Sony shines a light on the future of the 10,000 film and 1,100 television rentals currently on the PlayStation Store.
Sony has taken to its blog site to announce that movie and television rentals and purchases through the PlayStation Store will discontinue later this year. As of August 31, 2021, players will no longer be able to purchase media content through the store.
On the closure, Sony stated:
“…we strive to provide the best entertainment experience for PlayStation fans, and that means evolving our offerings as customer needs change”
Sony went on to label a “shift in customer behaviour” as one of the contributing factors to the closure. This likely relates to players leaning further towards subscription-based and ad-based streaming services, rather than one-off rentals and purchases through the PlayStation store.
While the continued closure of cinemas has likely caused a surge in rentals and purchases, apps such as Amazon Prime, Now TV and Netflix are all available through the PS4 and PS5. Going by Sony’s statement these services are likely the preferred option amongst players, especially since they are easily accessible across a wide variety of devices.
Any frequent users of the PlayStation rentals and purchases need not worry about their digital collections. Sony has confirmed that all previously purchased content will still be available after August 31.
Closing off the announcement, Sony claimed:
“…we look forward to further enhancing the entertainment experience on PlayStation”
How, exactly, Sony will enhance this experience is unclear. However, if Sony no longer looks to streaming services as competition, we could be seeing a more straightforward implementation of those services into elements such as the PlayStation Store in the future.
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