Sony Interactive Entertainment is telling retailers in the United Kingdom to pull all PlayStation Now subscription cards from store shelves by January 21, according to a VentureBeat report.
Leadership for United Kingdom retailer GAME sent out the following memo this week:
“Stores have until the close of day Wednesday 19, January to remove all [point of sale] and [electronic software delivery] cards from all customer-facing areas and update their digital bays in line with this week’s upcoming commercial update…”
PlayStation Now is a cloud games service that provides access to hundreds of PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 2 titles. Separate from its PlayStation Plus service, PlayStation Now costs $59.99 a year.
Bloomberg recently reported that Sony Interactive Entertainment is planning to introduce a new service that merges the existing PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now subscription plans, and potentially provides access to a library of classic PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PSP games in addition to a catalog of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 titles.
With the PlayStation manufacturer pulling PlayStation Now cards from store shelves in the United Kingdom, it is possible an announcement of the new service, said to be code-named “Spartacus,” is planned for the near future. According to the initial report, it is planned to launch this spring.
Update 4:58 p.m.: A Sony Interactive Entertainment spokesperson has told VentureBeat, “Globally, we are moving from PlayStation Now gift cards to focus on our current cash denomination PlayStation gift cards, which can be redeemed for PlayStation Now.”