Game to sell digital PS3 titles and DLC

By Robert Purchese Published 15 August, 2011

UPDATE: info on pricing, code retrieval.

Update: Game has offered Eurogamer an insight into pricing and how you'll receive the digital PS3 content.

Pricing depends on title. "Every product is individually displayed and marketed with a specific price point," a spokesperson for Game told us.

For example, the God of War Collection will cost £24.99, whereas the Killzone 3 Steel Rain Map pack will cost £3.99.

When you buy the content you'll receive a 12-digit code on either your receipt or via email or SMS text. It's this code you redeem online on PS3.

Original story: Game has signed a deal with Sony Europe to sell downloadable PS3 games, game add-ons and PS Plus subscriptions.

A cluster of 42 Game and Gamestation shops will begin selling Sony's digital PSN content from today.

By mid-September, Game expects all 620 UK stores (Game and Gamestation) to offer the "full range" of over 50 PS3 games.

To begin with, the games will be limited to Sony's first-party output. Games mentioned are MAG, God of War Collection and WipEout Fury. Game add-ons mentioned are the Killzone Steel Rain Map pack and the Uncharted 2 Siege Expansion pack.

In time, the selection will expand to third-party games.

Game noted that this deal sees it become "Europe's biggest retailer of digital games". The PSN digital content Game said will "eventually be extended to Europe".

The God of War Collection - buy it in a real shop!

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About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (39) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • qwertymz #1 9 months ago

    Does this mean games will be cheaper? What advantage will buying a digital copy over a hard one give me?

  • MojoDex #2 9 months ago

    So the PSN just got even more exspensive!

  • Bahumet #3 9 months ago

    Why? You can already buy credit for psn that you can spend on anything.

  • Ranger101 #4 9 months ago

    So you can spend your GAME points on digital content.

  • Goonboy #5 9 months ago

    should do it online too
    Edited by Goonboy at 15/08/11 @ 11:21

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #6 9 months ago

    This should mean discounts, presumably upto 30% as Sony take a hit on there cut of the sale not the publisher\developer.

  • Cosquae #7 9 months ago

    "Europe's biggest retailer of digital games"

    On what possible metric do they beat Steam in Europe currently?

  • AaronTurner #8 9 months ago

    Good move, surprised it tool this long though.

  • BigDannyH #9 9 months ago

    I think the biggest thing that the games companies are worried about when it comes to the online market place is how to purchase gifts.

    Everyone knows the biggest season for buying games is Xmas, but how the hell does grandma buy little Johnny his favourite game directly from PSN?

    And just giving them an online voucher doesn't cut it as little Johnny might (will) buy something unsuitable for his innocent little brain.

    I believe this is why the games companies are scared of losing the high-street games shops.

  • DigitalScars #10 9 months ago

    Call me stupid but if i've taken the time to go all the way to a store, i'm just gonna pickup the hardcopy rather than a scratch card to then go home and start a download. Defeats the purpose does it not?

  • RodHull #11 9 months ago

    Good idea, especially for those still a bit sus about buying stuff via PSN. Game have been selling XBLA game codes for a while, be interesting to see how successful they've been.

  • CB.Gamestation #12 9 months ago

    Or the more environmentally friendly version which is a till reciept with the code on! :D

  • Razz #13 9 months ago

    Hopefully more places will adopt this strategy, only to drive competition. Could lead to cheaper prices. I just wonder how security will work on these cards, nothing stoping a cheeky employee scratching one and texting his mate. Maybe the code will be generated by computer and printed on the receipt instead. Better for the environment.

  • Architect_z #14 9 months ago

    I'm gonna do a poo in GAME.

  • AaronTurner #15 9 months ago

    @Digitalscars: Would you not compare the prices first?

    Anyway, this makes it even more possible for next gen consoles to have a fully fledged digital store, perhaps there won't even be an optical drive, who knows? They've been needing to do this for a while anyway, it'll be interesting to see how prices compare after a while.

