According to a new report by Rishi Alvani, it looks like Sony has recently banned around 7,000 PSN accounts. This resulted in many game retailers in the country going out of business due to selling access to said accounts at extremely attractive prices.
Basically, gamers have been able to get their hands on a bunch of games at very low prices by simply purchasing access to certain PSN accounts. These accounts were reportedly initially sold through marketplaces operated by Amazon, Flipkart, and Paytm, but more recently, sellers have been using Whatsapp and Telegram channels to sell these accounts.
While a single PS4/PS5 game could cost players over $39, these PSN accounts sometimes gave players access to a dozen games for the price of one. Players who purchased a PSN account could sign in and download games and then play them from their account.
Sony bans 7,000 PSN accounts, causing surge in purchases and game top-ups
Alvani says some of the sellers who spoke to him explained how the ban on these accounts led to a spike in game purchases and top-ups (for PS Plus). Mainly because players who used to have to rely on buying PSN accounts now had to buy games legally.
The ban forced many of these PSN account resellers to close stores, allowing retailers across the country to experience a surge in game sales. Reportedly, many players who bought these accounts have now claimed that their consoles are unable to connect the PS4 online or play multiplayer games.
While the $52 mark is still considered by many to be too high for individual games, services like Xbox Game Pass have been able to alleviate the problem for many Xbox gamers. However, Sony does not currently offer any such services, but there are rumors that a new Game Pass-like service for the PlayStation is being prepared for launch.