Something went wrong. Try again later

Giant Bomb News

195 Comments

PSN to Offer Retail Games Cheaper on Day One

Sony and several publishers heading into uncharted territory with digital sales.

No Caption Provided

When a game is published at retail, there’s manufacturing and distribution costs that have resulted in the now-standard $59.99 price point. How come we’re still paying full price for those games in digital forms, then? The biggest reason is that nobody wants to cross retail partners, who are still important to the industry ecosystem.

Don't want to pay full price for Dishonored? Sony's got an offer you might want to consider.
Don't want to pay full price for Dishonored? Sony's got an offer you might want to consider.

Sony, alongside several major third-party publishers, are about to cross that line with the new “PSN Day 1 Digital” program. The new service will offer games like NBA 2K13 and Dishonored, alongside several others, for $53.99 on the same day they’re available at retail shops like Best Buy and GameStop for $59.99.

There are some catches, though.

One, you have to be a PlayStation Plus subscriber ($50 per year), and you have to pre-order the game. Within those two caveats, however, those games and more will be available cheaper via PSN.

The full list, as announced by Sony today, is below, including details on games that aren’t cheaper:

  • Resident Evil 6 (Available for download on October 2 - $59.99)
  • NBA 2K13 (Available for download on October 2 - $59.99/$53.99 for PLUS members, with pre-order)*
  • Dishonored (Available for download on October 9 - $59.99/$53.99 for PLUS members, with pre-order)*
  • DOOM 3: BFG Edition (Available for download on October 16 - $39.99/$35.99 for PLUS members, with pre-order)*
  • 007: Legends (Available for download on October 16 - $59.99)+
  • Medal Of Honor: Warfighter (Available for download on October 23 - $59.99)
  • Need For Speed: Most Wanted (Available for download on October 30 - $59.99/$53.99 for PLUS members, with pre-order)*
  • Assassin’s Creed III (Available for download on October 30 - $59.99)*

The asterisk means those games are available for pre-order. Resident Evil 6, for example, is not. The + means the 10% discount (in this case, 007: Legends for PS Plus members) is available for a week after launch.

Basically, there are a bunch of options for publishers who want to opt-in to this program.

This is a big moment for the relationship between platform holders, publishers, and retail. I’m curious to see how (if) retail responds. And it’s one more reason Sony’s making Xbox Live seem like a joke.

Patrick Klepek on Google+

195 Comments

Avatar image for patrickklepek
patrickklepek

6835

Forum Posts

1300

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By patrickklepek
No Caption Provided

When a game is published at retail, there’s manufacturing and distribution costs that have resulted in the now-standard $59.99 price point. How come we’re still paying full price for those games in digital forms, then? The biggest reason is that nobody wants to cross retail partners, who are still important to the industry ecosystem.

Don't want to pay full price for Dishonored? Sony's got an offer you might want to consider.
Don't want to pay full price for Dishonored? Sony's got an offer you might want to consider.

Sony, alongside several major third-party publishers, are about to cross that line with the new “PSN Day 1 Digital” program. The new service will offer games like NBA 2K13 and Dishonored, alongside several others, for $53.99 on the same day they’re available at retail shops like Best Buy and GameStop for $59.99.

There are some catches, though.

One, you have to be a PlayStation Plus subscriber ($50 per year), and you have to pre-order the game. Within those two caveats, however, those games and more will be available cheaper via PSN.

The full list, as announced by Sony today, is below, including details on games that aren’t cheaper:

  • Resident Evil 6 (Available for download on October 2 - $59.99)
  • NBA 2K13 (Available for download on October 2 - $59.99/$53.99 for PLUS members, with pre-order)*
  • Dishonored (Available for download on October 9 - $59.99/$53.99 for PLUS members, with pre-order)*
  • DOOM 3: BFG Edition (Available for download on October 16 - $39.99/$35.99 for PLUS members, with pre-order)*
  • 007: Legends (Available for download on October 16 - $59.99)+
  • Medal Of Honor: Warfighter (Available for download on October 23 - $59.99)
  • Need For Speed: Most Wanted (Available for download on October 30 - $59.99/$53.99 for PLUS members, with pre-order)*
  • Assassin’s Creed III (Available for download on October 30 - $59.99)*

The asterisk means those games are available for pre-order. Resident Evil 6, for example, is not. The + means the 10% discount (in this case, 007: Legends for PS Plus members) is available for a week after launch.

