SONY WILL Stop Distributing Game Download Codes from Retailers on APRIL 1ST

[KingGuy420]

3 minutes ago, ERGOPROXY-DECAY said:

Besides from Humble, I had never bought a PS digital game from a retailer, honestly does this really affect anyone? Im a little buzz atm so I don't see anything to panic about.

 

Yeah, I've never even heard of someone buying one lol. Maybe that's why they're stopping.

[Elvick_]

2 hours ago, DEI2EK said:

This means that there won't be any more Playstation humble bundles, which is kind of disappointing

I don’t think that’s the same at all. I bet generated codes for giveaways/press are unaffected by this. It’s just not shipping out redundant codes to retailers. If you want to buy a game, buy PSN cards or the physical copy. 

[CaptHowdy_91]

The codes were a good way to find digital only games that got delisted from PSN.

Thanks to them, I was able to buy Plants vs Zombies on Vita, and LBP Pirates DLC months after hearing they were delisted.

This is one less option for trophy hunters, and anyone else who was late to picking up certain titles.

[RNumbers]

Codes to consider picking up (all verified working):

 

Chivalry (delisted, only PS3 codes available)

Expendables 2 (delisted)

Swarm (delisted)

Contrast (delisted on PS3)

Shoot Many Robots (delisted)

White Night (delisted)

 

List any others here, please.

 

Edit: Age of Booty, Tumble

Edited March 27, 2019 by RNumbers

[Maxie_M0us3]

4 hours ago, RNumbers said:

Codes to consider picking up (all verified working):

 

Chivalry (delisted, only PS3 codes available)

Expendables 2 (delisted)

Swarm (delisted)

Contrast (delisted on PS3)

Shoot Many Robots (delisted)

White Night (delisted)

 

List any others here, please.

 

This is the worst outcome of this leaked news: Making codes of delisted games invalid. So many of them aren’t on physical disc, making them even more impossible to play (unless you have a friend to share his account for the games, but this isn’t recommended and it’s risky of account theft).

Edited March 25, 2019 by Max654

[AJ_Radio]

Sony needs to be reminded of where they were back in 2011 when their entire network was hacked and it left them vulnerable.

 

They have far outsold Xbox this entire generation and I am starting to think that their greed is getting the better of them.

 

I used to get codes from retailers in the past, but in recent times I have mostly spent my money on PSN cards and buying directly through PSN. But this is another reason why I still buy physical, you get to keep the damn game long after it has been delisted. The Transformer games are a good example, since the license was expired and Activision hasn't bothered to renew it.

 

If they continue to go down this road then the next console generation may not be so nice to them. Sony got what they deserved during the start of the Playstation 3 when they were trailing behind the Xbox 360.

[Terra]

And this is the reason I always prefer a physical copy. My ideal situation is to have a digital and a physical but at least I can always use a disc, until it rots at least.

Edited March 25, 2019 by Terra

[ZitMeatloaf]

10 hours ago, Caesar Clown said:

 

Most stores would honor physical version sales and you could get the digital code from their store for the same sale price.

I've never tried doing this, so I don't doubt what you say... that said, if I see a physical version on sale, I'd much rather purchase the physical copy anyway, so it never would have occurred to me to ask if the retailer would honor the same price for a download code.

[majob]

This doesn't really sound odd to me. Consumers rarely purchase download codes and most digital sales occur within a company's digital store. Retailers also rarely put codes on sale in comparison to the digital store front and those sales almost never match the discount percentage either. Digital codes also never drop in price and can still be full price when the physical copy itself has gone down to $20 or less. I'm not a fan of removing consumer options but if this is real, I can certainly say I understand why it's happening

[fastflowdaman]

Having fewer options is virtually always the worse solution.

 

I've been hoping for quite some time now someone / some incident will not only knock Sony off their high horse, but also beat some much needed humbleness into their arrogant asses.

 

Shit's been going on for far too long now.

[kidson2004]

16 hours ago, CaptHowdy_91 said:

The codes were a good way to find digital only games that got delisted from PSN.

Thanks to them, I was able to buy Plants vs Zombies on Vita, and LBP Pirates DLC months after hearing they were delisted.

This is one less option for trophy hunters, and anyone else who was late to picking up certain titles.

Yep, the Marvel Ultimate Alliance bundle is a prime example. 

[AJ_Radio]

12 hours ago, fastflowdaman said:

Having fewer options is virtually always the worse solution.

 

I've been hoping for quite some time now someone / some incident will not only knock Sony off their high horse, but also beat some much needed humbleness into their arrogant asses.

 

Shit's been going on for far too long now.

 

Exactly.

 

Sony never would of done this back in 2009 - 2012. The reason is because they had a strong competitor and they had to come up with ways to attract people to their console. 

 

Sony had better exclusives, Microsoft had better online multiplayer. 

 

Nowadays they are so far ahead of Microsoft that they’re pulling shit out of their ass and not getting penalized for it. They have the player base, Microsoft doesn’t. They lost a lot of their fanbase. 

