PS Store Discontinues Movie, TV Rentals and Purchases in August

shrug

Not gonna lie, I never saw the appeal of buying that content through the PS store anyway. Why have the content locked to that one ecosystem? Unless I am massively misunderstanding something. Sucks for those who did buy this way though.

Regarding streaming services, the last thing we need is yet another. Place is oversaturated as is anyway.

I'd honestly forgotten that buying movies/TV on the PS store was even a thing

I'm not sure I knew this was even a thing. Was this not available in all regions?

As someone who never bought or rented a movie from ps store, this really comes to no one's surprise.

They are offering their own 4K streaming service via their top of the range 2021 TV’s so many be that will make it’s way to PS5...?!?

I’ve both rented and bought movies on occasion and with the current trend towards “early” watch at home launches this seems a strange move.

I only ever brought one movie and that was just for the free avatars from Assassins Creed the movie for Pre-ordering the one i'm using now here is taken from my PSN account.

@MS7000
I started buying my movies digital around 2012 and since it hit the market PS4 has been my go-to device for pretty much everything except music. So for me this is disappointing, however I've started shifting my movie purchases over to youtube, as long as I can continue to use that on PS systems, probably won't notice too much difference.

Makes alot of sense. Don't know anyone that used this service, and i forgot it existed. Probably cost alot for Sony to license the content and is clearly no longer worth the investment.

P.s. dont give them ideas about their own subscription service. There are too many already!!

Yeah, I reckon a Sony streaming service of some kind is definitely on the cards. They’ve got a huge archive of films, tv and cartoons going back decades. Seems like a no brainier. Although, that said, it is Sony, who’ve also got a pretty good track record of strange decisions.

I can honestly say I have never used my Games Console to Download/Watch Movies.............so I for one will not miss this function...........................I am in to movies like Les Valseuses or Bad Boy Bubby aint gonna find that at Sony.

I bought the movie frozen on PlayStation because I think I was able to get it a week early. And there’s some free episodes of powers still floating on there but yeah I never really used it much

I remember buying the Captain Underpants movie through PS Store because it wasn't playing at my theater the time it came out, but it didn't work so i decided to buy it again through iTunes (before it was changed to Apple TV) instead. But yeah i never really use it.

They had Vue. It was great. It failed. They won't jump back in again.

• a spurned Vue subscriber

Wasn't available in South Africa thanks to Naspers and ster monopolies so no skin off my bones

Google play only recently started selling Movies here

This will make the store even more streamlined. By the way I bought “Gremlins” to watch it with my brother and nieces on Christmas and to our horror I found out they only offer the dubbed audio track of your European Country , no original language option

I don’t see why they wouldn’t add their TV, movie, anime, and music content to enhance the appeal of PS Now. Seems a bit of a no-brainer with their increased focus on game tie in entertainment too.

@captainsandman
Don’t to think it was available in the U.K.
That was a long time ago though, and they have doubled down on creating entertainment from their gaming IP since.
People are looking for a reason to get now as well as plus, whilst it’s only gaming in both most people with an established catalogue will stick with Plus only.

made more sense for vita owners than the box consoles to be able to purchase movies/shows. Sad that the vita continues to be stripped apart.

@Hopewell oh, right, I forgot I watched Powers on PS4, it was actually pretty cool

I’m surprised it lasted this long I don’t know anyone who actually bought or rent movies so it actually makes sense, and if they see the success of streaming then why they don’t combine Funimation and Crunchyroll into a single service for a good price I’m pretty sure a lot of people will be interested including myself

As usual the people on this site are defending this & not considering the people who would rent movies that aren’t on Netflix or Hulu. I would have friends and/or family over and we’d pick a good movie to watch for old times sake while we eat good food. I guess Sony wants to kill that now.

@themightyant My thoughts exactly. There are movies I really enjoy that aren’t on streaming apps & I want to watch one or two a few times.

I used to buy episodes of TV shows I loved because I never got cable growing up. Although I haven't purchased a movie or show from that service in years, it does make me kind of sad it's going away.

Good ,the last thing we need is another streaming service ,there's enough of them locking content to their business at the moment, don't really want sonys studios to do the same.

I used to like renting from the PS Store, guess I’ll have to rely on Amazon from now on.

thank goodness, that whole section was absolutely awful very empty and half filled with b movie garbage

I rented movies quite often on PS4...was always more convenient as I auto log in and have a credit card saved. Guess I'll have to remember my ChiliTV password now!

The movie store is region locked so it's useless for asia playstation users like me, besides I rather watch movies on netflix/disney+ or buy the bluray version.

I’ve purchased about 20 movies over the years (mostly in the sales).

The thing about Netflix/Amazon/NowTV is that they rotate content and it’s so annoying going to watch a movie to find it’s not there.

One good thing about all this is that my friends won’t be able to see my repeat viewings of Mrs Doubtfire in the ‘What’s New’ feed. Just love that movie. Hellooo dear!

Sony just started a new UHD service on their TVs

I never purchased a movie on psn.i got Netflix free.and i go to other sites and watch a lot of movies free of charge.word up son

Hmm, I just bought the whole Hi-Def first season of Lovecraft Country yesterday on here. 10 episodes on sale for a grand total of $9.98. Haven't watched it yet other than to confirm it works, but it seems like a good deal for a whole season of an HBO show. I was thinking I would use it more, but I guess only till August.

I still buy dvds from the supermarket for new movies. Maybe a blu Ray if it's something I'm really looking forward to.
I did buy the star trek movie collection from psn not too long ago, was on sale for about £10

@Gamer83 Move your movies to Youtube?

