Sony pulling PlayStation Now cards from retail to focus on PlayStation gift cards
Cards are being pulled from retail globally.
Sony is pulling PlayStation Now gift cards from retailers globally.
In a statement sent provided to VentureBeat, Sony said it is moving away from PlayStation Now gift cards to focus on the currently available PlayStation gift cards. These cards can be redemmed for PlayStation Now.
News of the cards being pulled surfaced yesterday via a memo from GAME UK which states stores have until the close of day January 19 to remove the cards from customer-facing areas.
VentureBeat also heard that retailers in the US and Canada started pulling the cards from shelves last week.
It's possible Sony could be removing the cards for another reason other than the fact it has other gift cards already available. Back in December, a Bloomberg report stated a new subscription service was in the works at the company that would allow it to better compete with Xbox Game Pass.
Codenamed Spartacus, the service will charge a monthly fee for access to both classic and modern titles and will combine PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now into one service. The PlayStation Plus branding would remain, while PlayStation Now branding would be dropped.
The report states the service is to launch this spring, and there will be three tiers on offer: one would be similar to how PlayStation Plus works at present, the second would offer a large batch of current and next-gen games, and the third tier would feature some “extended demos, game streaming, and a library of classic games" from Sony's older consoles.