Last week PlayStation Vue stopped accepting new subscriptions. This was the first step in shutting down PlayStation Vue as Sony walks away from cord cutting to focus on gaming.
Strangely, PlayStation Vue fans are extremely dedicated and vocal about their love for the service. So, what went wrong? How did one of the first US live TV streaming services with a dedicated group of fans fall to the sixth most popular streaming service and shut down with only 500,000 subscribers? Let’s take a look at 5 reasons PlayStation Vue failed when it should have been successful.
#1 Sony Failing to Support PlayStation Vue
Sony never seemed committed to supporting PlayStation Vue. At no point did Sony put the full effort of the company behind the streaming service. Take the example of Sony Smart TVs. For some time after PlayStation Vue launched Sony’s smart TVs did they allow you to use PlayStation Vue. It took over a year and a half after Sony launched PlayStation Vue for it to be added to Sony’s smart TVs. For a while Sling TV was a featured app on Sony TVs even after PlayStation Vue was added but the PlayStation Vue app was not included in featured apps.
When you compare how Disney is using every resource it has to promote Disney+—from its theme parks to its TV networks—Sony failed to use its resources to promote PlayStation Vue. You could have easily seen Sony offering an extended free trial of PlayStation Vue with a Sony TV or PlayStation game system, yet Sony failed to use these obvious tie ins to promote PlayStation Vue.
#2 Poor App Quality
Sony’s PlayStation Vue has some of the most exciting features of any live TV streaming service. It was the first to offer an unlimited DVR and multi-channel view allowing you to watch multiple channels on one screen.
Sadly, over the last year or so Sony released several app updates that came full of bugs. This is not unusual for many apps, but Sony failed to even address the issues subscribers experienced. This left many subscribers feeling that Sony wouldn’t address the obvious issues with the apps, especially on Roku and the Fire TV, two of the largest streaming players in the United States.
Sony at least publicly addressing these issues could have helped keep many subscribers as Sony worked to fix the issues. A one-time issue would have also likely not hurt Sony, but repeated app updates with bugs left PlayStation Vue subscribers struggling to support the service.
#3 Channel Fights & Price Hikes
Sony had a history of losing channels but not dropping its price. If fact, they sometimes even raised the price shortly after dropping channels.
Some of the biggest channel drops were Viacom Channels. When PlayStation Vue dropped Viacom channels, it left a massive hole is PlayStation Vue’s lineup that was never filled.
Sony also had a habit of dropping channels including locals with little or no warning. When Sony dropped Sinclair locals, Sony only gave a few hours of warning that Sinclair locals would be dropped. This meant not only did you lose channels, but also that some PlayStation Vue subscribers only found out when they woke up to find their channels gone. This left a negative impression for PlayStation Vue subscribers.
#4 The Name
The name PlayStation Vue has to be on any list of mistakes Sony made. To this day we get asked if you need a PlayStation game system to use PlayStation Vue.
#5 Sony’s Lack of Communication with Subscribers
Sony had a history of not communicating with subscribers. This left many subscribers in the dark creating a negative impression of PlayStation Vue. Sony never bothered to make a social media account for PlayStation Vue and often created great new features but never marketed them to subscribers. This poor communication with Sony has to be one of the reasons Sony failed to grow as subscribers left after feeling almost unwanted by Sony.
So, why do you think Sony failed? Leave us a comment and let us know.
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