Sony is moving away from physical discs, will soon only release PlayStation games digitally

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Sony made a shocking announcement today, revealing that the company plans to move away from physical game releases in the future. Citing claims of how the industry is moving away from physical copies and disc-based games, and prefers digital media, PlayStation will follow suit, and will only release PlayStation games digitally. Starting January 2028, physical disc production will end, and you'll only be able to purchase video games through a digital format, either from retailers or PlayStation themselves.

According to the most recent financial report from Sony, only 3% of PlayStation's annual sales came from physical software releases, with projections for that already low number set to fall even further through the end of the PlayStation 5's lifecycle.

As consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continue to shift away from physical discs to digital, physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028. Following this date, new games will be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only. This transition has no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format.

This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs. This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.

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🏴‍☠️ Sail the Seven Seas me hearties 🏴‍☠️

Boycott GTA-6 & it's No Disk physical release coz this announcement from $ony is not a coincidence, Gta6 is the most anticipated entertainment launch ever & is going to normalize & set a trend be it the new $80/$100 price to Code in A Box physical games, & ofcourse $ony is jumping into that momentum to pad their profit margins by eliminating blu-ray drives.

Fuck Take-2, Fuck Rock🌟, Fuck $ony as a staff, record label and as a m0therfuck1ng crew, Micro$lop Fuck you too, Fuck all these greedy AF corporate m0foz

My .44 makes all yo k1ds don't grow...wait...why am I reciting the lyrics to Hit 'Em Up
 
>Sell a console with a Blu-Ray drive
>Stop making games for it in the middle of its life
??????
They already had a digital-only model at launch though, and the writing on the wall became even clearer when PS5 Slim and PS5 Pro came without a disc drive by default.
 
As i said time and again, i understand your frustration, but for the most part nothing changes. Many games do not fit onto the disc so you have to download it from the sony servers anyway. only part of it is on disk if even. And even then you have to be online every now and again to keep playing those games. So basically nothing changes. The real outrage here should be that the prices should plummet to at least 75% because now there is no Printed Physical disc, no Disc Boxes, no Printed Covers, no Retail delivery, No Storage costs, no Secondary Retail Costs and so on. Thats the real Fuckup in my opinion.

The only sensible thing for a really long time is making Offline Playable backups for everything and supporting Plattforms like GOG for actually selling us games.
 
I didn't realize that decision affect all third party games too.

I thought it was for first party games but it is not since all third party games have to get official discs from Sony.

Jan 2028 would be end of PS5 lifespan and there is no doubt about PS6 would come without BD drive, or limit BD drive for older PS4 and PS5 games and movies only.
 
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Rockstar really are trend setters.

This was inevitiable though to be fair. More profit in shareholder pockets, more control.

RIP to this legendary piece of Sony history (didn't take long did it?):


More fool all the idiots who fell for these stunts

So often I see online references to how great Sony were for shaming Xbox or not having plans to go digital only - this is by no means a defense of Microsoft/Xbox, they're as much a toxic presence in the gaming space, if not more

The truth is, Sony were trying to force this exact scenario a decade and a half ago, by a combination of public outcry at "leaks" and failure of their handhelds, kept this back

Microsoft were dumb enough to follow through with it and Sony used the opportunity to enhance their public perception.

Even now they do this after Rockstar have announced digital only.

These corporations are a toxic, criminal destructive presence
 
His son is heir apparent for his role, but his role is already very minimal as far as day-to-day operations of Valve go. Various senior staff members decide what projects to work on and when to work on them, so it's essentially an employee-owned business as is.
It's not the leadership role I'm talking about. When Gabe dies ownership has to transfer, and the 40% tax bill on that is going to be a problem.

I'm sure they have a plan, but it would be nice to know what it is. I'm guessing they'll use a trust in a smart and protective way.
 
It's not the leadership role I'm talking about. When Gabe dies ownership has to transfer, and the 40% tax bill on that is going to be a problem.

I'm sure they have a plan, but it would be nice to know what it is. I'm guessing they'll use a trust in a smart and protective way.
Multi-billionaire status necessitates investment in diverse funds/ventures, and the accountants for the rich get away with dancing around the tax code like nobody else. Probably not worth worrying about.
 
There are some comparing PSN to Steam on other websites... When are PSN sales ever as good as Steam sales? Very rarely. Even when the prices are low it's still higher than Steam.

Used discs have a better chance of having a similarly low price than a PSN sale.
 
Multi-billionaire status necessitates investment in diverse funds/ventures, and the accountants for the rich get away with dancing around the tax code like nobody else. Probably not worth worrying about.
You misinterpret the dichotomy. It's not money vs other. It's power vs other.
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Used discs have a better chance of having a similarly low price than a PSN sale.
Absolutely. Before retro got trendy I was getting old carts and discs for under a few dollars. Way cheaper than they were on Steam or eShop.

I'm still not sure Retro is trendy. I only know a few people into old games. Most people seem to prefer whatever has the best graphics.
 
I wonder if ps4 and ps5 discs are pressed with a unique ID like switch carts. Would be nice to get a 1 time convert into digital to play your physical collection on the ps6 since its fairly obvious it wont have a disc drive. Rumor has it Microsoft is planning the same thing for the Helix as that likely won't have a disc drive for older xbox games either.
 
There's no way to sell your games or get them second hand. This is why I am glad GKC exists. Full digital is worse.
My issue with the game key cards is that it allows Nintendo a loophole (read: weasel way out) of being forced to preserve the game in the event of server access being closed off.

The GKC is a cart with an expiry date; you just don't know when yet (as of this writing).
 
Console games are poorly optimised these days, how large they are becoming yet having low quality textures and with this gen thanks to piracy, seeing how games have to be on its SSD in order to load and play properly.

Yet my PC is perfectly capable of playing the exact same game(s) off an external (not USB C port) and plays perfectly fine even while running at maximum settings.

Comes to these consoles, like Spider Man, the game keeps having to pause as it loads the rest if the city when your Web slinging.

Cyberpunk, again has to keep pausing when driving as it struggles to keep up.

Doom will struggle to load textures so you end up seeing gouraud shaded models.

Gamers these days are idiots that blindly throw money at this digital crap without seeing they'll never own it and like now, Sony and all these movies...... You've paid for it, yet Sony are revoking your rights to access them.

Nope they're not simply removing them from the store, so it can't be purchased anymore.

They're removing them and also removing it so you can't even watch them anymore.

I said decades ago, when gaming goes digital only, ill stop buying consoles.. I wonder if this retarded move is a buddy buddy, ill scratch your back if you scratch mine, as gamers will then move to PC..... Hello Steam Machine.....

Boosts Steam Machine sales to help them gain footing in the PC market and in return Valve give Sony discounted rates to sell on Steam Store, which Sony will need to expand to try recover lost profits that would have been from physical sales.

I mean, have Sony been completely oblivious to the epic fuck ups MicroShite have been doing by making its games digital only as day one releases to its GamePass, also as MicroShite tried to copy off the likes of ShitFlix and now having to fire majority of those who were previously safe...

Sony should stick to what they're doing now, though sacking its staff because its online games have become old and replaced with something new.

Its absolutely disgusting, like thanks for making our game and now its time to fuck off.

Gaming was better when it was game creators creating fun games and pitching them, now they're told what to make and when the doesn't make money, your fired..

Just like MicroShite sacking its staff when doing as instructed to ensure game is finished to be added to its GamePass as day one release, then punishing them for shit sales.
 

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