Did Sony just usher in the digital only era?

[Jayinem]

When Sony announced their PS5 Pro for $699 with no disc drive, a $200 increase over the one with a regular disc drive, IMO they were saying this is the digital era and consoles are basically like a computer now for dummies. Because yes you can build a computer that's probably more powerful for $700 but you can't buy one.

I'm thinking PS6 will have no disc drive what so ever and they're preparing us for that. I don't expect Nintendo to follow with Switch 2 and Microsoft may or not may not either however Sony is leading the way as far as high tech consoles (which Switch is not).

 

[gnmmarechal]

"Usher in"? They're having massive backlash over the ridiculous price and lack of overall value. Physical games are one of the very few things consoles still have over PCs, and taking that away entirely.... seems like a good way to ever so slowly push people away.

 

[Jayinem]

"Usher in"? They're having massive backlash over the ridiculous price and lack of overall value. Physical games are one of the very few things consoles still have over PCs, and taking that away entirely.... seems like a good way to ever so slowly push people away.

Well there's no denying things are changing. No console has ever raised their price for a digital only console by saying sure you can add the ability to play discs but you have to pay extra like it's an accessory. It was a very arrogant move on their part, but I think there has to be some motivation behind it like they're saying to prepare for PS6 to have no disc drive. If they were arrogant enough to charge $700 for no disc drive and think they'll still get enough sales to warrant it who's to say they won't go all the way and just go digital only. The only way they'll back down is if PS5 Pro completely bombs sales wise and they lose a ton of money. I'm hoping that happens. Zero chance they didn't know they'd get backlash, but they did it anyway.

 

[Lostbhoy]

I don't expect there will be a PS6 after this fiasco lol

 

[Jayinem]

Articles are being written that Sony thinks they have no competition and can do what they want. They're probably having meetings "why not cut out the middle man" having to ship games to stores and give stores a part of the profits. Some of these corporate assholes are not always in tune to what consumers want, they just think about $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

 

[Kwyjor]

I think this same conversation was already had multiple times when the XBox One was announced.

 

[Jayinem]

I'm not saying it's 100% happening, but I think it's a possibility. A retailer gets somewhere around 34% on a game sold. Sony probably knows some consumers would not buy a PS6 if it was digital only but if it was less than 34% that they would lose, they'd still be making a profit.

I think if they meet their sales goals for PS5 Pro there is a good chance it will happen, but if they don't it probably will not unless they're just determined to go digital only.

If Sony tried to go digital only on PS6, I could see Microsoft countering by offering a disc drive on their next console.

 

[auntnadia]

Good point and I missed that completely. Not sure they’re ushering it in any more than Microsoft did with their own attempt, but yes, it does look a lot more cynical when you put it that way. Maybe testing the waters is more appropriate? I did wonder what the point of it was at all. i think everyone was scratching their heads when Sony pitched the whole framerate thing. We’d all love decent framerate, but how many are willing to pay that much for such a small gain?

 

[CoolMe]

If the PS5 Pro sells without the disc drive? You betcha the bext Sony will come without one. But if people continue to buy idisc drive with it too, then it's possible they could repeat what they did here with the PS5 Pro. Only time will tell.
Also, not sure if Sony will continue producing the normal non-Pro PS5s after or they'll continue for another year or something then stop that could certainly be a factor in increasing the Pro's sales, because people won't have any other choice other than the Pro..

 

[Ettino]

I don't expect there will be a PS6 after this fiasco lol

There'll be a PS5 Pro Plus, no extra feature, just 2 extra lines (ok maybe 1 line) of the black stripes on the side. No disc drive, also no SSD as this will be a steaming device only. Controller sold separately.


Please look forward to it.

 

[KanaKonpaku]

I'd think that the PS5 external disc drives selling off the shelves after then announcement there'd be no disc drive should send them a message. Will it actually? Probably not. I've lost faith in most console manufactures at this point anyways. Building a PC is DEFINITELY what Sony makes me feel like. Steam Deck and Switch have an advantage as they're portable consoles (or a PC I guess in the Steam Decks case) but Sony doing this just reminds me to upgrade my PC instead of buy a PS5 Pro.

 

[Xzi]

Eh, they still sell the disc drive you can attach to it, just separately. Sony's sales are still primarily physical copies, too. If anyone has been pushing hard to go digital-only, it's Microsoft, as they've actually been slowly pulling their physical games from retail stores. Until Sony copies that tactic, there's not really much to worry about. Would be awfully foolish to let Nintendo have that space all for themselves, as a physical presence at retail is a lot more enticing from a marketing perspective than online advertising.

 

[JustABadger]

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[Ryab]

Articles are being written that Sony thinks they have no competition and can do what they want. They're probably having meetings "why not cut out the middle man" having to ship games to stores and give stores a part of the profits. Some of these corporate assholes are not always in tune to what consumers want, they just think about $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

I mean Microsoft seems to want to take that even further and not have to even make consoles. They want to go full streaming it seems.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I mean Microsoft seems to want to take that even further and not have to even make consoles. They want to go full streaming it seems.

They have PC and Microsoft Store and Xbox games probably sell more there than they do on Xbox, so it's really a wonder that they've kept making Xbox hardware for as long as they have. Xbox has been irrelevant since after the 360.

 

[M7L7NK7]

Do you know what I think will happen? The Pro is going to sell fine, only a tiny fraction of people will buy the drive add-on, Sony will do the same thing for the PS6 effectively killing a massive chunk of the used gaming market, companies like GameStop are going to cut many stores, people will keep buying more and more digital games while Sony is going to make much more profits from all the people buying digital, until the next step will be to bring everyone into a streaming-only era. An era that I think won’t happen anytime soon, as we are decades, maybe even centuries away from a 100% first-world 5G internet coverage with no lag. We don’t even have that for phone signal, or even electricity.

Sell fine? You'd have to either be stupid in this economy to spend that much on a tiny upgrade or have more money than you know what to do with

 

[Ryab]

They have PC and Microsoft Store and Xbox games probably sell more there than they do on Xbox, so it's really a wonder that they've kept making Xbox hardware for as long as they have. Xbox has been irrelevant since after the 360.

Microsoft was pushing digital only content basically in the mid 2000s. Can't be shocked that they are wanting to go further.

 

[JustABadger]

Sell fine? You'd have to either be stupid in this economy to spend that much on a tiny upgrade or have more money than you know what to do with

The upper class is doing fine in this economy. Also monthly payments to buy small electronics is popular among certain populations, including most of Europe.

 

[UltraHurricane]

The upper class is doing fine in this economy. Also monthly payments to buy small electronics is popular among certain populations, including most of Europe.

the thing is... is it sustainable? If companies want continuous growth, consoles have to appeal to people other then the upper class to make line go up

Also we're living in an age where doing digital has made content distribution extremely cheap and convenient yet the savings aren't being passed on to the consumer, in fact the polar opposite has been happening. So I don't blame people for feeling like we're paying more for less given when advancing technology should be offering more then just slightly cleaner looking graphics

really makes me miss the days when the PS3 use to be a multimedia powerhouse with slots for every type of memory card, media server capabilities, vast video/audio codec support, support for installing other OSs, even SACD support on some models. That "five-hundred and ninety-nine US dollars" feels like a bargain by comparison

 

[Reploid]

More like in nogaemz era