  • Subdominator #16 9 months ago

    I don't get it. So Sony thinks digital downloads work best if you walk into a store, buy a code and then go online and download the game? And here I thought the only good thing about digital distribution was that I don't have to go into a store anymore. Selling codes in a store just feels so horribly wrong. I can see it working for those points cards, because it's basically like going to a bank and exchanging your money in another currency. So now you can

    a) go to PSN, buy what you want with a credit card
    b) go to a store, buy a PSN card with your credit card, go to PSN, buy what you want
    c) go to a store, buy what you want with a credit card or cash, go to PSN, download what you just bought

    Now why would anybody be that stupid? It obviously can't help prices, cause now there is another company involved that wants to make money. So unless Sony actually wants to make less money this means prices have to be even higher in the future.

  • arcam #17 9 months ago

    @Subdominator

    Is this any different to buying Xbox Live cards? I see people talking about buying them all the time.

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #18 9 months ago

    @Subdominator


    1. People buying gifts
    2. People that dont have credit cards and want to use cash
    3. People that dont trust sony with there card details anymore
    4. People that want the cards at a discounted rate, when there not discounted on the store

    Its really not that hard to think of people that would use this service, get a grip.

  • chibber23 #19 9 months ago

    I think people are being a little short sighted criticising this.

    This is the future as it needs to happen, one day like it or not we'll be downloading everything onto our consoles - we NEED to have more than one store on them so competition can drive down prices or we (the consumer) loose out and end up paying the RRP for everything.

    If I were Amazon, Game, HMV et al I’d be aggressively pursuing Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft using anti-competitive rules to get onto consoles with their own online stores.

    We all bitch when the PS3 store tries to charge £49.99 for Infamous – the only way that will stop is when you can jump back to the cross media bar, click on another shop and get it for £20 cheaper. We'd get more features in the stores more quickly, more games, cheaper prices, better sales etc... Giving retailers access to their console early would end up being a win for the console companies as well, if they were allowed onto one console they would push the console harder in their shops, the console maker would recieve a small percent of every sale and it would be popular with consumers as they would save money.

    As a PS3 owner, if I were in charge of developing Sony’s cross media bar (and if I were there would be a lot of improvements) this would be near the top of my list of things to do.

    Though this isn't the implementation of what I've discussed above - it's the beginning of something great for gamers
    Edited by chibber23 at 15/08/11 @ 10:41

  • Razz #20 9 months ago

    The only reason why digital prices for 1st party full games are so expensive on PSN is because Sony can't undercut high street retailers. Imagine if Infamous 2 was 29.99 on psn when it launched, the retailers would have been up in arms. You simply can't undercut the people who sell and market your games. And its a damn shame.

  • Toothball #21 9 months ago

    @Subdominator

    I suspect this is partly a result of Sony's recent network troubles. They've now got a proportion of customers unwilling to give leave their credit card details with them, but still want to be able to buy digital content. Sure, there's still the option of pre-paid cards, but that's an extra step that might be enough to put some off. Instead, they can go into a store and come out with a code for the thing they wanted, rather than a code which they have to then take home and wade through PSN to use. I also think that it's preparation for the Vita launch. That is seemingly going to have a stronger online presence from day one, so getting people familiar with the idea of buying digital.

  • toa_boa #22 9 months ago

    Good move on Game's side from their perspective - they want to continue being the "one-stop" for all things game related, and adding digital PSN content is just one other frontier for them to embrace.

  • ianegg #23 9 months ago

    Regarding the video caption; you can already buy God of War Collection in a real shop, often cheaper than PSN.

  • Murton #24 9 months ago

    We've been asking for a way to give PSN content as gifts for a while and Sony have said that they were working on something but I was hoping for an actual gift system rather than this.

  • jumpdeveraux #25 9 months ago

    The million dollar question is ... will Sony let Game (or other resellers of the game cards) have unique "pre-order" bonusses as cards can be bought ahead of a games release.

    Presumable the capability is there to allow certain codes to carry a particular pre-order bonus but I hope that this practice is something that Sony won't allow (restricting game content even if guns/skins to certain sellers is really aggravating).

    Bigger picture, this is Phase 1 of MS/Sony graciously phasing retailers out.

  • kosigan #26 9 months ago

    @Cosquae: "On what possible metric do they beat Steam in Europe currently?"

    Steam has how many retail shops, exactly?

    @jumpdeveraux: "Bigger picture, this is Phase 1 of MS/Sony graciously phasing retailers out."

    Not so much retailers, as physical products - though this will certainly affect retailers, as second-hand sales cease to exist.

