GAME Sign With Sony To Provide In-Store PSN Games

TSA Staff 22 Comments

GAME has signed with Sony to provide PlayStation Store titles across all its stores, MCV reports.

The game count will start at just fifty titles across 42 retail outlets, but the rest will roll out across the UK gradually.  The selection will include full games, add-on DLC and subscriptions.

GAME claim that 80% of customers use cash, reward points and gift cards to buy digital downloads in their shops, and so this will hopefully open up PSN titles to those without credit cards.

“This is a significant step forward in our digital strategy,” said Ian Shepherd, GAME Group CEO. “For the first time, gamers will be able to browse a wide range of digital titles for the PlayStation Network in our stores, alongside a variety of other digital and physical products.”

“This is important because it offers customers more choice, more advice and more control than they can get online,” said Shepherd.

Tags:

Related stories from TSA

GAME’s death signals video game retail’s end, and bids farewell to one of the happiest times of my life
GAME has cancelled some Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders
GAME confirms Rewards and Elite programme will cease after July 31st
GAME to end video game trade in from next month – Confirmed by Frasers Group

22 Comments

  1. Good idea.
    If manufacturers, publishers & devs want their products seen by the widest possible audience, it’s a no-brainer

    Also if it can add a few quid to GAMES’s bottom line it might help them weather the storm a bit with regards to store closures ensuring manufacturers & publishers contine to have the maximum possible audience.

    • It would be nice if this meant a bit more consistency between PSN pricing and in-store.

      Doubt it will though.

    • Agreed, fella. Logical step but nice to see happen. Hopefully the stores will nag Sony when the pricing is so wildly different on a few key titles.

      “It’s on our shelf for £35.99 and you have our hands tied with the DD option at £49.99!” but I know it’s not easy to sort this out. A guy can dream. :)

  2. Hope this spreads to more retailers.

  3. this is a great idea for Game and for gamers too

    • I agree, gives PSN games more exposure, brings them in more money and therefore more games for us.

  4. My local store has just started doing the full range of digital downloads for xbox – if they do similar for PSN it will be awesome.

    also the MS points are available in smaller amounts (400,800,1200,2100,4200) so maybe the PSN cards will be available in smaller amounts than £25 … i really grudge paying that when i only want £10 for a game lol

  5. it’s not really much different than buying a store card is it.
    so downloads have been available for those without credit or debit cards for quite a while now.
    though this way you can just spend enough to get the game you want, instead of having to spend £25.

    and another potential benefit is if this is expanded to other retailers it would open up the download market to competition.
    something we’ve seen on pc, but not so much on console.

    also, i was in game the other day and saw they had card for games on the XBLA, they were cards with enough points to get the games as opposed to cards with a code for the game, so you wouldn’t have to get the game pictured on the card.
    so like a 1200 point card for one game and 800 for another.

    • Game might throw a sale on a game as well.
      A sale on a €20 voucher just looks weird though.

  6. presumably you just buy a code in the store, then take it home, redeem code, download game, install it and your all set..

    • That’s what I was thinking it will be. I’ve seen Ferrari Experience a while ago in Game and it was just a code in a box. However it was dearer than it was on the store.

      I’m not really that bothered about all this really. GAME prices the majority of their stuff at stupid prices anyway.

      • Maybe it’s building up for the launch of PS Vita. Aren’t they supposed to be selling games on memory sticks?

    • I was having visions of lugging my PS3 to Game.

  7. While it is a good idea to allow the sale of codes for the PSN games, Game is known for having stupid and sometimes extorinate pricing. I wouldn’t be suprised if the prices instore made the PS store seem like a 99p store. Although, i hope they won’t be using boxs and something like a gift voucher as it is pointless having a small bit of card in a box.

    • That’s one of the reasons I don’t normally shop at Game.

      • i work at gamestation (games bastard child they inherited when they wanted to stop gamestop getting a retail chain in the uk)
        we also have the full range of digital products from microsoft.

        the way it works is we recive the POS direct from MS with the prices they have set for the product via the MS points conversion. we scan the barcode it prints on a recipt. voila.

        the deal with playstation will be the same. and it will be sony and the publisher that decide the digital points with the deal of us getting a cut per sale.
        the only differance i think will be that the sony deal will provide a code for the exact product, while the current MS offering is for points. you get the exact points ms charge on xbox live, and you still have to find the item on live.

        personally i hope it becomes the norm with other retailers too, i like the idea that its intergrated with game/gamestations standard offerings so you can use trade credit and loyalty points to get it.

        dont get me wrong GAME has its flaws, every company does. but people giving them a hard time on pricing is funny. £39.99 is £10 less than what rrp is HMV, and supers price at the same level maybe £1 or £2 apart on reguler releases.
        only time supers go nuts is on AAA to get market share.

        im not gonna defend GAME on the whole, i work front line store level and there is things (6 questions to ask every customer) that i really think HO have dropped the ball on, but trust me when i say they truley belive this is the future and they want hands in the pie now.

  8. Makes me wonder if we’ll ever see GAME-exclusive bundles in the future containing both a full retail game and DLC codes in the same box – not every game gets a complete/GOTY edition after all.

    I think I’ll stick with PSN cards for now though, they give me as much “choice” and “control” as I need.

  9. Well if something in GAME is the same price on the PS Store, I will buy it in GAME as I’ll get points, that I can eventually buy something with.

  10. As most new PSN games have a PS+ discount I don’t see any need for us subscribers to use this.

Comments are now closed for this post.