Why Gamers Are Not Happy with the PS Store

Sony's going to stop selling digital codes for PlayStation Store games in retail stores. It's a bad situation. Here's why it will hurt a lot of people.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Perfect picture for this article. Most gamers aren't upset. Don't try and play it up more than what you're trying to. How about gathering news or requesting interviews on the matter. It's why most game articles are trash written by bloggers and not journalists.

Making assumption articles but imply that all gamers are upset about it is wrong. Some claim it's for Sony to lock in a game at full price and force you to buy direct. It's possible. But also possible that glitches happen at retailers and customers have to jump through hoops from a middleman about digital codes and why some have complained like on reddit.

Gathering facts are better than writing without full information. Comes off as being an opinion. Facts are better than opinions. Facts allow you to properly form an opinion afterwards after getting to the truth.

[quent]

So You like being fucked over by shitty refund policies, shill a bit harder and maybe uncle sony will send you a $5 gift card for you're unrelenting fanboy dick sucking, don't you ever get tired of being so full of shit ?

[kayoss]

THe problem is when people buy a digital code from a retailer and there is a problem. who do they go to? They go directly to Sony instead of the retailer that they bought the said digital code from. Not only the consumers have to jump through hoops, Sony, microsoft, or Nintendo have to jump through hoops to figure out what went wrong, who the retailer was, and how to get them reimburse the consumers. This becomes a nightmare for Sony, microsoft, and Nintendo.

[Jin_Sakai]

“So You like being fucked over by shitty refund policies, shill a bit harder and maybe uncle sony will send you a $5 gift card for you're unrelenting fanboy dick sucking, don't you ever get tired of being so full of shit?”

Who buys digital game codes anyways? Most people just buy PSN cards and use the funds to buy games.

What’s sad is how Xbox locks F2P games behind a paywall. Now that’s something b*tch about.

[Dirtnapstor]

So you buy a code from a retailer and then buyers remorse sets in. You think that retailer will take the ‘unlocked’ code back? Nope.
Policys regarding digital purchases are no different than buying directly through your console. smh.

[SpineSaw]

Damn kid, mommy not love you as a kid or what? Might wanna think about seeking some help cause you don't play well with others.
Now TBO I base my opinion off your one comment maybe this dude was your pal and you are just hacking on him but even if that's the case you still crossed the I can't get along with others line.

[SurgicalMenace]

Triggered much?!?!😂 What did Sony ever do to you? People take gaming way too seriously, one would think their loves depended on it. Smh

[UltraNova]

Septic, is that you buddy?

[TekoIie]

"Gathering facts are better than writing without full information. Comes off as being an opinion. Facts are better than opinions. Facts allow you to properly form an opinion afterwards after getting to the truth."

Why did you write a whole paragraph based on speculation if you're so big on facts?

[crazyCoconuts]

I normally don't bother reading articles from that site...

[rainslacker]

I haven't noticed anyone being upset myself. I see them sometimes gripe about some policies here or there. Most recently their refund policy. I see them sometimes gripe about Sony's customer service. But, the PS Store seems fine for the most part. I can think of a few things they can improve on, but it's a store where you can buy digital content, and it does that just fine.

The retail codes in stores probably won't affect that many. If a enough people were buying them, they'd continue selling them. But it costs money to print those cards they sell them in the stores. If people need to buy stuff from the store, and don't have the means to use the available payment methods, PSN cards will still be sold, and there are enough denomination options where it shouldn't end up paying more money than the cost of the card.

[ApocalypseShadow]

https://www.google.com/amp/...

Here's an example. And that's the online code. Could be worse in store. Who knows.

[Dark_Overlord]

I've never bought one of these codes from any store, why would I when I can buy a PSN card and get the same game during a sale? The game prices in store never change even when the game is on sale on the PSN :/

[TekoIie]

"The game prices in store never change even when the game is on sale on the PSN"

There have actually been times where a game is priced higher directly through the online store than it has been to buy a digital code through a retailer. If you want to argue about price drops through sales then why doesn't the digital price drop to match the physical version?

[Dirtnapstor]

No, never. Digital from a retailer is still locked at the original price point 99% of the time. The physical version could be on sale, but the digital is fixed because a retailer wants to move their physical products they’ve invested in.
It’s rare, and if so, the same digital deal could be had directly from Sony, MS, or Nintendo.

[TekoIie]

@Dirtsnapper

Yes, they have. I know for a fact that during the 3DS lifetime 90% of the games digital retail codes were cheaper than buying through the EShop at launch and it's a similar story with the Switch. As to whether that was true for most of the PS4 releases I can't say for sure but digital codes have at times been the better option compared to going directly to the online store.

[Nitrowolf2]

@dirt @tekolie

They have but I don’t believe at any brick and motor stores

Amazon would usually price match the digital copies or lower sometimes

Green man gaming also did it very often

[ziggurcat]

I don't see why you would go to a store like Gamestop for a digital code when you can just go directly to the PSN store. Was Gamestop selling them at a discounted rate?

