Sony expands PlayStation store to PCs, PSPs
Sony on Tuesday announced that it is opening up its PlayStation Store—an online source of downloadable games and other content—to PC users. No longer will the store be the exclusive province of owners of Sony's top-end video game console, the PlayStation 3.
Context & Ripple Effects
The store opening caps a busy fortnight for Sony: after slashing the PS3 by $100 in the U.S. and launching a cheaper low-end model, CEO Howard Stringer called the Blu-ray-plus-lower-price combination a winning formula. Opening the PLAYSTATION Store to PCs — announced the same day on PlayStation's own blog — carries that revival beyond hardware pricing into the network layer.
It matters because the store had been the exclusive province of PS3 owners, Sony's top-end console. Executive Peter Dille has publicly promised a major focus on the PLAYSTATION Network and exclusive store content, so widening the storefront's reach is the first concrete expression of that commitment.
First-order effects
- PC users and PSP owners can browse and buy PlayStation Store downloads without owning a PS3, expanding the storefront's addressable base well beyond top-end console buyers.
- For Peter Dille's team, the store stops being a PS3 accessory and becomes a standalone product line backed by his pledged investment in the PLAYSTATION Network and exclusive content.
Second-order effects
- With hardware economics squeezed by the November price cut, download revenue from a larger non-console audience gives Sony a second monetization path on every discounted PS3 and PSP sold.
- The PSP gains a PC-side purchasing route into the same catalog, tying handheld sales to the store rather than to separate retail channels.
Third-order effects
- If the store keeps decoupling from any single device, PlayStation drifts from being a console brand with a shop attached toward a networked content platform spanning whatever screens Sony ships — the structural direction implied by the PLAYSTATION Network push Dille describes.
The trend: Console makers are converting proprietary game stores into cross-device services, with the storefront rather than the box becoming the durable customer relationship.