Amazon Is Making Some Games Exclusive For Prime Subscribers

Published: April 22, 2016 10:37 AM /

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If you were planning on treating yourself to Grand Theft Auto V for some hijinks set in a fictional version of California, Amazon might not be the retailer for you anymore. 

It seems like, for some reason, you will have to shell out for an Amazon Prime account in order to be able to purchase select titles from the immensely popular online retailer. Among these titles are the aforementioned Grand Theft Auto VRainbow Six Siege, and Assassin's Creed Syndicate for PS4. The PS4 and Xbox One versions of FIFA 16, Far Cry Primal, and Battlefield Hardline are now also exclusive to Amazon Prime subscribers. These games join a line up of different items that are exclusive to subscribers of the $130 a year service which includes perks like free shipping and access to a variety of streaming services like the Prime Video service and Prime Music. Note that this is currently happening on the UK and US versions of the store and this only pertains to the physical versions of the games at this time. The digital versions can still be bought by anyone. 

Even though you won't be able to order these games directly from Amazon, you can still use their website to buy the physical versions of the games off third-party sellers. 

David Scammell from Videogamer reached out to Amazon for comment, but only got back the most canned response imaginable: 

One of the many benefits of Amazon Prime is access to exclusive selection on a number of great products. Customers who are not Prime members can sign-up for a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime, or they can purchase those items from a Marketplace seller.

It's as of yet unknown if more games will be added to the Prime program but if that were to happen then there would be some cause for concern. What is stopping Amazon from locking specific editions of a game or Amazon exclusive pre-order bonuses behind an additional paywall?


Quick Take

I can understand it if they locked new items behind the Prime wall as a sort of 'early access' type of deal, but locking away games that have been out for a while seems a bit . . . odd. It's not a very big problem since you can still buy the games from third parties, but it's still a bit silly.

So, what do you think of Amazon no longer selling these games to non-subscribers? Sound off in the comments!

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Chris Anderson
| Staff Writer

I've been playing games since I was just barely able to walk so I might as well write about them.