The title is technically incorrect. Sony is not making 54 million.

Revenue does not equal Profit.

Profit is a combination of
+ 54.5 million
- Royalty/license fees for the games on the service
- Networking costs (third party fees)
- Retail fees for PSN cards
- Operation Costs (Staffing, building, hardware, electricity, etc)
- Refunds/free extensions

Please change the title.

Not getting a dime from me though. I love the deals they make with their digital content, but forever more i will refuse to pay for online play... wich i hardly use anyways.

Only in revenue.. Not profit.. I have a feeling that the profit margin with psn administration cost included lies in the 20 percent range or so.. That is still a lot Better than pre ps4 release where there were about a million subscribers. The profit margins were higher back then but it could not possibly cover network costs. So in summary. Ps plus now sustain network costs, self financed game collection and around 20 percent profit margin. My two cents

I did get that one but kept my eye for deals in 2014 - nothing.

I haven't seen anyone mention that PS+ could actually lower software sales which Sony also gets a cut of, more if they are 1st party.

European VAT isnt added in digital purchases.  At least not in country of origin neccesarily. Of course taxes has to be paid but only to the country of origin of the service.  Switzerland and luxemburg are popular place to position your internet bussines as the VAT is low compared to much of remaining europe.. Most services with a physical counterpart (ex.  Movie purchases,  game purchases)  keep prices the same regardless of no distribution cost,  lower tax and no cut for 3rd party retailer,   simply because they can. The profit margin is much higher digital than physical. Add to that less logistical ressources needed,  limited costs in terms of bussiness building rent and  interior design/decoration costs. It becomes clear that a digital storefront is the way to go in a world where consumers increasingly squeezes every penny but at the same time demands ease and quick purchase. It is not a coincidence both steam and amazon has been so successfull.  Cheap products without having to leave your home is the best way to sell you crap. 

If true, it's not hard to believe, when you set your system up to where people CANNOT play the games they've already paid for online without being forced to have a PS+ subscription. I keep hearing people pass this ploy off as "oh, well they need to pay for the online services somehow" and "oh but you get these free games, it practically pays for itself". And yet I'm sure many of these same people saying that shit, were the same people praising PS3 for having free online last gen, and lauding that as one of many ways they would point out how PS was better than Xbox, and how shitty Microsoft was for making people pay for online. Now Sony adopts the same crappy tactic, and people praise it. Funny how that works, eh?

Me personally, I'm fine sticking to Wii U and PC. Outside of MMOs, which I've never been into anyway, you still get free online play with those platforms, and there's more than enough great games available on both.

The difference is that Microsoft didn't offer free games. PS+ actually saves you roughly 300-500 euros a year (9-12 AAA games and almost twice that number of indie games).

That's right and another thing  it's not their only source of revenue , the store itself makes quite a lot of money , enough for it to be able to prop up the network for years, but not enough to sustain the type of future expenditure needed to enhance the network and be able to underwrite other network projects till they find their financial footing.

I'm not sure about the EU , but on my Australian  bank statement my PSN charges originate from Gibralta  so I take it that that's a tax friendly zone.