Amazon Becomes Alternate Venue for PSN Purchases

[roseofbattle]

Amazon Becomes Alternate Venue for PSN Purchases

You can also receive a $5 promotional credit for the Amazon PlayStation Network store when purchasing select titles from the storefront.

Amazon has launched its own PlayStation Network storefront for US customers who want to buy download codes for PS4, PS3, and Vita content without going to Sony's PSN store. In a press release, the two companies revealed they had teamed up, and it's unclear if the agreement means Amazon will mirror Sony's PSN prices or set its own prices on Amazon.

With the PS4 launching this Friday and Amazon's select games and season passes [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129508-Amazon-and-Target-Offer-Buy-Two-Get-One-Deals-on-Games] for Assassin's Creed 4, Batman: Arkham Origins, The Last of Us, and Battlefield 4, you receive a $5 PSN credit redeemable at Amazon. For these select titles, if Amazon's prices are cheaper than Sony's, it's only by four to 20 cents.

There are many other titles up for buying digitally, as well. The store is stocked with over 100 items right now, and it will add additional titles as they are released elsewhere.

The purchase of digital copies is still a bit shaky for some consumers as we were led to believe a fair amount of the price of physical games came from the cost to package the game, and yet digital copies cost the same as physical copies and lack the ability to resell a disc or easily loan it to a friend. If Amazon can break away from Sony's resistance to lower prices on its own PSN storefront, maybe there will be more incentives to buy digital on Amazon.

Source: Joystiq [http://www.amazon.com/b/?node=1289533011]

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[Andy Shandy]

Interesting. If this means the prices are Amazon's choice, and has the same sort of deals that Amazon do frequently for PC games, then this could be huge in helping people to go for digital distribution on consoles (and an idea MS should've come up with when pushing digital early on).

If it's just the same prices as PSN, then there's little point. Definitely hoping it is the former however. I suppose even if it is the latter, people will probably feel safer with the details on Amazon than on PSN.

 

[MCerberus]

I hope this works out, so we can see the console market evolve. Just here we get a second, more reactive market for the in-console one to compete with that has its own advantages. In the future it may lead to Steam or grey-market (I can dream) support.

 

[Irridium]

So does this mean I can buy stuff without having to add money to my parent's account because when we got the PS3 I was seven years younger without a credit card or money or anything and they made me a child account but I'm an adult now who's sick of having to add money to their account so I can buy stuff because Sony for some reason didn't put a system in place to upgrade child accounts to master accounts and don't have a way to let child accounts add/spend money on their own accounts because I guess they didn't think people grow up into adults?

Because that'd be rad.

 

[Khanht Cope]

Allowing competition between Amazon and PSN on pricing would benefit users immensely and likely hasten the growth of digital adoption of PSN games considerably plus slow the recent leaking of gamers from consoles to PC. The lack of competition in console digital distribution brings much of the resistance people have to letting go of physical ownership in the console space.

However, I'm doubtful they'll be going that far. It's more likely that it's just meant to be an extension of the market reach for PSN games. (where Sony can make bucks for selling various digital media, and this is the reason there has been a "battle for the living room" amoung popular consumer tech corporations)

 

[Frezzato]

This is how things used to be a few years back between Amazon and PSN. I'm glad they came back to an agreement because you could just buy something on Amazon and get a code.

When the original Sony/Amazon system disappeared you were left with having to buy PSN cards, which unlike Microsoft's stupid points system was a 1:1 conversion; in reality it was just a PSN gift card. I would buy a PSN digital card on Amazon and redeem it on PSN. Granted, none of this was necessary as I could have just used my credit card on PSN (I think), but I don't do that with anyone but companies who know how to properly conduct business online (read: neither Microsoft nor Sony).

Hopefully Microsoft will do the same, but they'll probably try and get people to go to some Xbox One website and buy stuff there (i.e. direct business). Still, I'm glad MS made the conversion to real cash, which was long overdue.

Oh, and the main advantage to buying stuff on a major website means you can purchase digital goods, get a code, and then pass that code along to a friend online. Amazon is nice because you can buy a digital gift card there and the recipient would just receive an email. It would be even cooler if there were integration between Amazon and PSN/Live/Wii U. Imagine turning on your console and getting a notification that somebody bought you a digital game and you could start downloading it immediately, or considering the new architecture, the download began in the middle of the night and was ready by the time you turned it on after getting home from work.

 

[Battenberg]

Intriguing, I hope Amazon UK will be doing this too. As convenient as the PSN store is the lack of competition means that they're prices are often ridiculously high (e.g. trying to charge £50 for a game that is now £30 in most shops).

 

[rees263]

To be honest I have been pleasantly surprised by Sony's digital pricing (in the UK). That's not to say everything is a bargain, but they have deals often and (at least some) older games do get decent price reductions. There's a lot on there to be had for less than £20. I just wish the store itself was better - it's a pain to navigate.