GameStop wants to sell PlayStation Now to customers

GameStop has said it wants to sell PlayStation Now services to its customers, despite the launch of the PlayStation Now posing some questions about the future of its business model.

Right after Sony detailed PlayStation Now at the Consumer Electronics Show, shares in the GameSpot claim plummeted around 9 percent. Sony intends to to stream back-catalogue games from the cloud to customers either as individual digital rentals, or through a subscription service.

A beta for the service launches this month, starting with Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles. Support for PSVita, Bravia TVs and other devices will come later.

"GameStop has built a $600MM digital business, with most of the digital games sold through our stores. Similar to how we worked closely with our partner Sony to successfully sell the PlayStation Plus service, we are looking forward to working with them on including the new PlayStation Now service as part of our portfolio of gaming products we offer our customers," a representative for the company told GameSpot.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 12 Jan 2014 13:58

SomeBozo

Sounds to me GameStop is feeling rather left out? If I understand Sony PlayStation Now Services business model, they want to sell directly to customers without any middleman? Given Sony developed everything and can easily interface and sell to customers thus getting all revenues and making there no need for any middleman , I think it's time to jump ship and watch GameStop go as Blockbuster did.

Progress? Yes, i think this is the example of how businesses blossom and fade much faster then 50 years ago, welcome to the age of electronic businesses. Heheh, some reason i expect to see an announcement but GameSpot saying the now accept Bitcoins in a last ditch effort to say "We are still relevant..."

While thinking a little more GameStop i really think will go the way of Blockbuster, and for me sad to see, i always had a favorable image of them, and consider the people that will lose there jobs as a result. While i don't think the PlayStation Now is the only thing eating away at GameStop, you have Steam and any other online service that can just as easily stream/sell the games if Sony chooses to allow them. While i could easily be wrong here but i struggle thinking why Sony would ever want to give up any control over there network... I think Sony will only want to sell/stream from their own servers, not saying GameStop would allow a data breath just thinking it is one more failure point for Sony (in the big picture...). Sony today after all the troubles with the PS3 system getting hacked i would think their servers are now properly locked down and protected. Not sure if you could guarantee GameStop is, but this is only speculation... Guess at the end of the day, what benefit is their for Sony to let GameStop in...

13.1.2014 03:16 #1

KillerBug

I thought Gamestop already sold PSN cards? How would this be any different?

As for gamestop going down the tubes, I certainly wouldn't mind. Their used games are $3 less than the new versions of the same game...and their new games are often $5 more than the Best Buy price. Selling a game? You would be lucky to get 1/4 what they will resell it at...better off with Craigslist. The last three times I went there were for a used PS3 (they wanted almost as much as a new one...and it wasn't a 60GB or anything), a Racing Wheel (they didn't have even one) and for a Wii Crossbow (they didn't have that either...in fact neither of the employees knew it existed). Useless store that overcharges...yeah, they are already well on the way to going the way of BlockBuster.

13.1.2014 07:14 #2

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