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Though we’re accustomed to games once exclusive to PSN making the move to retail, Sony has bucked the trend and moved one of its most important retail releases to its digital portal.
LittelBigPlanet, which was released in November 2008 on the High Street, will arrive on the UK arm of PSN today for 16.99.
It was made available to download for subscribers to the PlayStation Plus service at the end of June, but this is the first time it has been available for anyone to download.
Previously there have been examples of Sony games being released simultaneously on both PSN and on Blu-ray on the High Street (like Warhawk, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty).
However, the only example to date of a game making the move from retail to PSN is EA’s Burnout Paradise, which arrived as a full price on the digital service. FPS Section 8 had also previously had a retail release on Xbox 360 before hitting PSN. For Sony to release a full download of a first party PS3 title at a discount price is certainly noteworthy. Microsoft’s Games on demand service for Xbox 360 has been quietly growing for some time now and boasts many triple-A downloads including the likes of Grand Theft Auto IV, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Resident Evil 5, Mass Effect, Fallout 3 and Street Fighter IV.
However, critics of Microsoft’s service have attacked it for its rigid pricing structure that typically sees titles retail for far more than they are available to buy on disc.
Other titles hitting PSN today include shmup bundle Gundemonium Collection and the PSone version of Tekken 2. Have also been price cuts to Section 8 (from 19.99 to 12.99) and the PSP version of Need for Speed Shift (from 31.99 to 15.99).
