Sony’s reveal of PlayStation Now has left a lot of consumers excited about the prospect of being able to play almost any PlayStation game from one of several supported devices. While consumers have been busy thinking about what it means for the future of gaming, retailers have been worried about how it’ll impact their revenue. One franchise has decided to support it instead of going toe-to-toe with what could be a very serious competitor.
Speaking to GameSpot, a senior public relations director of GameSpot shared the company’s desire to support Sony and its venture with PS Now. He said:
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,
At this point GameStop realizes that there’s nothing it can do to prevent the surge of digital distribution, and in this case streaming. The only move it has is to get its hands in the revenue stream somehow.
Sony hasn’t revealed its pricing model for PS Now, yet. I expect it to follow a similar structure as PlayStation Plus, and the two might actually be combined for a premier package of sorts. As with PS Plus subscription codes, GameStop can take home a percentage of sales by selling PS Now codes in its stores.
While it’s likely that most consumers will purchase a subscription to PS through digital means, such as through the PlayStation Store or via Sony’s website, there’s still a sizeable demographic that prefers buying things in store, and that’s who GameStop is after.
PlayStation Now is expected to release during this Summer. A closed beta will become available later this month.
