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Sony to Finally Make Web-based PlayStation Store in US

By Brian P Rubin | 10 January 2013 | 6 Comments   

playstation web store

When I got my PlayStation 3 last year, I was stoked. All the games I could get! Man oh man! I jumped online to try and browse the PlayStation Store, see if I could download some demos, buy some cheap old games…but, I’ll be damned, I couldn’t figure out how to download anything. Or buy anything. I thought the problem might’ve been my web-browser…but it turned out that the problem was Sony. There was no online store. If I wanted to buy or browse anything, I had to do it on the console itself. What a massive pain in the ass.

I was spoiled by Xbox’s online store, and annoyed that Sony had dropped the ball. But a post on CNET from yesterday reports that Sony’s finally getting into the web-store game. While such a store exists for European customers, the United States will finally have a web-store of its own for Sony’s PlayStation content, meaning we should be able to browse and buy right from our computers. What a concept!

The web-store should launch sometime this month, though it’s not totally clear when. According to the piece, when Sony redesigned the PlayStation Store on the console not too long ago, it “led to double-digit growth in the U.S. and Europe, and users were spending more time browsing there, as well. [Sony Network Entertainment COO Shawn Layden] agreed that the previous design, which remained in place for nearly six years, was a frustration due to its lack of change.”

I’ll tell you this for free, Sony. The store wasn’t frustrating due to its lack of change. It was frustrating because it sucked so bad. The user-interface was annoying, confusing, and not really good for, you know, doing things. And the fact that I couldn’t do my buying via the web only made things worse.

Okay. Settle down, Brian. Enough frustration. The problem’s being solved. Hooray!

Via CNET

6 Comments

  1. Posted by Poochop on 10 January 13 at 11:25am

    yay!

  2. Posted by Matt N on 10 January 13 at 11:35am

    This is great news. It will be a lot easier to keep up on their deals, especially for PS Plus subscribers. There are a few games I’ve been wanting to get from the online store, providing they hit a sale. So, I hope this also encourages more sales.

  3. Posted by mugenite on 10 January 13 at 2:59pm

    I guess I’m the only one who liked the old store, and has never missed a web version

    • Posted by Mugenite on 10 January 13 at 8:41pm

      Agreed, my evil twin ;).

      Though, I don’t see the point of the web version. I don’t go to one device just to purchase something for the other. I jump on my 360 whenever I want to buy some DLC. I go to my Laptop when I want some Steam goodies. Sony didn’t have any reason to add the web version. Meh.

  4. Posted by Mark on 10 January 13 at 3:48pm

    “and users were spending more time browsing there”

    Sure we are, it takes forever to load anything in the new layout, hell it takes forever to even quit the damn thing.

  5. Posted by kelly on 10 January 13 at 11:53pm

    Personally, I hate the new PSN store, loved the way it was previously. It was so much easier to see everything that was new for the week in one place, or go to the new demos, or new vids, etc. Now everything seems so scattered that I know im missing out on things because there seems to be no really system of organization. If people are really browsing the psn more than before as mentioned above, its because they are spending more time finding whatever they are looking for. Its been a big turnoff for me.

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