 

It’s why Comcast and Time Warner can continue to sucker money out of people and flat out lie to them. Because there’s no competition. 

 

Sony would be singing a different tune right now if they had competition.

Edited March 26, 2019 by Spaz

[StuGunn5]

27 minutes ago, Spaz said:

Sony never would of done this back in 2009 - 2012. 

I know this doesn't add anything to the topic but... *would have.

[Elvick_]

13 hours ago, fastflowdaman said:

Having fewer options is virtually always the worse solution.

 

I've been hoping for quite some time now someone / some incident will not only knock Sony off their high horse, but also beat some much needed humbleness into their arrogant asses.

 

Shit's been going on for far too long now.

This is hardly an example of the problems with Sony. It doesn’t  make sense to manufacture cards with codes for digital copies of specific games and distribute them to retailers. People buying digitally either use their cc directly or buy psn codes. People who buy retail tend to buy an actual physical copy not a digital code. 

 

Sucks for the games delisted that had codes hanging around, but that’s the digital future so many think is amazing and has no drawbacks.

 

i also don’t see why retailers would stock the codes to begin with, waste of shelf space. “Drive to our store to buy a digital copy of a specific game you could’ve bought from the comfort of your home already!” Yeah you can say the same for PSN cards, however you can plan those out so when you’re already out and about you pick one up for a game coming out next week. So you don’t waste the gas money (and time) going to a retailer to buy a digital copy. Plus it lets you not put cc info on PSN if you’re worried about it.

Edited March 26, 2019 by Elvick_

[AJ_Radio]

I have downloaded and played games digitally for over 20 years. Playing digital only is nothing new. 

 

My problem is when games get delisted and nobody cares enough to bring them back. Sure, most of them are probably games that hardly anybody gives a damn about, but still that is pretty counter intuitive for those who buy everything digital anyway. 

 

A fair number of games published by Activision are no longer available on the PSN Store. So you’re basically screwed, unless you don’t mind shopping around for a physical copy. 

 

The only other option is to game share, but that is against the rules of this website and you are exposing personal information because you have to share account details. As someone who has had accounts stolen in the past, I don’t trust anybody for them to allow access. 

 

Sony needs to be knocked off their high horse. It’s getting ridiculous at this point.

[Feral]

Just another reason why physical games are the best.

[Elvick_]

2 hours ago, Spaz said:

I have downloaded and played games digitally for over 20 years. Playing digital only is nothing new. 

 

My problem is when games get delisted and nobody cares enough to bring them back. Sure, most of them are probably games that hardly anybody gives a damn about, but still that is pretty counter intuitive for those who buy everything digital anyway. 

 

A fair number of games published by Activision are no longer available on the PSN Store. So you’re basically screwed, unless you don’t mind shopping around for a physical copy. 

 

The only other option is to game share, but that is against the rules of this website and you are exposing personal information because you have to share account details. As someone who has had accounts stolen in the past, I don’t trust anybody for them to allow access. 

 

Sony needs to be knocked off their high horse. It’s getting ridiculous at this point.

This has nothing to do with Sony and their "high horse", and everything to do with digital and licensing rights. Bet all those Activision games you're talking about were licensed, and a different company now has said license. See Adventure Time being pulled by D3 Publisher and then Adventure Time Pirates of whatever releasing by OutRight Games since they obtained the license. Same thing with Ben 10.

This is no different from songs and albums being removed from Spotify or iTunes. It's not because the "high horse" of Apple or *insert parent company of Spotify here*. It's because that's how licenses work. Most of the time they have an end date, and come time that's it. Done. No more can you buy it. Or get it legally anywhere. Unless there's physical media. That is literally the only way to ensure you have access to entertainment. Even sailing the seas doesn't guarantee you'll be able to find *everything*.

This is literally not Sony's fault. Nonsense like this will just make people ignore you when you have real problems with Sony. Like their dumb censorship of all Japanese games, and requiring Japanese developers to contact them in English. Now that is hubris. Telling the rest of the world to pass California purity tests before they allow you to release a game in *another country* and then forcing you to do so in their own native tongue because they can't be bothered to hire someone who can speak Japanese. Even though they're the ones requiring those who only speak Japanese to go through them in the first place rather than SIEJ.

That's an issue. Digital rights expiring is not a Sony issue. It's just a digital issue.

[AJ_Radio]

19 hours ago, Elvick_ said:

This has nothing to do with Sony and their "high horse", and everything to do with digital and licensing rights. Bet all those Activision games you're talking about were licensed, and a different company now has said license. See Adventure Time being pulled by D3 Publisher and then Adventure Time Pirates of whatever releasing by OutRight Games since they obtained the license. Same thing with Ben 10.

This is no different from songs and albums being removed from Spotify or iTunes. It's not because the "high horse" of Apple or *insert parent company of Spotify here*. It's because that's how licenses work. Most of the time they have an end date, and come time that's it. Done. No more can you buy it. Or get it legally anywhere. Unless there's physical media. That is literally the only way to ensure you have access to entertainment. Even sailing the seas doesn't guarantee you'll be able to find *everything*.