Basically, there are a bunch of options for publishers who want to opt-in to this program.

This is a big moment for the relationship between platform holders, publishers, and retail. I’m curious to see how (if) retail responds. And it’s one more reason Sony’s making Xbox Live seem like a joke.

Avatar image for camwil
camwil

121

Forum Posts

3

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By camwil

PSN is on a roll

Avatar image for rjaylee
rjaylee

3804

Forum Posts

529

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 2

Edited By rjaylee

I don't know about you, but if this is all Adam Boyes' doing, he is fucking KILLING IT.

Avatar image for morridin
Morridin

82

Forum Posts

5

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By Morridin

Cool, I'll get Doom3 then!

Edit: Ahw dang!

Still, even if it is only 1 day and just a few dollars, it is a small step.

Avatar image for rayeth
Rayeth

1239

Forum Posts

749

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 8

Edited By Rayeth

Hm. I don't think think this is going to add too many NEW customers. It might make some people who were already PS+ members buy more though.

Avatar image for ruthloose
RuthLoose

909

Forum Posts

5

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

Edited By RuthLoose

I, for one, can't wait for Amazon's anti-Day 1 Digital counter-measure task force to assemble.

Avatar image for krataur
Krataur

507

Forum Posts

43

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 11

Edited By Krataur

Preordering a digital download? What madness is this?

Avatar image for meatboy
MeatBoy

61

Forum Posts

393

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 6

Edited By MeatBoy

Wonder what retail is thinking now.

Avatar image for jonny_eh
jonny_eh

61

Forum Posts

14

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By jonny_eh

Preorder discount aside, being able to just buy new retail games online is pretty damn awesome!

Avatar image for rirse
Rirse

330

Forum Posts

8

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By Rirse

Really wish XBox live Gold would copy this already so I would could renew it again. Plus is just too good, and I do love them takiing ideas from Valve.

Avatar image for soybob
soybob

189

Forum Posts

33

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By soybob

This sounds neat and exciting; until they start charging £50 in the UK because that's what the RRP is over here. If you're paying £50 for a game, you're doing it wrong.

Avatar image for foolishchaos
FoolishChaos

515

Forum Posts

2

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By FoolishChaos

Good for sony. But as someone who mostly plays PC games now, 10% off a day 1 purchase seems like a pittance.

Avatar image for bigsmoke77
bigsmoke77

853

Forum Posts

44

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By bigsmoke77

Microsoft is getting left behind in a alarming way.

Avatar image for phatmac
Phatmac

5947

Forum Posts

1139

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 18

User Lists: 12

Edited By Phatmac

Good on Sony! I'm impressed. Microsoft better be making a deal like this as well.

Avatar image for nomtank
nomtank

283

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By nomtank

My measly hard drive weeps at announcements like this...

Avatar image for crunchinjelly
CrunchinJelly

19

Forum Posts

7

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By CrunchinJelly

Digital downloads should be cheaper than retail for everyone. Hiding it behind a subscription is stupid.

Avatar image for xmegadethxsly
xMEGADETHxSLY

484

Forum Posts

302

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By xMEGADETHxSLY

HALO 3 CAME OUT 5 YEARS AGO TODAY. also this is cool too

Avatar image for terranova
Terranova

685

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By Terranova

I wonder if the same thing is going to happen to the EU PSN store they had SSX on there last week for download at £59 you can get it from Amazon for £20, of course that's a EA game and so they set the price but still no way anyone would pay that when you can get much more cheaper, It's a nice idea but it's needs every publisher to be involved not just a select few if digital only is going to be the way forward

Avatar image for dagbiker
Dagbiker

7057

Forum Posts

1019

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 16

Edited By Dagbiker

Not much of a discount, and they arnt cutting out retailers. So thats good.

Avatar image for colourful_hippie
colourful_hippie

6335

Forum Posts

8

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By colourful_hippie

Nice to see somebody on the console side try something like this, I've already been used to deep cuts on recent releases on the PC side and it's fantastic. Hopefully MS wises up when the next consoles come around or else they will be the arrogant one left behind like Sony was out of the gate with the PS3.

Avatar image for chilibean_3
chilibean_3

2406

Forum Posts

324

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

Edited By chilibean_3

Whoa. This is a pretty big deal. Good on ya, Sony.

