PS Plus Premium scores its biggest hit yet with Sly Cooper’s PS2 debut

Those Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus Trophies have arrived on PS5 and PS4 as part of the first wave of new PS2 games hitting PS Plus Premium. In response to the good news, PS Plus Premium subscribers rushed to play Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonusproving that the demand for PS2 games on PS5 has always been real.

PS2 game Sly Cooper is the biggest PS Plus Premium game to date

• The first Cunning Kuiper game has scored its biggest debut on PS Plus Premium to date
• The PS2 game debuted with a 2.5% higher player count than The Legend of Dragoon
• Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus is the eighth biggest PS Plus game of 2024 so far

Using a sample of gameplay data from over 3.1 million active PSN accounts (courtesy of our partnership with GameInsights), we’ve been tracking the biggest games to hit PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium. That includes the first batch of PS2 games ported to PS5 in June 2024: Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, Tomb Raider legendAnd Star Wars The Clone Wars.

Previously, Sony was the biggest game to reach PS Plus Premium The Legend of Dragoon – the beloved PS1 JRPG that joined the subscription scheme in early 2023. That PS1 classic has been the best performing game on PS Plus Premium for over a year now, but was finally dethroned by none other than Cunning Kuiper‘s first PS2 outing.

In the PS Plus launch week (week ending Sunday, June 16, 2024), Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus attracted 2.5% more PS5 and PS4 players than The Legend of Dragoon managed in its own PS Plus launch week. It’s not a huge margin of victory, but it’s still enough to achieve Cunning Kuiper the best performing PS Plus Premium game since the launch of the higher subscription tier in 2022.

Top five PS Plus Premium games so far

#1 — Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (June 2024)
#2 — The Legend of Dragoon (February 2023)
#3 — Tomb Raider legend (June 2024)
#4 — Twisted metal (July 2023)
#5 — Opposition to retaliation (February 2024)

While Tomb Raider Legend also saw a strong PS5 debut, Cunning Kuiper saw 39.66% more active PS5 and PS4 players that same week. No other game released on PS Plus Premium has managed to match these top three games in terms of player numbers.

Granted, it’s worth pointing out that there’s still a significant gap between what counts as a success on PS Plus Premium and what counts as a successful game on PS Plus in general. When it comes to just the games added to PS Plus Extra and Premium in 2024, Sly Cooper is only the eighth biggest PS Plus game of the year so far.

Top 10 PS Plus Extra Games of 2024 (So Far)

#1 — Dave the diver (April 2024)
#2 — Red Dead Redemption 2 (May 2024)
#3 — The need for speed is limitless (February 2024)
#4 — Marvel’s Midnight Suns (March 2024)
#5 — Grand Theft Auto San Andreas – The Definitive Edition (May 2024)
#6 — Little Tina’s Wonderlands (January 2024)
#7 — Animal welfare (April 2024)
#8 – Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (June 2024)
#9 — Dredging (May 2024)
#10 — Resident Evil 2 (January 2024)

There is a 85.11% difference in active players count between Cunning Kuiper and the biggest PS Plus Extra game of the year, Dave the diver. Zoom out a little further and you’ll remember that Dave the Diver is only the third largest game to be found on PS Plus Extra. Strayed remains the biggest PS Plus Extra game since the new PS Plus tiers were introduced in 2022 Grand Theft Auto V on the second place

So it is important to remember that Cunning Kuiper is the biggest PS Plus Premium game we’ve seen on PS5 and PS4 yet, it’s still a relatively small slice of the pie as far as Sony is concerned. Ultimately, we have to take into account the idea that Cunning Kuiper probably increased the number of subscribers less effectively than Little Tina’s Wonderlands.

If anything, at least the success of it Cunning Kuipera beloved PS2 classic, shows that the old Sony favorites still have the power to capture the attention of PS Plus subscribers. Let’s hope Sly’s strong debut encourages Sony to continue bringing more PS2 games to PS5 and PS4. Perhaps one of those classic games will one day draw subscribers into PS Plus Premium’s classic catalogue.

Have you played this PS2 classic on PS Plus Premium? Do you enjoy hunting for this PS2 Platinum Trophy? If not, it’s worth pointing out that we have some Sly Cooper Platinum Trophy Tips that might make the game a little easier for you. Anyway, let us know what you think of Sly’s success in the comments below.