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Sony Pushing Monthly Active Users As A Primary Metric For Measuring Success
During Sony's financial call, as DualShockers reports, Sony has decided that it will start measuring Monthly Active Users (MAU) as one of the main ways it will measure success of the PlayStation brand. It tracks engagement rather than single-time sales, checking in on how many people are engaging with their services on a monthly basis.
This might sound familiar, as Microsoft announced that they would focus on MAU over hardware sales not too long ago. They update on milestones, as well, taking pride in the growth of users over time.
Sony clarifies that console sales are still important, the more units they sell, the likelier they are to hit a saturation point. From there, what matters is tracking direct interaction with consumers. This can mean things like PlayStation Plus subscription, but more often means things like DLC sales, lootboxes, microtransactions, and the like. Sony is checking their numbers against expectations and growth in those criteria.
It does not necessarily mean anything on Sony's business will change to push these metrics, but they have said they are going to explore that space to better match third party microtransaction revenue. At the very least, they are tracking it and seeing where their own games might better fit into the strategy.
[Source: DualShockers]
Our Take
Sony is a business, and businesses are going to do what is best for them, but hopefully they do a lot of audience research before jumping in head first.
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