The best answer is that Sony's purchase policies don't allow retailers other than the PS Store to sell digital game downloads. If you want to give your friend a digital game, you need to buy a gift card.
You cannot gift a digital copy of a game on PS4 or PS5 anymore. This is no longer an option. If you want to give a digital game to a friend, you should send them a gift card from the PS Store. It is far from ideal, but it is the only real option. You can buy a physical game for someone, but then you have to ship it to them, and they cannot play it if they are using a PS5 Digital Edition. If you really want to buy a game for someone who doesn't purchase it on the store, a physical copy is the only option.
Sony continues to produce physical copies of its first-party games from Sony Worldwide Studios and major third-party titles from other companies. All of the best PS5 games will be available for purchase in the future. You do not need to worry about this changing soon. If you want to give a physical copy of the game to your friend, make sure you have their address and they are okay with disc drives.
Sony used to allow digital game gifts at retailers, but not anymore. Retailers were not allowed to sell full digital game download codes.
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Sony Interactive Entertainment will no longer offer full games through the Global Digital at Retail program on April 1, 2019. Increased denominations will be introduced at select retailers. DLC, add-ons, virtual currency, and season passes are still available.
People used to be able to buy digital game codes through retailers. That is no longer an option. If you're looking to pick up a digital copy of a game, there aren't many other options for you.
You can purchase a subscription service like PS Plus for your friend if you don't want to gift a game. PS5 owners have access to a lot of games because they have access to the free monthly games that anyone can subscribe to. They will also get instant access to the PS4 games that are accessible for PS5 users.
You can give your friend a subscription to the game. This service doesn't have as many newer games, and it doesn't support PS5 versions of games, meaning there won't be any features like ray tracing, ultra-fast loading, or 120FPS support. It gives access to a large library of games. The games can be streamed, so they don't have to be downloaded to a console before playing.