Sony has announced that on December 10, it will discontinue the PlayStation Plus application for personal computers. It allowed subscribers of the most expensive Premium tier to play games from the PlayStation catalog via cloud streaming without installing them.
In a message posted on the PlayStation Blog, the company attributed its decision to low demand for the service. According to its data, less than 0.4% of eligible subscribers use the application on computers.
PlayStation is committed to delivering quality player experiences and regularly reviews its offerings to focus on those our subscribers value most. As a very small number of PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers (less than 0.4%) use the PlayStation Plus app on PC, this change will allow us to focus our efforts on enhancing the quality experiences that more of our subscribers want. As a result, the PlayStation Plus cloud streaming app on PC will no longer be available.
— Sony
The app's shutdown will not affect other PlayStation Plus subscription features on PS5 and PS4 consoles. Cloud game streaming will still be available to Premium tier subscribers on the PS5 console and the PlayStation Portal handheld device. The company stated that it will notify affected users directly.
The decision coincides with a general shift in Sony's strategy regarding game releases on computers. After a period of actively porting its major exclusive titles to PC, the company has recently shifted its focus back to consoles. Journalists note that multiplayer games will likely continue to be released on computers, but story-driven single-player games from Sony's leading studios will probably become PlayStation exclusives once again.
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