Hands up who thought it might be an April fools joke? We certainly did. As of today you can no longer buy a digital download code from a retailer, you have to go straight to PSN for any digital games. This means the only game you can purchase from a retailer will be a physical copy.
There is a theory in the Gamer Wager office (okay, its a bit of a conspiracy really, kind of like Tupac turning up in a pyramid shaped spaceship) we think that Sony and Microsoft are training us to expect a long install time so that they can make physical copies redundant and force all titles to become a download that you get straight from source. As a cost saving exercise Sony and Microsoft would save millions by making every game a download. We already have to wait at least 30 minutes for a new game to install once we have got it home. Remember when Red Dead II was released? TWO DISCS!!! Some install times were upwards of three hours due to broadband speeds. All we wanted to do was jump on a horse and start holding up stage coaches, by the time the thing had installed the excitement had passed. This "death to the physical copy" theory does make sense, but would we miss the little blue and green boxes? answers on a postcard with that one.
The other issues for gamers is it will mean that we have to put our credit card details into PSN, that then leads on to adding funds..... If you haven't added funds to your PSN wallet before you might not know the increments, they go £5, £10, £15, £20, £25, £30 and then straight to £50. Lets imagine that you want to buy £32.99 worth of Apex coins (4000 in total), you will need to put £50 into your wallet, what are you going to do with the other £17.01? BLOW IT ALL ON FIFA PACKS, AM I RIGHT? MUHAHAHAHAHA. Games cost between £35 - £49.99 depending on the title and that will leave a surplus of spend left in your wallet that could potentially be put towards unnecessary purchases.
Finally, wont somebody think of the retailers? If everything does go down the route of our tinfoil hat theory then the retailers will be left with only selling second hand games and sooner or later will become obsolete. Yes, revenge for giving us a £12 trade-in value for a two day old Resident Evil 2 Remastered title does seem appealing, but people losing jobs in a thriving market is a bit shit in the grand scheme of things, don't you think?...... anyway, it might never happen.
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