Sony To Do Away With PS4 Retail Download Codes In April

Me: *plops one of these boys down on the table*
My Yu-Gi-Oh opponent: …

Sony will no longer allow retailers to sell download codes for PS4 games on PSN. The news comes from The Verge, where a spokesperson had this to say:

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.”

While far fewer people were likely buying these codes, the decision does have an obvious downside, at least in the states: sales tax. The one thing these codes did was eliminate the difficulty of paying sales tax on PSN, since you were paying it at the store. In the future, however, you’ll be purchasing more in PSN wallet codes (assuming you don’t want to use your credit card) than strictly necessary to cover that tax.

The changeover hasn’t exactly been a secret, though. Thanks to Wario64 on Twitter, a GameStop memo mentioning the cessation of download codes was leaked.

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On the plus side, there does seem to be a grace period of one week after the release of Days Gone and Mortal Kombat 11. During that very brief period, you’ll still be able to buy codes for those two games in stores. After that, you’re either cracking out that credit card or you’re figuring out how many PSN cards you have to buy.

That said, it’s still unclear if this is just affecting brick-and-mortar stores. It would be a somewhat sad thing if places like Amazon or Humble Bundle no longer carried these codes. Either way, you’ve got less than a week to snap any of these remaining cards up before they’re gone forever.

Source: IGN

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B. Simmons

Based out of Glendale California, Bryan is a GAMbIT's resident gaming contributor. Specializing in PC and portable gaming, you can find Bryan on his 3DS playing Monster Hunter or at one of the various conventions throughout the state.

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