Ugh me no likey. Netflix sucks and when I was feeling fiesty I'd head over to the ps store for something more quality. I don't need ANOTHER monthly subscription in my life. Just let me buy what I want when I want.

It is a bummer but not a huge shock. If I purchased digital I did so with PS Store. As long as I still have access to what I purchased Im good

@Playstation Doesn't really mean that they never can make a streaming service. Netflix canceled their Marvel shows because of Disney +, and the Animaniacs reboot is still on Hulu (it was recently greenlit for a 3rd season) even if WB has HBO Max now.

I knew something was up when I saw it only let you stream, rent or watch movies on other services on the PS5 UI.

@MS7000 @LordSteev @Playstation

Pretty sure people will still have access to anything they've already bought, even after they close up shop on the movies/tv section. That's what the article says, anyway.

So it still has value to anyone who previously invested.

@vapidwolf Sony never had a streaming service for film and tv on PlayStation

@icedvibes
I've stopped purchasing my movies on PlayStation and started buying them on Youtube now is what I was trying to say.

@Orpheus79V I know,and thats a good thing.

Have never bought off or subscribed to any of these platforms...just get them all in HD or UHD quality off torrents.

So makes no difference to me.

Well, I guess they won't be taking up my idea of adding a couple of free movie rentals to PS Plus for those who don't want the games!

I think I used this service something like 3 times on PS3 - only rentals which were dirt cheap, I never bought anything... and I'v never used it at all on PS4.

Given a choice, I still don't buy digital for this exact reason - okay, you can still access stuff you've bought after it shuts down, but how long will that go on for? At least with a disc, I don't need to rely on them keeping the service running, or on having an internet connection.

I do have digital movies, but only those which came via UltraViolet and a code included with a disc. When UltraViolet shut down, at least they gave you codes to get your movies on Google Play.

Sony owner Funimation just bought Crunchyroll from AT&T (anime streaming). Wonder if there is a link between that and this decision? Would suggest there is an interest there in streaming?

Sony TV, primarily featuring Super Mario Bros. movie and Halo Forward Until Dawn... on a serious note, would be cool to see a lot of gaming stuff in one place, though. Even if game movies/shows often suck I still watch them. Doom, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Dragonball, Mortal Kombat, Witcher, Sonic movie. I also dig Super Mario Bros 3 cartoons and who didn't watch Indigo League?!

@Insightful ...not that it would happen but of course they'd kill it off. Why wouldn't they ? What business would continue if it didn't make a profit ? 🤔 They'd be the worst business managers ever if they didn't ! Plus they have shareholders to make money for..(ie. the whole point of business )

Great, now can we get some of those other streaming service apps? In particular, I would like to see Criterion, Shudder, and SlingTV.

Also, the last TV or movie that I purchased on PSN was The Walking Dead season 1 in 2011

@Luminous117 it's got an app to play them on your phone. Though I assume it's days are numbered now.
I don't know if its got a pc player (I'd guess it prob does though). I've never seen it on a smart TV.

I rented Die Hard at Christmas, which I'd not watched for years... I just had a couple of quid on my account and seemed a good way to spend it.

I haven't used this in two years, I think. I was going to start purchasing films digitally back then, but PS Store didn't have any films from my country so I only rented a few international films instead. But you know, for that we already have Google's service which is way more complete.

This article made me remember the old days of renting DVDs for some reason. I miss the extras that came with the discs, always fun to take a peek into the backstage.

I can't imagine many people purchased video on the PS store, so it's doubtfully a big loss. And the explanation is a little off "we saw lots of people are using subscription services on playstations, therefore, we're discontinuing our purchasing service entirely. Also game subscriptions will never be viable for us, long live purchases."

I know it's just cover for "wow, sales suck here, why are we selling movies on a gaming console, again?" But it's an over-wrought explanation. I do find the trend they have of "we watch trending user data and make business decisions according to that rather than seeing what businesses are actually profitable or have potential profitability and expanding our market to fill those niches." Using real-time data of how people use a product or service is a poor indicator of what markets actually exist to fulfill, it just indicates what markets are the largest at a single moment in time. In this case, I'm sure the data aligns. Really, who uses the PS or XB video store? Amazon, Google, and Apple...and Vudu/Walmart are the only real players in that space.

@fR_eeBritney There's never any shame in repeat play of any Robin Williams movie!

Sony was one of the partners that pushed Ultraviolet back in the day - the code that would let you redeem a digital copy of a movie you bought on disk at a variety of online retailers (Vudu, Google, and others). But the PS Store never participated in Ultraviolet.

When Disney basically killed Ultraviolet with Moves Anywhere pushing the same concept (but this time with even more studios), once again the PS Store didn't join.

Given those two facts, there are two painful realities here. First, many of us saw the writing on the wall then, and never bought into the PS Store for movies. If you can't easily play them on other devices and you can't share them with other platforms, then you're a fool for locking yourself into one company's ecosystem.

And second...this probably means that any content you bought from Sony will just go away some day soon, and you'll lose access entirely. Sure, for now they're saying you can still watch whatever you bought, but in a year or two they'll be saying that nobody's using those old servers any more so it's time to retire them, and POOF.

See painful reality 1.

@RobN Sony have so far been pretty good at keeping legacy digital content available. Psp and ps3 content is still all (AFAIK,maybe there are exceptions that I am unaware of) available to download to anyone who purchased it. Based on that the movies already bought will likely be around for some time.

Edit : although yes, buying digital does have the risk of it all vanishing one day. That's not a risk limited to Sony though, its all of them.

@Playstation I just have the raising kratos documentary because it's free

I liked that one exclusive superhero show, "Powers". Unfortunately Sony canned it after two seasons.

They should’ve sold 4K movies once the ps4 pro came out that hurt them pretty bad