[ApocalypseShadow]

Could have. Like Amazon does. Or maybe the digital codes lock the game at full price when there is a sale on PSN digitally. Does PSN give credit if the game is on sale and it adds the difference to the account?

These are questions these bloggers should be asking. It's not like they'll write a retraction article afterwards. It's easier to write an opinion than search for facts.

[Traecy]

When you buy things from GameStop like PSN cards or codes you build up your reward points including points from the PSN store.Though imo GameStop points are much better than PSN rewards points.

[Razzer]

And buying PSN gift cards will give you GameStop points just like codes for specific games.

[Traecy]

@Razzer That's exactly what I stated.

[FallenAngel1984]

You can just buy a PSN card and still get get the game. Don’t tell me any gamer is too lazy to do that

Don’t make an issue over this

[ChrisW]

True! So true!

BTW, why do I have to actually call the pizza shop to deliver a pizza?

[AK91]

Actually we dont really care about this issue as long as we have PSN cards that give us cash we don't really care.

[Kumakai]

gamers aren't happy with anything. ever.

[Italiano1234567]

The problem is people are to fuckin stoiled now a days. U dont even need to leave the house to do anything other then work and some people dont even have to do that. Stop being spoiled little bitches.

[SuperSonic91]

Flash sales are the best!
Perfwctly Happy with PSN

[RavageX]

This is not an issue....

[Smokehouse]

They dropped the retailers because they made their own return policy. I think it was 14 days you can refund. That’s the only reason you would go to a retailer, because it was a pain in the ass to cancel a preorder on PSN.

[Imalwaysright]

If they discontinued those € 20 or € 50 PSN cards I could see many genuinely being upset about it but these cards? Nope, I don't think that many will care about it.

[mastershredder]

These opinion bits ate the best. 'Let me demonstrate my ignorance!'.

These are bad mkay? I dunno why but they are mkaaaaay? I saw a you tube video n stuff mkaaaaayyy?

[SegaSaturn669]

Everything is on youtube. There's no reason to get a refund, you can easily see the quality of the game before purchase.

[ocelot07]

Does not affect people like my self in the UK as full game digital codes from stores don't exist (psvr and dlc and season passes do). However, it's simply cheaper to buy psn credit from a online store I find.

For example if I wanted a £50 psn game I wouldn't buy it straight from the psn store. I would go to a place like cdkeys and get £50 psn credit for £45 even less if I use a discount code from there page.

Providing psn credit is still available from retailers I don't see the issue.

[neomahi]

Who says that? There's nothing wrong with the Store.

[Thundercat77]

Crossplay attacks didn't worked. Now they try this?

Making issues where there is none. Pretty lame.

[bluefox755]

No, gamers are not upset. This is a non issue. No one buys game codes from brick and mortar, because it's never cheaper than buying from psn, or buying retail.

[Silly gameAr]

Oh, another one of these. It's funny.everyday, there's dozens of articles approved for Xbox and Nintendo, talking about "this game plays best on this" or "this streaming service is best on that," or "this console is going to have the best year ever!", but all we get for Playstation is nitpicking bs. I mean, it's obvious. I don't care what fanboy of what console you are, all you have to do is open your eyes to see it. Sony can't do anything right, even when they try to do right. It's never enough.

[rob-GP]

I disagree, I imagine nobody was buying the games and they have a high chance of being stolen and re-distributed

People will just get credit and buy the games that way

[chris235]

well, the ps4 is about games and the ps store is a very convenient way to get them. the store has got some overall quality content issues but it is there to make money. so i guess wanting to receive some clickrevenue and coming up with interesting blog posts at the same time is not the easiest thing in the world.

[Kocurstvo]

PSN is crap since the beginning and Sony has no intentions to fix basic things like crashing, pictures being unable to view in fullscreen, video auto load if only pictures are to be viewed etc... One of the reasons I prefer Xbox over PS4.

[Ricegum]

Nope.

[jlove4life]

Some articles like ppl amaze me dude sony got rid of digital game codes so if you buy game code red dead redemption 2 today 59.99 but is on weekend sale for 39.99 so basically Sony trying to help prevent us over paying gift a digital code You'll be just fine

[jznrpg]

People actually go to a store to buy a code when they can just use their controller and buy the game online in the store?? I don’t by many games digitally but I have never considered going to Best Buy or GameStop or whatever for a code .

[Razzer]

Obviously there isn't enough demand for buying codes at retail stores.

edit:
GameStop: Sony pulling game cards won't "have a material impact" on sales
https://www.gamesindustry.b...

Confirmed

[Platformgamer]

i'm fine with that, wtf is this idiot talking about

[Bo4lox]

Lol not something I will miss for sure. I have never bought a code for a game.. Ever.. And every one I know all either buy digitally or retail.. 30 years of gaming..