President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Andrew House detailed, during the Investor Relations Day ongoing in Tokyo as I'm writing, the plans to improve PlayStation Plus in the near future.

According to House, shifting PlayStation Plus to being required for online gameplay multiplied the number of subscribers by four since the launch of PlayStation 4.

The future plans for PlayStation Plus are threefold:

  • Strengthening the online multiplayer line-up to drive adoption of the subscription and membership service.
  • Strengthening the free content delivered to subscribers every month, increasing the value of their subscription package.
  • Enhancing the community-based features of PlayStation Plus, to make it appealing not just to core gamers, but also to a broader audience.

The presentation slides also included prioritized access to alpha and beta of games, while during the rest of the presentation a sizable investment in strengthening the server infrastructure of the PSN was also mentioned.

House further explained that while PlayStation Plus is one of the higher margin businesses for the company, if not the highest margin one, there are implied costs related to it, especially due to content acquisition (IE: securing the games that will be given for free).