Embattled US Retailer Trolls Customers for Picking Digital During PSN Outage on PS5, PS4

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GameStop, a U.S. retailer heavily reliant on sales of physical video games, playfully poked fun at its customers over the weekend during the PlayStation Network outage, jokingly suggesting that they had excessively opted for digital game purchases instead.

In response to the prolonged downtime that lasted nearly a whole day, they wrote, “I bet you’re all hankering for some physical games now.” This popular tweet garnered over 55,000 likes.

Indeed, it’s worth noting that there’s a common misunderstanding corrected here. Digital games can indeed be played on both PS5 and PS4 systems, even when they are operating offline.

Yet, these acquisitions might become inaccessible when you’re not using your main account, because the system fails to recognize them as yours due to its limitation in identification. Fortunately, this issue is not present with traditional, physical games.

On the PS5, traditional physical games can still be played, and it’s likely they’ll continue on the PS6. However, it’s clear that a significant shift has occurred in consumer behavior, with around 70% of Sony’s software sales now coming from the PlayStation Store, suggesting a preference for digital downloads over physical copies.

Consequently, GameStop’s sales have been decreasing significantly over an extended period, leading to several store closures across the U.S. earlier in 2021.

Although the company’s post was adorable and successfully delivered its message, purchasing a physical copy wouldn’t have necessarily sped up gamers’ ability to play their games online during the downtime. In all honesty, there are other retailers that offer better options for buying boxed software.

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2025-02-09 14:36