Sony will no longer allow retailers to sell digital codes for games, add-on cards and PSN$ cards will remain

[umegames]

abronn627 said:

umegames said:
I think this is more so a response from Sony to retailers, because (for example) best buy has been reducing shelf space for sony product (gaming in general) quite a bit to the point theres not enough room to represent all the games in stock on the shelf, nor do we put out promotional shippers because of floorspace for higher profit products like TV's, headphones etc. in short, retailers outside of gamestop have more revenue and profits to earn on other products than gaming, so the investment is not there.

Shelf space is representative of what a company is willing to pay for it. You can’t really blame Best Buy to reduce gaming space in their stores to replace it for more space in home theatre since it generates more revenue in general. Even with smaller space, they can still outbid their competition for the size of their sections. If their sections seems smaller, it’s probably because they don’t feel the need to invest more than what they already do.

You can make the comparison with GameStop, Sony’s investment in advertising in GameStop has always been bigger than with Best Buy, and you can see the difference, their sections are generally bigger since they invest more than the competition.

In general you're correct, space does have a bidding to some degree, but we've always used our space to react to trends more so than bids, trust me. Over the past few years gaming software revenue and profit and been comping down, and the space for that has been getting smaller for other areas in stores where space is limited. Best Buy has been shifting away from gaming as a whole with the removal of Gamers Club and being far from competitive on gaming trade-ins plus the removal of used-games. 

I can only speak for my job, but I imagine other stores like target and walmart aren't improving year-over-year when it comes to gaming either, Sony can see this, so they're responding the best way they can.