Sony say "fuck consumer choice. We want all of the money!" .

[MrBiron 1,527]

https://kotaku.com/sony-ending-discs-for-all-playstation-games-starting-2028-2000711927

 

They've decided to stop producing physical discs for games starting in 2028. 

Because fuck your customers, right? 

This means that they will kill of 2nd hand game sales and lending games to your friends or family. Which means themselves and publishers will get a shitload more money.

Microsoft could well follow suit with their next console. If they're smart then they should keep the disc drive and it'll pull some customer away from Sony. Also, if the rumours are true that the next Xbox will basically be a PC with access to game stores like Steam or Epic, then that will be the console to get. At least that way you'll be able to get games at decent prices.

[crispymorgan 1,076]

Controversial opinion.  I don’t care. Physical version of AAA games have been gone for years.  The disc you get may as well be a drinks coaster.  It’s nothing more than a token to say “download the game”. Nothing runs from disc, and the version you play is a patched version that doesn’t mirror the disc data.  

 

the payoff for Sony is you can’t sell digital.  If you want to play the game, you must buy a copy.

moving physical units costs money, so it’s no surprise in this climate they are shying away from it.

the move towards games as a service will probably move towards the subscription model, even owning digital versions will become less common.

 

 It’s following tv/dvd habits.

 

 The real question is, do we need a PlayStation 6?  For the first time, graphics aren’t holding us back.  we should  prioritise gameplay.  You can even buy brand new mega drive games.  

[J4MES OX4D 10,497]

Modern gaming is so garbage that there really isn't any title which I want to own the physical version of now.  Also digital prices drop so much on PC that it is way cheaper than what the pre-owned market used to be. Most physical games these days typically require day one updates and some even contain blank discs where the game needs to be downloaded from scratch anyway.  Digital libraries just feel more convenient now especially when it comes to managing hundreds of games and I don't really mind not having the opportunity to sell used titles because many games just feel like consumables now. 

 

I actually think console gaming has much greater concerns with value and sustainability now. I could sell my first gen PS5 second hand for practically the same price I paid for it during the pandemic new. The price rises are utterly insane especially on such dated and inferior hardware. The next gen is inching towards the £1000 mark which puts it slightly behind mid-range PC's that could comfortably play a lot of titles in 4K 100fps+. There's also the subscription models, online premiums and top-end digital pricing. The future does look bleak especially with the amount of AI and UE5 slop. 

[MrBiron 1,527]

The main issue is pricing. With physical copies there was competition between them and digital games. Now if it's all digital then publishers can price games however they want and there's nothing the consumer can do about it. 

[Luseth 2,229]

4 hours ago, crispymorgan said:

Controversial opinion.  I don’t care. Physical version of AAA games have been gone for years.  The disc you get may as well be a drinks coaster.  It’s nothing more than a token to say “download the game”. Nothing runs from disc, and the version you play is a patched version that doesn’t mirror the disc data.  

 

 

That's not accurate I don't believe is it? Quite a lot of games still contain a full game albeit without day 1 patches. You generally install the game from it and play from your hard drive admittedly and I think live service games also skew the figures. For example Ratchet and Clank Rift apart, Astro Bot, God of war ragnorok, Spiderman 2 could all be installed and played with just your console and the physical game from start to finish without ever needing an internet connection. The games that do generally follow the practice of a disc being just a download key are typically your Fifa's and Call of Duty's, companies that you would not really be surprised by this. The majority of game 'sales' now are also likely to be live service games which are generally only bought digitally, your fortnites, your Warzones and such which are also notably free and what I think is a big thing is they are not showing what their breakdown is, I suspect DLC's, micro transactions and such may also figure into their figures. Single player titles are much closer to 50% physical and 50% digital sales.

 

15% of all new game sales are still bought brand new and physical, that is quite a chunk of your fan base to alienate. It also does not include second hand sales so that percentage could be skewed the wrong way. All this is targeting is maximising profit and nothing today with improving things generally. Oh look at us we are doing this because we are following sales trends when in reality it's losing second hand game sales, it's the cost of manufacturing the disc, the case and paying someone to create art for it or layout the casing, the cost of transporting etc etc, all that will now go into the profit that they are making, it's not suddenly going to see a price drop of £5 on each game say because they are all now digital. 

 

I get that the trend is currently towards digital only however I don't think you will see the same moral compass from Sony as we have with say Valve, only this week have they also said that many user's won't be able to watch a number of digital films that they have bought and paid for on their consoles. With that in mind if they can do that with any digital content (which their T's & C's allow) there is also the preservation argument whereby we could see games literally disappear and become inaccessible by anyone at some point in the future. Your digital library with Sony won't be as secure as say your steam library, there is every likelihood that in the future you paying £70 for a game is so you can use it for up to 2 years and then you lose access or some other crap.

 

Even following the TV / film industry with how prevalent subscriptions have been with Netflix, Disney etc they have all opted to retain physical copies for people to purchase, I could still go in HMV (surprisingly still exists) and buy a physical blu-ray film, similarly we still get physical cd's.

For me and a few people I know now, we buy more games digitally yes however the plus of owning consoles is having the option of physical titles as well. If I am only going to be buying digital games moving forwards it will more likely be on PC. I can get mainly the same games, I can generally buy them cheaper, I have the options of what type of device I want 'Lots of power with a desktop, a portable hand held or something in the middle'. A lot of people own consoles for physical titles or exclusives in addition to their PC and such.

 

What I also find mad is the number of people who just accept this saying ah it doesn't bother me or in some instances I have seen online where people are getting irrate or arsey with those who aren't keen on going digital only. Neither do starving children in parts of the world but it should because it affects other people unnecessarily (appreciate that this is a bit more of a blunt way to say it 😄 ) It's classic case of 'I'm alright Jeff'. If people want to play and enjoy a game they way they do why should it be ok to take that away just to give more profit to the shareholders and such?