered an upgrade fee that was pro-rata on the subscription that was paid in advance. So, in my case, I had roughly 3 months left on original PS+, and they offered to upgrade me at a cost that factored in (as a discount) the number of days I had left back-converted in the price under the new system. Basically they ensured upgrading was "fair" as opposed to discounted.

The only people who got a bargain were those upgrading from PS Now* as of course that translated 1:1 into Premium. They even locked that down from being easy to exploit by removing the ability to buy new subs to PS Now after a couple of weeks.

So although I agree some people played it smart and pre-stacked their PS Now sub, that had to be a sliver of the overall user-base. I find it way more likely that the majority of people who got the bargain deal were already using PS Now because the option to stream PS3 games had value to them.

Bottom line for me is that if you buy your sub a year at a time (which is a no-brainer because its way cheaper than paying monthly) the difference in price between extra and premium is so trivial that you might as well, even if you don't have a particular interest in what's on offer right now.


*a service with a relatively tiny subscriber-base versus Plus.

 

[Swauny Jones]

It didn't work that way. Sony offered an upgrade fee that was pro-rata on the subscription that was paid in advance. So, in my case, I had roughly 3 months left on original PS+, and they offered to upgrade me at a cost that factored in (as a discount) the number of days I had left back-converted in the price under the new system. Basically they ensured upgrading was "fair" as opposed to discounted.

The only people who got a bargain were those upgrading from PS Now* as of course that translated 1:1 into Premium. They even locked that down from being easy to exploit by removing the ability to buy new subs to PS Now after a couple of weeks.

So although I agree some people played it smart and pre-stacked their PS Now sub, that had to be a sliver of the overall user-base. I find it way more likely that the majority of people who got the bargain deal were already using PS Now because the option to stream PS3 games had value to them.

Bottom line for me is that if you buy your sub a year at a time (which is a no-brainer because its way cheaper than paying monthly) the difference in price between extra and premium is so trivial that you might as well, even if you don't have a particular interest in what's on offer right now.


*a service with a relatively tiny subscriber-base versus Plus.

So the year they were leading up to the announcement of the changes there was a promo through the Playstation store that you could get PS+ gold for a very cheap price. If you refreshed the browser you could keep using it for as much years as you want which people did. Then they had a promo that if you signed up for PS Now it would convert your current PS+ sub years with it to the new service. This was literally the first two days of the announced new tier and a bunch of us here were spamming it like crazy to load up our accounts over those two days before Sony cut it off for everyone. A few days later they opened it back up but had that whole conversion chart that didn't equal 1:1 anymore and was what you call the 'fair' discounted promo.

I do agree buying it yearly is cheaper and a no brainer which is what I'll be doing. But I do know a lot of people that feel it's still way too much and are going to bow out once their accounts are up for renewal. There were rumors of them adding more to the service (CrunchyRoll was one of the speculative addons) which I'm sure will get more buy in for future subscribers

 

[jroc74]

Why make a separate service? They did right by just expanding on an existing service...

 

[Trab-Pu-Kcip]

Their tier plan has only be a troian horse to rise the cost instead of offering a cheaper tier (I mean under the essential tear) just to play online games (without the monthly game collection)

 

[Mahavastu]

It was the right decision from a marketing perspective, but that doesn't change the fact that they are still basically the exact same service.

I have the feeling they also have a better game selection then before.
Anyway, it was a great idea from marketing perspective, somehow it is easier just to level up your PS+ subscription then getting a subscription with a different name. I guess a lot of casuals gamers or parents did not even think about getting PS Now, just look at the small subscriber base before compared to the current number of upgraded users.

 

[SRTtoZ]

Who am I to say when it seems to be working for them? Sony sells a shit load of games so the way they are going without a "Game Pass" like model is doing its job and they are outselling Xbox by a boatload. I mean let's be honest, Xbox didn't want to choose a subscription model. They had to pivot to it because they were selling less and less games. It's risky because if they keep buying developers and Game Pass subs drop then what do they do? Do they pivot back to selling games as is like Sony is doing? Or do they just quit the hardware business and continue making games and just put them on PC/Sony/Nintendo systems?

 

[Agent X]

The problem with psnow was that the service was shit. It took long time to allow the download option. That affected the growth of the service. Plus you had to get the PS+ on top of that.

That's wrong. You weren't required to get PlayStation Plus to use PlayStation Now. You could even play online multiplayer in the PS Now games without a PS Plus subscription.

With that in mind, the current "merged" service is actually an inferior deal in that regard.

Premium looks like nickel and diming and doesn’t live up to the “premium” tag at all. What’s premium about it?

It's only $20 more a year, and you gain access to a bunch of PS1/PS2/PSP games, along with the ability to stream games. They've actually added a few worthwhile PS1 and PSP games over the last few months, so if you're into the "oldies", then it's worth the extra few bucks.

 

[feynoob]

That's wrong. You weren't required to get PlayStation Plus to use PlayStation Now. You could even play online multiplayer in the PS Now games without a PS Plus subscription.

Only games that were in the service. You still needed for games like fifa and cod.

With that in mind, the current "merged" service is actually an inferior deal in that regard.

current merge is much better. You are actually seeing alot of investment and good games. That is due to the increase budget with the sub money, which allows Sony to get better deals for the service.

PSNOW was generating around $180m a year, which was not enough.

 

[Agent X]

Only games that were in the service. You still needed for games like fifa and cod.

That's true, but you were saying that you needed to get PS Plus. Technically, that wasn't required, if you were only interested in the games on PS Now and didn't care about online multiplayer for other games outside of PS Now.

Last year, just prior to the merger of the services, one of my friends had a subscription to PS Now and didn't have PS Plus (at the time), because he was interested in the game selection on PS Now. He almost never plays any games online.

current merge is much better. You are actually seeing alot of investment and good games. That is due to the increase budget with the sub money, which allows Sony to get better deals for the service.

I agree that overall the merger has resulted in a better service, for the reasons you stated. However, I still maintain that "in that regard" a separate PS Now for a lower price was a better deal for people who don't particularly care about online multiplayer, such as my friend that I mentioned above.