Avatar image for doctorwelch
DoctorWelch

2817

Forum Posts

1310

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 3

Edited By DoctorWelch

Awesome, I may start subscribing to PS+

Sounds like they're really stepping their game up. I can't wait to see what the next console generation war is going to be like.

Avatar image for arkum
arkum

8

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By arkum

I wonder if we'll ever see the real numbers on sales of the download versions

Avatar image for recroulette
recroulette

5460

Forum Posts

13841

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 15

User Lists: 11

Edited By recroulette

A neat idea but a couple things kill this for me 
1. The download speeds of PSN are pretty lousy at times. Especially after stuff launches  
2. PSN usually updates at around 6pm or so EST. Add the long download time to this and your game won't be ready until 8pm or so.  
 
It's a great start though. I'd be willing to buy full games online if added stuff like midnight launches and preorder bonuses like retail gets.

Avatar image for wafflestomp
wafflestomp

294

Forum Posts

1254

Wiki Points

324

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 6

Edited By wafflestomp

I go back and forth on this. I mean, PSN is so slow to download anything. What is appealing to save $7 if it takes 7 hours to download it? You can almost always find it on sale on launch day anyway. Plus I like packaging.

Avatar image for residentrevil2
Residentrevil2

535

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By Residentrevil2

This sounds very interesting. I wonder if Amazon will price match it?

Avatar image for lukeweizer
Lukeweizer

3304

Forum Posts

24753

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 2

Edited By Lukeweizer

I don't really know if I'm liking this "get cheap things" for PS+. Most of it is stuff that I wouldn't buy or already own (speaking more about the free games), and not to sound snobby or anything, but $5 off a new game doesn't really do it for me. Most of the games will be on sale at Best Buy for $39.99 in 2 months or so. I'd almost rather just save the $50 a year I have to spend on Plus.

Avatar image for bollard
Bollard

8298

Forum Posts

118

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 12

Edited By Bollard

They would have to offer pre-loading too, as downloading on the day (especially via PSN) would be so slow you wouldn't get it before day 2 of release.

Otherwise this is still really cool.

Avatar image for fargofallout
fargofallout

435

Forum Posts

140

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By fargofallout

I wonder if sales tax is included in these prices? (I've only purchased one item on PSN, which was a very long time ago, so I don't remember if they charge tax or not) If there's no tax, that makes this an even better deal. I also agree that Sony is making a much better case for their service than Microsoft is for theirs.

That being said, until the next consoles launch, I'm mostly done with the current consoles, so I only care as a matter of curiosity. Playing games on my PC is so much better.

Avatar image for betabetamax
betabetamax

248

Forum Posts

1673

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 15

Edited By betabetamax

@heatDrive88 said:

I don't know about you, but if this is all Adam Boyes' doing, he is fucking KILLING IT.

This man has a point!

Avatar image for beepmachine
beepmachine

631

Forum Posts

280

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By beepmachine

GAME BIG DAY 1. That sounds like something a caveman would scream.

These discounts seem really small after years of buying games on steam.

Avatar image for rolyatkcinmai
Rolyatkcinmai

2763

Forum Posts

16308

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

Edited By Rolyatkcinmai

@Krataur said:

Preordering a digital download? What madness is this?

Never used Steam then?

Avatar image for warlordpayne
WarlordPayne

823

Forum Posts

1

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By WarlordPayne

If it was a permanent price drop that'd be one thing, but requiring pre-orders makes it kind of pointless. There is usually at least one retailer selling the full box game for cheaper than that if you pre-order. They need to just knock $10 or so off the price of digital games, forget this pre-order nonsense.

Avatar image for shortbreadtom
Shortbreadtom

1009

Forum Posts

2

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

Edited By Shortbreadtom

Whoa. Remember when PSN felt like a joke?

Avatar image for lifendz
Lifendz

143

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Lifendz

Why not state the 17.00 for 3-month PS Plus plan?

Avatar image for daedelus
daedelus

108

Forum Posts

248

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By daedelus

I always shy away from digital downloads when there is a similarly priced retail disk. I save a lot of money reselling games.

And pre-ordering a digital download is madness, as a digital download has infinite supply.

Avatar image for shabs
Shabs

906

Forum Posts

312

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 4

Edited By Shabs

Great idea.

+1 to wishing MS did this. I hate that I have multiplayer 360 games on discs because I don't want to be fishing for discs when the urge to play a round here or there hits.

