The PlayStation Plus release of Deep Rock Galactic led to an astonishing 10 million new players "very, very fast," according to the game's developers. PlayStation Plus is known to have more than 45 million subscribers as of Sony's last accounting. How that number translates into new players for game releases is rarely shared publicly, though. In Deep Rock Galactic's case, developer Ghost Ship Games has had a very good year and excitedly attributed a good amount of that success to PlayStation Plus.Before any PlayStation Plus subscribers rush to check whether they missed one of the games from the past month, Deep Rock Galactic's PlayStation Plus availability is long past. The co-op mining FPS was released on PlayStation Plus as a free game for the month of January 2022, which means it hasn't been unlocked for over a year now. Ghost Ship Games is simply revisiting that launch as part of its financial reporting and 2022 year-end roundup.Speaking during an Embracer Group earnings call, Ghost Ship Games CEO Soren Lundgaard explains that the PlayStation Plus release of Deep Rock Galactic was incredibly successful. Specifically, Lundgaard says that 10 million PlayStation Plus subscribers not only claimed the game but started playing "very, very fast" after it launched. This PlayStation Plus launch surpassed Deep Rock Galactic's 1.0 launch and, as Lundgaard describes it, "propelled the Deep Rock Galactic IP even further into closing into mainstream."
Ghost Ship Games capitalized heavily on this surge of new players, scheduling the PlayStation Plus release to come not long after the launch of Deep Rock Galactic's seasonal content. Season 1 of Deep Rock Galactic arrived in November 2021 with the PlayStation Plus launch arriving two months later. As such, new Deep Rock Galactic players were able to join in on updated gameplay and also purchase some of the game's latest cosmetic DLC, too.
Unfortunately, Ghost Ship Games wasn't able to provide more granular data regarding its PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 userbase. It did share information regarding the Steam version of Deep Rock Galactic, though. 113,700 played daily in 2022, up from 75,400 in 2021. Deep Rock Galactic doesn't have crossplay between PC and PlayStation, but it's possible the influx of new players has led to broader excitement for the game and growth on PC as a result.
There's a lot to be excited about for Deep Rock Galactic players yet. Ghost Ship Games is currently planning a Year 5 Anniversary event starting on March 2, which will include an option to play the "original version" of the game from 2018. Expect even more content and cosmetic DLC in the months to come. Ghost Ship Games is going to make sure it capitalizes on this wave of PlayStation Plus success to the best of its ability.
Deep Rock Galactic is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Retbit
