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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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Viri said:
My niece and nephews like to rent their Switch 1/2 games from the library. I guess if Nintendo does such a thing, no more renting new games from the library. lol
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N have always been a physical company right from the off over a 100 years ago making cards - I cant see even the next Switch (mk3) losing that as they love the idea that kids can just buy the game and play it there and then....As all N first party games are on the cart
 
And they will "magically" state that the most expensive hard drive they sell is the best to use for PS games...

Here comes another PS Vita styled flaw...

Sunny of the Beach, making the same mistakes again and again... They never learn... Thank You!
 
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Sono said:
They probably upsell the price per disc quite a lot, making it barely worth it for some very popular AAA titles. For indies, there is no chance, for sure.
So if you're not interested in AAA titles, you literally have no choice, your favorite game is digital-only.
:rofl2:
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Console disc pricing has always had roughly the same model.

A few years ago to print a ps4 disc it was $5-7 per disc. On top of this Sony has a minimum order of a few thousand discs. On top of this is typical licensing fees. For the big AAA publishers Sony would typically cut them a deal Indies's not so much.
A big reason a lot of indies don't do a physical release is if the game is not a huge success the price of the physical copies can bankrupt them overnight.


Nintendo is the same but the proce for carts is $10-20
 
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People will hate me for saying this, but it's bigger than us!

Manufacturing costs are ridiculous right now, and digital is easier and faster! Even Ubisoft said get use to not owning your games!

This was something foretold and already warned about it, Gamestop knew it, that's why they closed down a lot of stores.

This will eliminate scalpers and resellers and all the funds go directly to the companies!

Which sucks for us, because of the cost of HDD's and external expansion HDD's, we lose on that front!

Even now on PS5, I don't have but 1 physical copy of a PS5 game, as I'm guilty too of not buying physical, because I can get digital keys cheaper and it's more convenient than running to a store just to get a case and a disc, I'll never use and that you have to install anyways.

Games are getting larger in size and require installs anyways. Disc was going away eventually.

We just wasn't prepared, especially with the crazy memory prices.

PS6 will be out in 2028 or 2029 and I'm sure the file sizes won't fit on current media. There is a reason even retailers, stop carrying movies a year ago.
 
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This is the same Sony company that pushed for games on physical DVD's in 1995 when "trying" to compete with Nintendo and Sega.

The same company who pushed for a physical dvd player with the ps2. Half ps2 sales were just people wanting to watch movies and had ps2's sitting there with 0 games.

I also remember when game companies made unique names for thier consoles. What's with playstation 1,2,3,4,5,6,9,26 is it really that hard to come up with a name? sony got lazy.

The gaming world is turning into no more going outside to buy physical games which was part of the fun, looking at the physical box, opening it like a present. Reading through the manual which was the first thing we all did when we got snes.sega games.

Some companies got creative and included posters which we hung on our wall. I remember lunar 2 on ps1 box set had some sort of cloth map and pendant.

The whole point and reason for a console to exist is the physical games it comes with. Its a physical thing. you are no longer a console if the games are digital. They are not a digital distribution platform like steam, gog etc because these are on pc but playstation is not on the pc.

Perfect example of a game company who doesnt know who they are or what to do with what they have.
 
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I'd like to see a push for changing the language around "buying games" in the all digital era. Words like purchase and buy imply ownership, so why should they be able to say I'm buying a game when I'm only receiving a revokable licence to acquire and play a game?

Also, has everyone considered the implications of tying every game to a user account that can be suspended/banned without recourse? Anyone who thinks that system is infallible is giving way too much credit to the corporations.
 
More and more people cancelled their PSN memberships after hearing that the PS6 would be entirely digital. Keep it going! Sony deserves this backlash for abandoning physical games. Don't give up, and don't let them win!
 
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Marc_LFD said:
If it was DRM-free I'd support it, but I just don't like buying things that are long-term rentals.
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As long as I can pirate it, I don't care.
I'm paying solely to support the devs and publisher, as I've known since forever that digital (and even physical media in a sense) is merely a glorified license.
When it comes to physical media, it's simply harder to revoke the DRM, since it's tied to the media, but it also fades away with time.

Pirated/DRM-free data/media is "eternal" as long as you back it up.
It's the only form of actual ownership of digital goods.

As my income improved, I went from full pirate (no income) to Steam user, to being a GOG double-dipper in the future.

These days, I prefer buying on Steam for the services/integrations, then GOG for the DRM-free option, and finally consoles if I can't buy it for PC (mostly Nintendo first party games).

I also always get the non-HV pirated fitgirl backup option for Steam-only games, and that's also how I "demo" them.
 
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The reality is that we the consumer let this happen.

$ony already tried this shit back is 2009 with the PSP Go, but we the consumer gave them the middle finger.

Nowadays people got too comfortable with "i'll just download it" and these companies saw the perfect opportunity to f*ck us.
With this move, not only they will 100% control the price of games but also there wont be any used games market. And, they will remove the games when they like even if we paid full price and no one can do anything about it (see the recent movies removal and the past Sony attempt to steal from costumers that already bought anime episodes on Funimation, when Sony bought Crunchyroll ).

Physical on consoles is necessary because its a closed system. People who compare this to Steam, are at best naive.
Steam works on a open platform and they have way better prices and 20+ year of track record of not trying to f*ck the consumer.
Sony on the other hand has a very big track record of f*cking, or trying to f*ck the consumer.

And for those that think that MicroSlop wont do the same IF Sony gets away with this, think again. MS also tried this shit in 2013.

Oh and Nintendo will follow next. Remember Key cards?
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bjaxx87 said:
I don't think I ever bought a single full priced digital game and I don't feel like changing that.
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Same here. I have a decent digital library BUT it was all bought at discount or offered.
 
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Exnor said:
The reality is that we the consumer let this happen.

$ony already tried this shit back is 2009 with the PSP Go, but we the consumer gave them the middle finger.

Nowadays people got too comfortable with "i'll just download it" and these companies saw the perfect opportunity to f*ck us.
With this move, not only they will 100% control the price of games but also there wont be any used games market. And, they will remove the games when they like even if we paid full price and no one can do anything about it (see the recent movies removal and the past Sony attempt to steal from costumers that already bought anime episodes on Funimation, when Sony bought Crunchyroll ).

Physical on consoles is necessary because its a closed system. People who compare this to Steam, are at best naive.
Steam works on a open platform and they have way better prices and 20+ year of track record of not trying to f*ck the consumer.
Sony on the other hand has a very big track record of f*cking, or trying to f*ck the consumer.

And for those that think that MicroSlop wont do the same IF Sony gets away with this, think again. MS also tried this shit in 2013.

Oh and Nintendo will follow next. Remember Key cards?
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Google was too early with Stadia, but as people grow comfortable that'll be the next stage.
 
Marc_LFD said:
Google was too early with Stadia, but as people grow comfortable that'll be the next stage.
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Stadia was a clusterfuck. Stupid high prices for a service that was not good enough.

Maybe in the future, but even today, Xbox cloud and Amazon Luna are not suitable for fast pacing games. They are great for turn base RPGs and alike.
 

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