PS Plus double hit finally gives Sackboy the love he deserves

By Lee Brady,

Sackboy A Big Adventure finally gets a considerable influx of new players after coming to both PS Plus Essential and Extra in April 2023.

According to our exclusive gameplay data from 3 million active PSN accounts, Sackboy A Big Adventure trophies are finally seeing their day in the sun as players flock to check out one of the best co-op games on PlayStation. Following Sackboy's debut on both PS Plus Essential and PS Plus Extra during April 2023, the PS5 launch title has seemingly at last received the attention it rightfully deserves.

SackboySackboy A Big Adventure thrives on PS Plus.

PS Plus brings new players to Sackboy A Big Adventure

At the start of the month, Sackboy A Big Adventure was given away as one of the PS Plus Essential games for April 2023, landing the title among the top 40 most popular PS5 and PS4 games on our PlayStation Chart for the very first time (in the #9 spot). Granted, we only started tracking PSN gameplay data in 2021, so that doesn't include Sackboy's launch alongside the PS5 in November 2020 — we're fairly sure it would have made the top 40 when it initially debuted.

However, that does mean Sackboy has seen tragically little love on PlayStation for three years now. In fact, before being included as a PS Plus Essential game, Sackboy had last been seen in the top 200 PS5 and PS4 games back in February 2023. Seeing as we only track the top 200 games, that means we can't get an accurate figure for how much Sackboy's player count spiked after hitting PS Plus. We do know that Sackboy's player count climbed at least 1934.28% the week after hitting PS Plus Essential, though this could be even higher.

PS Plus 'free' monthly games revealed for April 2023Sackboy leads the charge on PS Plus Essential.

Then, almost as if to ensure the game would reach the audience it deserves, Sony announced Sackboy would be one of the new PS Plus Extra and Premium games for April 2023 as well. Sackboy's PlayStation Charts performance continues to look promising too with the game holding tight to the 13th spot after three weeks of PS Plus (as of week ending 23rd April, 2023). The title did see a slight knock following the launch of Horizon Burning Shores, but surprisingly Sackboy players did outnumber Dead Island 2's PS5 and PS5 launch numbers despite the strength of those Dead Island 2 first impressions.

Numbers aside, we're just happy to see the little stuffed lad get the attention he rightly deserves. The PS Plus April 2023 player comparison had us worried PS Plus subscribers might pass Sackboy up, but our data suggests the exact opposite. Are you happy to see Sackboy A Big Adventure getting its fair dues after all this time? Did you check the game out on PS Plus this month? Let us know in the comments below.

Chart compiled using gameplay data from over 3 million active PlayStation accounts. Chart information is copyright GameInsights.
Lee Brady
Written by Lee Brady
Staff Writer Lee keeps one eye on the future (Astro Bot), one eye on the past (PS1, PS2, and PS3 games), and his secret third eye on junk he really likes (Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Sonic). A PlayStation fan for over 25 years, he loves replaying classic games via PS Plus.
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