UK PS4 players to get a rubbish deal on game downloads
UK gamers will have to fork out as much as £26 more than their US counterparts for digital versions of games
In my review of the PlayStation 4 I noted that digital download versions of all the big games are the same price on the US PS Store as the discs are on Amazon.com. That price is $60, which today translates to £36.98.
Now those of us lucky enough to get PS4 hardware early have access to the UK version of the Store, and we’ve had a nasty shock. Every game on there is way more expensive than both the US download and Amazon.co.uk’s disc price.
The full breakdown
- Killzone Shadow Fall – $60 on US Store – £48 Amazon.co.uk – £53 UK Store
- Call of Duty Ghosts – $60 on US Store – £48 Amazon.co.uk – £55 UK Store
- FIFA 14 – $60 on US Store – £47 Amazon.co.uk – £63 UK Store
- Battlefield 4 – $60 on US Store – £47 Amazon.co.uk – £63 UK Store
- Need for Speed Rivals – $60 on US Store – £45 Amazon.co.uk – £63 UK Store
- Knack – $60 on US Store – £47 Amazon.co.uk – £53 UK Store
- NBA 2K14 – $60 on US Store – £55 Amazon.co.uk – £63 UK Store
- Lego Marvel Super Heroes – $60 on US Store – £50 Amazon.co.uk – £53 UK Store
- Assassin’s Creed IV – $60 on US Store – £48 Amazon.co.uk – £58 UK Store
Unfair on UK gamers
It’s always seemed like utter madness that digital download editions of games should cost more than physical copies, and it seems completely bonkers and entirely unfair that this situation appears to have been sorted in the US while UK gamers appear to remain on course for a fleecing. We’ve contacted Sony for comment and will report back.
Lower download prices would be better for Sony, too
The big issue as far as I’m concerned isn’t that we pay more than the States (although that clearly sucks) but that there’s no parity in the UK between digital downloads and discs containing the exact same game, even though this has been sorted out in the US.
I’ve not yet seen a good reason for why a non-physical product that doesn’t require packaging, storage or distribution should cost more than a physical copy that does.
What’s more, it would surely be to Sony’s benefit if more games were downloaded. Make digital games the same price or cheaper than discs, more people download, the second-hand market that apparently costs the industry so much money dies on its backside.
A cheeky workaround
In the meatime there is a bit of a workaround. It’s possible to create a US PSN account with almost no effort, and while you can’t use a UK credit card to pay for purchases on that account, you can buy PlayStation Network pre-paid cards from a number of online shops, many of which will instantly email you a redemption code. Most charge a small fee for the service, but we were able to get $60 of credit on our account for a total of £42.52 – a good deal less than the UK PS Store and Amazon.co.uk price. That $60 can then be used to buy a game on the US Store, and once downloaded it’s playable by anyone using that console.
Tom Parsons
Contributor, Stuff.tv 
