Sony will no longer sell full-game download codes at retail

Sony has confirmed that you'll no longer be able to purchase full-game PSN codes at various retailers.

Brick and mortar retailers hoping to get a slice of the digital pie have been, for a while now, stocking cards bearing digital download codes for many games.

These would typically sell for the same price as physical media, and the codes would be redeemable on each console's store. It now appears Sony is no longer interested in offering these codes to retailers.

The news was first uncovered by Wario64, who shared an internal memo GameStop management sent to employees, advising them of the coming change. The new restrictions go into effect on April 1.

As Sony later confirmed to Eurogamer, this policy applies to all retailers worldwide, including Amazon, GAME in the UK etc. Going forward, digital full games can only be purchased directly from the PlayStation Store.

Sony is, however, not making any changes to DLC codes, season passes, virtual currencies, or wallet funds. These will continue to be sold at retail and be redeemable on PSN. In fact, Sony will even introduce more PSN credit denominations, which will be available at select retailers.

It's worth pointing out that though it may not make sense to most people to buy digital games at retail for the same price as the PlayStation Store, some players have plenty of store credit they could use on these cards, which obviously can't be done now.

This change in policy also eliminates grey market key sellers, and with it, competition around the price of PSN codes for full games.