Ok, I just got linked to this article on my google now feed.

Apparently amazon is discounting a number of PS4/XB1 games; Digital Codes. Yes, they are discounting games and giving you a digital code to download said games. Which should be great right?

No.

Cause Rise f the Tomb Raider and Gears 4 on the PS4 and XB1 respectively  are discounted to $30. But bothgames are still currently $60 on the official platform online stores. 

WTF?

I have been somewhat ok paying more for digital content even though I felt the stupid argument of brick and mortar parity was well.... stupid, but seeing stores like amazon offer discounts to digital codes when on the PSstore the game is still full price is just ridiculous to me.

I think at the very least Sony and MS should start dping some sort of Price match thing where the discout digital content to a price that is an average of what they are out there physically. Or at the very least let amazon or gamestop....etc allow users choose if they want their game physically or digitally when they purchase them at with a fixed price premium for digital.

eg; if amazon has a physical game discounted to $24, at check out you can choose either to have the physical copy shipped to you or to get a digital code and then they can add $3-$5 extra. That extra $3-$5 also goes to sony/MS and wouldn't make too much of a difference to the gamer in the same way we already pay around that for shipping. 

Why isn't this happenning?

I was trying to be understanding. 

If amazon, sells you a physical game, you still in most cases have to pay for shipping. Or in some cases shipping is free. But lets leave it at a baseline where you pay for shipping. And that shipping will cost an additional $5.

Now selling you a digital code, means that sony's/MS's servers still handle your download, so its only fair that what should have been a shipping charge goes to their server cost. Hence the $3-$5 premium.

And yes, this is a good thing, but i think if sony and MS refuse to match such discounts then at least amazon should start giving the option to get a digital copy if you choose to for any game you buy from their store. This way, when amazon discounts a game, that discounted price carries over to the digital copy too.

Good, maybe it'll lead to not only Sony and MS discounting games and actually competing with other retailers but the reduction in online games cost overall.

Bloody ripoff.

Your argument essentially boils down to "why does a discount shop charge less than a premium shop for the same product?"

It has happened with physical things forever, only makes sense that it would happen with digital things.

We need competition inside of the digital stores. Competition between retailers has always been good for the consumer, and on platforms as closed as console digital stores, we need every bit of competition we can get, or they will just put whatever prices they want. I suppose Amazon just buys a couple thousands codes from the publishers, get a nice discount for buying wholesale, and then sell them to us slightly more expensive. Everyone profits.

Of course I would buy from where it is cheaper. The problem is that there is NO reason why amazon should be able to give you a discounted digital game for $30 that retails for $60 on the PS?MS store. Especially when you consider that that digital code still has to be redeemed in forementioned store and downloaded from there. It just doesn't make any sense.

Read the above. All of this would have been moot if you are somehow downloading the game directly from amazon, but no... they give you a code, you redeem it in the PS store then download it from the PS store. What what exactly is sony's/MS excuse now for still having the game at $60 in their own store.

This is like Gamstop selling a game for $60, you then go to amazon and buy a gamstop game coupun for $30, then use the same $30 coupon to get that $60 game from gamestop but at $30 instead. See the issue?

No it is kinda the same.  See, if I buy something that has to be shipped to me from Walmart, vs something that has to be shipped to me from say Nike, they usually will just have the manufacturer ship direct and slap their return label on it.  You get the product from the same place, but you get it cheaper if you go through Walmart. 

If people are buying at full price from the digital storefront for Sony or MS at a rate they find acceptable, why would they discount the product just because someone else is willing to do so?  Makes no business sense.

Edit: Also your example doesn't work because you are dealing with a closed eco-system.  Its the same as complaining that a specific food chain offers an online coupon and not being allowed to go use it at a different food chain.  Its just how life works.

rise of tomb raider was part of of psn's holiday sale week 2.  IT WAS BEING SOLD FOR $29.99.

sometimes i go to target and things are on sale at target for less than what they are on amazon.  sometimes i go to amazon and things are on sale at amazon for less than what they are at target.

basically you want sony/ms to do the work for you so you don't have to make the effort to shop around before buying.  i think you sound whiny and entitled,.. no business owes you that.  retails stores have never done that.  even those with price match guarantees forces to consumer to prove the competitors price in writing.  it has always been on the customer to shop around for deals or find coupons.  there is no reason for digital stores to be different than brick and mortor.

shop around for deals and if you don't find them tough cookies.

If Amazon wants to take the hit to promote their store, it's their choice. Sales and price matching is a choice stores make to retain customers. PSN store has the luxury of being first in line and doesn't need to do that. They already get their normal cut from Amazon and can do whatever they want in their own store as it's right there on the dashboard of the OS.

Actually price matching with Amazon would only give Amazon less reason to promote those games, cause what's the point. Spend money on advertising the deals for customers to turn around and get it from the psn store anyway.

Sigh.... I don't want anyone to do any work for me. I don't know why this is so hard to understand.

It is perfectly ok for prices on the PS store to be whatever they are. O r for them to have deals at one time or the other. Its even ok for prices on amazon or somewhere else to be less tahn what they are on the PS store.

What I am having an issue with, is how AMAZON can apparently sell you a PS STORE (digital) game at half the price of what the same game is currently retailing for (digitally) in the PS store. Let me be specific. PS store only sells digital content. But now, amazon is selling you digital content from the PS store at less than what it would have cost you to buy it from the PS store directly. That makes zero sense to me.

I know PS store has deals, and I know amazon and gamestop...etc have deals too all the time. But this is like going to gamestop to buy a game for $30 FROM amazon when the exact same game is being sold at amazon for no less than $60. Not some random promotional unrelated store like starbucks or mcdonald where they could give you a coupon code that gives you something in another store. But a direct competitor.

If i walkedinto starbucks and they give me an uncharted coupon for $30 to get uncharted from PS store/ amazon or whatever? thats perfectly understandable. But getting a $30 code from amazon to be redeemed on the PS store and to get a $60 game makes zero sense to me.