  • kingpin3000 #27 9 months ago

    If this increases the competition and lowers prices then I'm all for it.

  • MojoDex #28 9 months ago

    Why all the negs? Do we believe Game wont add a mark up?

  • xuiton #29 9 months ago

    i've noticed digital copies of games are more expensive than retail, which doesn't even make any sense.

  • NeverWinter78 #30 9 months ago

    I like the sound of this as long as prices are right. I dont get much on PSN but since PSN got hacked I won't put my details on there again. But if I can get DLC through my game account I'm ok with that.

  • Widge #31 9 months ago

    I think this is more of a marketing thing, to raise awareness of digital store games than anything else.

  • ginjaninja88 #32 9 months ago

    The reason is that some people , mainly kids and their parents feel more comfortable buying the game from the store like game rather than putting their credit card details into psn , for obvious reasons. I myself probably wont be using the service but it a good way to broaden the reach of downloadable games and the games of smaller developers to a audience who would normally not be introduced to such gems as Joe Danger or Fat princess.If it improves sales for PSN and helps raise funds to make even more great games , whats not to love.

  • Ryze #33 9 months ago

    It gives the games in-store / high street visibility.

    The people who wander into Game stores throughout the year are often completely different customers to those who buy on PSN every other week.

    This move gets some of those store browsers buying PSN content without having to take the initiative to browse the (crap) PSN store interface.

    @DigitalScars

    You're stupid.

    @Subdominator

    So are you.

    :p
    Edited by Ryze at 15/08/11 @ 15:33

  • Lymmusic #34 9 months ago

    Psn and xbl prices have to keep above the rrp retailers are bound to, otherwise the retailers are unlikely to offer shelf space for consoles and are going to push heavily for high margin preowned sales... This kind of deal means that potentially sony can rduce the psn price, say mass effect download to be more in line with a retail release, and Game can sell that version of the game too, so customers get more choice and retailers don't feel like they are cut out of the loop if digital sales increase. In a future where physical product looks less likely retailers are needed to sell consoles, but can't be excluded from software completely at least for anothef console generation

  • TechnicPuppet #35 9 months ago

    I wonder if there is a shelf space deal included in this. The Gamestation in Motherwell has a tiny little bit for PS3, not sure if thats the norm or just that store specifically.

  • varnavides #36 9 months ago

    Just like many have said - it will be a sad day for gamers when digital download is the only option.

  • GoDo69 #37 9 months ago

    I see the demise of the 2nd hand game market getting closer and closer

  • KungFuSpoon #38 9 months ago

    I can see WHY Game would want in on digital distribution in some form (along side their token web based attempts) however I don't see the long term gains, ultimately in the digital future the distributor/publisher will dictate the price, unlike physical stock which takes up valuable storage/shelf space digital copies are essentially infinitely small, so there is no 'clearance sale' no price reductions to make room for stock it will always be the license holder offering the lowest price.

    In this market we end up with a model like the film industry, the cinema pays the film studios/publishers a fixed fee per ticket sold usually not much less than the face value of the ticket sometimes more. The cinema makes it's money on the concession stands, hence the ridiculous mark up on your box of popcorn. Currently Game's concession stand is the used/second hand market, however the digital age prevents all this, so either the high street chains have to start making their profit margins from hardware or they stop trading I don't see this happening since the current model leaves Sony and Microsoft cutting a loss on each unit sold to gain market share, in order for the retailer to profit they would have to make a bigger loss on hardware.

    If the hardware makers are pushing for digital distribution (and therefore greater control over distribution) then it suggests to me at least that they are trying to cut the high street out altogether.
    Edited by KungFuSpoon at 15/08/11 @ 22:56

  • gandhimaster #39 9 months ago

    I'm not against the idea, but as people have said, i feel this will keep prices high.

    Sony sell PSN downloads for higher than the retail version.
    Game will be paying Sony a cut of the digital sale.
    Game will thus sell the digital copy higher than Sony's, surely?
    Sony will make money off a sale from Game, but not as much as if it came directly from PSN as there wouldnt be any middle men... so its a weird situation.

    Again, opening up the market is great, but PSN cards already allow for all of this, and if parents are controlling what their children buy then there'd be no risk of a PSN card being used to purchase mature content by the child receiving the card for xmas anyway.