PlayStation Store Will Stop Selling Movies Nobody Bought (kotaku.com) 22
An anonymous reader shares a report: Have you ever bought a movie or TV show through the PlayStation Store? Me neither. As a result, Sony announced today it will remove them, starting August 31, 2021. "We've seen tremendous growth from PlayStation fans using subscription-based and ad-based entertainment streaming services on our consoles," Sony wrote in a post over on the PlayStation Blog. "With this shift in customer behavior, we have decided to no longer offer movie and TV purchases and rentals through PlayStation Store." As a multimedia company producing movies and TV alongside music and games, it made sense for Sony to sell all of it through various iterations of the PlayStation's digital storefront, in theory at least. In practice, it seems like console owners were mostly just interested in buying games, especially following the rise of Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Technically... (Score:2)
Depends on if you define selling as just "offering for sale" or actually "persuading someone to buy".
Nevertheless, some people do still "buy' movies on-line, but they are more likely to use something like iTunes or Google Play that is (somewhat) multi-platform, rather than a system that is available to approximately 50% of couch gamers with no mobile presence at all (or is PSVita still a thing?)
Re: By definition... (Score:2)
Tom Scott expained very well, why the headline is what normal people would say. [youtube.com] And people with autism told me, your reaction is a typical reaction for people with autism. No offense, obviously.
Good (Score:2)
Normally I wouldn't care but sometimes extra items like that make it harder to find what you're looking for. Realistically the only thing I'm looking for in the PS store is games (and honestly I usually prefer physical discs but given a sufficient deal/discount I'll do digital only).
And this exactly why. (Score:5, Insightful)
You don't buy them. You get a license. The the "shop" shuts down. And all is gone.
Almost as if it was a scam. /s
Re: (Score:3)
Yarp. Same reason I still buy CDs, usually for less than the mp3 "license" cost.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I call them long term rentals. Because that's what it is - you're paying to rent the content for an extended period of time. It's just that the due date isn't clear. But it's still a rental,
When the store closes or other thing happens, the rental expires and you lose it.
Re: (Score:2)
Well the original announcement [playstation.com] says users will still be able to access the content they have bought, although it doesn't say for how long.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm betting it'll be good for at least the active life of the PS5. When the PS6 rolls around, Sony probably won't release an app that can stream those movies, and a few years later, the streaming service will be sunsetted. So, maybe 10-15 years.
Re: (Score:2)
PS3 Purchases and store still work :3
Yes, but they're still selling those games. There's far less of an incentive to keep the streaming servers online and the app ported to the new PS when it's no longer earning, but actually costing $.
Re: And this exactly why. (Score:2)
"Weâ(TM)ve seen tremendous growth from PlayStation fans using subscription-based and ad-based entertainment streaming services on our consoles. With this shift in customer behavior, we ..."
They practically told you they're going to pivot to a subscription and/or ad based streaming business model. If THAT starts costing them money, then the streaming servers could go offline.
Re: (Score:2)
Hey BAReFO0t is back to his ignorant posts again. Sorry kiddo but no one is losing access to things they bought here. There is no scam. Just your own weird mind.
Another ignorant post brought to you by BAReFO0t.
Didn't Steam also once have movies? (Score:2)
I remember seeing them once or twice, but haven't seen any more in years. I assume they got rid of them too?
Re: (Score:3)
Valved killed their movie section back in Feb 2019.
Easy (Score:2)
"Have you ever bought a movie or TV show through the PlayStation Store? "
I have never bought a movie.Period.
And I never will.
"stop selling movies nobody bought" ? (Score:2)
Waitaminute; if nobody bought them, then they weren't selling them! How could they then "stop selling" them? It might make more sense to "stop not selling" those movies. But it wasn't as if they were actively "not selling" them. They probably wanted to sell them, maybe even advertised them for sale. Maybe then they should "stop trying to sell" movies that nobody bought. But did nobody buy any movies or was it just certain movies in the inventory that nobody wasn't buying? Perhaps PlayStation should simply a
Re: "stop selling movies nobody bought" ? (Score:1)
It was me. I bought Need for Speed.
I for one have a few (Score:2)
I purchased several movies from them, once upon a time. At that time, if you were looking for a digital copy of a movie or TV show, the quality they provided trounced Google Play and iTunes Movies. Not exactly Blu-ray quality, but far closer than the other providers.
Sadly they failed to keep up with the times.