Sony has announced and confirmed that they will stop selling all digital games through physical retailers starting April 1, 2019. After this month, all digital games can only be purchased from PlayStation Network and nowhere else. This was earlier revealed by GameStop who received a memo from Sony announcing the news.
However, this will only limit complete titles as DLC, add-ons, season passes and virtual currency will still be available at physical retailers. GameStop clearly mentioned in their earlier tweet that this will affect not only GameSpot but all physical retailers however this has been now confirmed by Sony itself.
In a new statement issued to Eurogamer, Sony confirmed the GameSpot’s announcement and stated that the decision was taken so that they can align key businesses globally. Sony plans to introduce increased denominations of PSN credit at select shops in the future as well which will allow buyers to add credit to their PSN stores using these cards.
The official statement issued to Eurogamer by Sony states:
We can confirm that as of April 1, 2019, Sony Interactive Entertainment will no longer offer full games through SIE’s Global Digital at Retail program. This decision was made in order to continue to align key businesses globally. To support full games and premium editions, SIE will introduce increased denominations at select retailers. DLC, add-ons, virtual currency, and season passes will still be available.
Players can still purchase digital game codes from all retailers until this month ends. After March 31, 2019, all physical retail stores will stop selling digital game codes to players. They will only stock digital codes for DLC, add-ons, virtual currencies and season passes which can be purchased normally.
You can check out the statement issued by GameStop staff below.
GameStop stores just got a memo saying that Sony will no longer provide full game digital download codes to retailers (not just GameStop) starting April 1st. Digital games will only be available straight from PSN after that date. Add-on content/PSN $ cards will still be available
— Wario64 (@Wario64) March 22, 2019
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