Avatar image for agikamike
agikamike

61

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By agikamike

@Shortbreadtom: And now xbox live seems that way.

It's interesting how many people say they don't really use PSN because "all their friends are on the 360." But from my experience, more people are just watching Netflix. If you and your friends got together and decided to use the ps3, problem solved?

Avatar image for neurotic
neurotic

635

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By neurotic

@Terranova said:

I wonder if the same thing is going to happen to the EU PSN store they had SSX on there last week for download at £59 you can get it from Amazon for £20, of course that's a EA game and so they set the price but still no way anyone would pay that when you can get much more cheaper, It's a nice idea but it's needs every publisher to be involved not just a select few if digital only is going to be the way forward

This.

Wasn't it £50 for Borderlands 2 as well? That's more than you could get it from Amazon. Same is happening with Assassin's Creed III.

Well, it's progress I suppose.

Avatar image for handlas
handlas

3414

Forum Posts

18

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By handlas

Sweet. Too bad my harddrive is always full and I'm constantly deleting games to make room. Plus I fear the future of not having physical copies and not being able to retrieve games I purchase digitally through PSN. Not a problem now of course... except with their movies. Bought a movie but deleted it because I needed the space. Wanted to rewatch the movie later but PSN doesn't allow you to redownload movies you bought... it acts like you never owned it.

Avatar image for roninautomaton
RoninAutomaton

19

Forum Posts

6

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By RoninAutomaton

Well, here’s a thought:

Does that mean if you buy a PSN Day 1 digital version (ex: pre-ordered Dishonored at $53.99 w/ PS Plus subscription), would you lose access to that game if you reach the end of your PS Plus subscription and chose not to renew it?

Avatar image for purplespandex
PurpleSpandex

297

Forum Posts

9

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 6

Edited By PurpleSpandex

PC gaming master race checking in here. Oh thats a start buddies, good job Sony.

Avatar image for agikamike
agikamike

61

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By agikamike

@daedelus: Preloading games is pretty nice. PSN's done that before, with Sorcery. Hopefully they do that for this.

and @RoninAutomaton: PSN+ games only expire if they are free. Any money transactions are simply discounts and the game acts as normal.

Avatar image for kingloo
Kingloo

145

Forum Posts

20

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

Edited By Kingloo

To the people who will complain that this isn't enough of a discount, you should remember that, of the 60 USD, only about 7 goes to manufacturing and distribution. So at 53 they actually are giving you all the benefits.

Avatar image for ujio
Ujio

637

Forum Posts

959

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 13

User Lists: 9

Edited By Ujio
There's another "disadvantage" in that it doesn't seem as if there are any pre-order bonuses going this route.
Avatar image for wumbo3000
wumbo3000

1324

Forum Posts

401

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 7

User Lists: 37

Edited By wumbo3000

I'm not sure this is that big of a deal. I think this only helps out people who buy a lot of new games. For me personally, the fact that you have to a PS Plus member kinda sucks. I usually only buy 3-4 $60 games a year, so if I'm dropping an extra $50 just to get them for 6 bucks cheaper, then it's not really worth it.

Avatar image for 9999dmg
9999dmg

138

Forum Posts

103

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By 9999dmg

This is awesome, I love being able to download game day-and-date on my VIta.

Avatar image for handlas
handlas

3414

Forum Posts

18

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By handlas

@wumbo3000 said:

I'm not sure this is that big of a deal. I think this only helps out people who buy a lot of new games. For me personally, the fact that you have to a PS Plus member kinda sucks. I usually only buy 3-4 $60 games a year, so if I'm dropping an extra $50 just to get them for 6 bucks cheaper, then it's not really worth it.

PS Plus is great tho. That's like completely disregarding it.

The membership pays for itself with all the free games they give you. Given you actually want the games they offer. I had PS Plus for a year and enjoyed the offerings. The one hour game trials were also pretty nice... essentially demos.

Avatar image for christaran
ChrisTaran

2054

Forum Posts

-1

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 9

Edited By ChrisTaran

Playstation 3 has over the past couple months overtaken the 360 for me as my primary console. And it's stuff like this (along with everything else Plus has been doing) that has made it so desirable to do!

Avatar image for solidocelot
SolidOcelot

469

Forum Posts

374

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 9

User Lists: 5

Edited By SolidOcelot

The discount isn't significant but at least it sets an interesting precedent. Hope this evolves into something more competitive.