This is literally not Sony's fault. Nonsense like this will just make people ignore you when you have real problems with Sony. Like their dumb censorship of all Japanese games, and requiring Japanese developers to contact them in English. Now that is hubris. Telling the rest of the world to pass California purity tests before they allow you to release a game in *another country* and then forcing you to do so in their own native tongue because they can't be bothered to hire someone who can speak Japanese. Even though they're the ones requiring those who only speak Japanese to go through them in the first place rather than SIEJ.

That's an issue. Digital rights expiring is not a Sony issue. It's just a digital issue.

 

I just threw Sony in there because I haven’t approved most of their newer decisions. 

 

Competition is a good thing, but when someone like Sony gets the upper hand, you bet your dollar they will be making decisions that cater to them. The less competition, the higher the share of profits. 

 

Regarding delisted games, there are already a few that are next to impossible to obtain now. Deadpool and the Transformer games can only be gotten via physical. What I was referring to was that the people who hold onto the license generally don’t care to make the games readily available. 

 

There’s a reason illegal downloading and The Pirate Bay exist. When a song or movie gets delisted sometimes the only way to get access to those is through torrents. 

 

Look at Netflix. Several years ago they had a vast library of movies and tv shows. But in recent times a great deal of media has simply vanished, probably for reasons you mentioned. So you have two options: Buy physically or take a risk through The Pirate Bay. I have found a number of movies that were once on Netflix haven’t returned, so physical is really the only guarantee. 

 

Censorship is nothing new. I find the people who make the censorship regulations are a bunch of old farts who are out of touch with us, and frankly they couldn’t care less if something doesn’t fit their agenda. There are people want to censor everything, based on my experience with working with them and knowing a few personally. 

 

This is my two cents.

 

Edited March 27, 2019 by BlindMango

[yellowwindow7]

never in my life life have bought a digital game codes so i'm safe, as long as they don't mess with the prepaid recharge cards that i'm buying for those small digital games that i'm buying from the PSN Store.

[zizimonster]

As long as PSN cards are still available, I guess I'm fine.

[Maxie_M0us3]

Here we go... the change has now been confirmed by Sony, via a The Verge article. Sad times...

 

https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/25/18281538/sony-playstation-4-gamestop-stop-selling-game-download-codes-retailers

Edited March 26, 2019 by Max654

[fastflowdaman]

8 hours ago, Elvick_ said:

This is hardly an example of the problems with Sony.

 

True in that regard that this would be only the tip of the iceberg and not one of their major issues. Nothing to be welcomed though, that's for sure.

 

8 hours ago, Elvick_ said:

waste of shelf space

 

There's hardly anything that wastes less shelf space than some code cards, so that argument doesn't really make sense.

 

8 hours ago, Elvick_ said:

you can say the same for PSN cards, however you can plan those out so when you’re already out and about you pick one up for a game coming out

 

Same goes for digital codes. You could pick up a code for a game in a store where the physical edition is long gone, but the code is still sold due to - wait for it - shelf space.

 

Plus you're missing the fact that digital codes are not necessarily sold by retailers and therefore don't have to be bought in a shop. There are many online sellers like Amazon, GameStop etc that will no longer be able to sell these codes. No gas nor time involved in the purchase.

[AJ_Radio]

Digital codes don’t use up any shelf space. 

 

They’re getting away with this because they realize that most people don’t care. 

 

Meanwhile our games are becoming more and more like “service” titles. When the online shuts down, so does your chance of playing the game because a connection is required. 

 

Who cares if people can’t play a game 10, 15, 20 years from now? Pretty soon we’re going to be left with a bunch of games are are nigh impossible to obtain. It all falls to the bottom dollar. 

 

As a long time gamer, little pisses me off more than seeing games become impossible to buy and play due to digital rights and other bullshit. 

 

There needs to be a serious overhaul on how long we can expect to pick up games. A lot of delisted games aren’t available physically so you’re pretty much fucked if you didn’t get around to them in time.

[Alantor32]

1 minute ago, Spaz said:

Digital codes don’t use up any shelf space. 

 

They’re getting away with this because they realize that most people don’t care. 

 

Meanwhile our games are becoming more and more like “service” titles. When the online shuts down, so does your chance of playing the game because a connection is required. 

 

Who cares if people can’t play a game 10, 15, 20 years from now? Pretty soon we’re going to be left with a bunch of games are are nigh impossible to obtain. It all falls to the bottom dollar. 

 

As a long time gamer, little pisses me off more than seeing games become impossible to buy and play due to digital rights and other bullshit. 

 

There needs to be a serious overhaul on how long we can expect to pick up games. A lot of delisted games aren’t available physically so you’re pretty much fucked if you didn’t get around to them in time.

Uh... I think you're getting a bit overexagrated with this, man.

[AJ_Radio]

1 minute ago, MMX20 said:

Uh... I think you're getting a bit overexagrated with this, man.

 

This is barely an exaggeration in any sense.