Citing a shift in customer behavior towards streaming video services, Sony said today that it will no longer sell movies and TV shows through its PlayStation Store.
“We’ve seen tremendous growth from PlayStation fans using subscription-based and ad-based entertainment streaming services on our consoles,” Sony’s Vanessa Lee writes. “With this shift in customer behavior, we have decided to no longer offer movie and TV purchases and rentals through PlayStation Store as of August 31, 2021.”
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When this change occurs, previously-purchased movie and TV content will still be available to customers, Sony says, and can be accessed via PlayStation 4 and 5 consoles and mobile devices.
That last bit is interesting, and could provide a playbook for Microsoft to follow should it ever make a similar decision for its Movies & TV service, which is only available via Xbox consoles and PCs. I’ve long cautioned users not to purchase movie or TV content from Microsoft—rentals are obviously not an issue—because this isn’t exactly a core business for the software giant. And let’s face it, if Microsoft was serious about Movies & TV, it would be available on smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes, and smart TVs.