For decades, video games have been a favorite gift for children. Many people grew up with just two games a year, the typical birthday present and another for Christmas. When video games could only be purchased in physical format, giving a title to a friend or family member was as simple as giving any other gift. However, the proliferation of purely digital consoles is creating certain obstacles for people who want to give video games as gifts, especially within the Sony ecosystem. If you want to give digital games for PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5, you should know that, for some reason, Sony makes the process a bit complicated. If you know someone who has a console without a disc drive—or who lives far away—and you want to give them a PlayStation game, we're warning you that the process won't be easy. If Christmas, Three Kings Day, or a birthday are approaching, here are the methods available to give games on Sony consoles.
Is it possible to give away a digital copy of a PS4 or PS5 game?
There are some things we'll never understand about Sony. The option to buy a game as a gift existed a few years ago, but it's no longer available since April 1, 2019. From that date, Sony prohibited other distributors from selling download codes for full games. Sony is only allowed to sell DLCs, virtual currency for video games, add-ons , and season passes. Nintendo, by the way, copied the exact same strategy in early 2021.
However, this limitation clashes significantly with the console concept they've been selling us with the PlayStation 5. Sony's next-gen console is sold in two formats: with a disc drive and exclusively digital. This means that if our friend or family member has the digital version , we can't gift them games for their console . Does this make any sense? Aren't they shooting themselves in the foot?
Well, although Sony limits our ability to give away games directly, there are a few ways to do it.
Method 1: Share Library
This first technique is simple, and while it can't be considered a pure gift, it can be useful. Since PlayStation 4, games you purchase digitally can be shared with your friends . The titles will be associated with your account, but you can easily grant access to a friend, and they can enjoy it as if it were their own.
But be careful, only do this with people you trust , as they will have access to your PlayStation account. Both you and your friend must have an active PlayStation Plus subscription ; otherwise, it won't work. The steps to share games are as follows:
- start your account of PlayStation in the your friend's console.
- Go to Settings.
- Enter AAccount management.
- Choose "Activate as my Primary PS4/PS5» and confirm the process. During this process, your personal console will be deactivated, but you can reactivate it as soon as you return home without any problems.
Once this is done, you will have access to the entire catalog of games from your account on your friend's console, so the new purchases you make will also be downloadable for him.
On the downside , this process can only be done with one user at a time. Another aspect to consider is security, as your account becomes linked to the other person's console. The wisest course of action if you're going to do this is to also enable two-step verification to add extra security to your PlayStation account.
Method 2: Gift Cards
This is the method Sony wants you to use, the official way to do it. However, doing this does take away some of the magic of receiving a free video game.
To do this, you'll need a PSN prepaid card . These can be purchased at many department stores, hypermarkets, and electronics retailers, as well as on websites like Amazon or Fnac. Simply check the game's price on the PlayStation Store and buy a gift card with a value equal to or greater than that. In Europe, gift cards are available in denominations of €5, €10, €15, €20, €25, €30, €35, €40, €50, and €100. If you want to give a typical AAA game, which costs around €70, it's best to buy one €50 card and another for €20 or €25. If you buy the card online, you'll only receive a digital code that you can redeem for the balance in your account.
See offer on Amazon See offer on AmazonOnce you have the card, you can give it to your friend directly (they'll need to scratch the strip to read the code) or give them the alphanumeric code to redeem it. Once the balance is added to their account, they can buy any game they want.
The result with this method is identical to what we would do if we could gift PlayStation games directly, but the process is not attractive at all and Sony is probably missing out on a very interesting market by preventing users from gifting games on their platform.
Method 3: Gift PlayStation Plus Extra or Premium
PlayStation Plus has changed, and since 2022, it now has a plan divided into three distinct tiers. Each tier offers more benefits than the previous one, increasing the price. The middle subscription is PlayStation Plus Extra . It costs around €99,99 per year, €39,99 per quarter, or €13,99 per month. The great thing about this membership is that it has a huge catalog of 400 PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games . If the game or games you want to give as a gift are included in this subscription, giving a PlayStation Plus gift card would be the most sensible option.
The only downside to this method is that Sony reserves the right to add or remove titles from its service, but without a doubt, it's one of the most interesting options we have today for gifting games within the Sony ecosystem —or at least, until they design a system that allows gifting in a convenient and simple way within their platform.
If you're wondering about the difference between Extra and Premium, basically, Premium includes the same benefits, but also has over 300 games from other Sony consoles , especially the original PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable. Furthermore, with PlayStation Plus Premium, you can access games that run directly on Sony's cloud, which is a requirement for enjoying the older PlayStation 3 games also included in this membership. PlayStation Plus Premium benefits are €119,99 per year, €49,99 per quarter, and €16,99 per month.
Method 4: Library Sharing and Gifting
There is one last way to give away games on PS4 and PS5, although we anticipate that it is a variant of the two previous methods, so do not expect much. Of course, this procedure has more class and you can give away the video game in question instead of a card with the value to redeem it.
How do you do it? Well, the essential requirement is having access to your friend's PlayStation account ; that is, you both need to share your console catalogs (as explained in the first method). Here are the steps you need to take:
- Change of user on your console and enter your friend's.
- Sign in PlayStation Store.
- Get your credit card or PlayStation Store gift card ready.
- make the purchase a day before or a few hours before making the gift. don't get too far ahead, or your friend will see the new downloaded title on his console and you will spoil the surprise.
What Sony should do
This barrier to gifting video games definitely doesn't make much sense when a console without a disc drive has been released, meaning users who own this console can't receive a game as a gift. Gifting video games is the modern equivalent of gifting a book. Sony is preventing this , even though they have plenty of tools at their disposal to allow users to gift games without losing any distribution rights. To some extent, the company itself is devaluing its disc-less PS5, as gamers perceive it as an inferior product. In exchange for saving a few euros, customers won't be able to receive a gift conveniently, making the version with a disc drive a much better option.
Sony should backtrack and simply allow users to gift games directly from the PlayStation Store. It's unbelievable they haven't thought of this already. It could be done without needing to log into anyone's account. A gift button followed by a friends list to select the recipient. It would be an elegant solution that, while it would bring its own set of problems (account theft, for example, which could be prevented with 2FA), would bring this functionality back to users without relying on any third party.
In the meantime, you can always make use of these four methods that we have explained in this post to get around Sony's limitations a bit. Many of these methods are not what users expect from a company like Sony, but today, they are the only options available to us if we want to give a digital game to a friend or family member.
Should I trust people who share accounts online?
As we've said, Sony's approach to managing games for its consoles sometimes makes absolutely no sense. It's illogical that you can't give away a PlayStation game, yet the internet is full of people reselling accounts and even renting out secondary accounts to other users to profit from Sony's own library-sharing feature.
If you frequent any forums or have ever browsed marketplaces like eBay, you've probably come across ads for selling secondary accounts . Basically, what these users do is set up your PlayStation Network account as a secondary one. This way, you can play a game that isn't in your library. Sony allows you to share your library, or for other users to share it with you, although obviously no money should change hands. Generally speaking, these online businesses are quite shady, so it's wiser to steer clear, lest you end up with your PlayStation account banned in the attempt to save a few euros.
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