Up until today, gaming consoles were designed to play physical media. From the cartridges-days to CD, Blu-Ray and Flash cards. While newer consoles added virtual stores to buy digital versions of games and content, gamers up until now had always the choice between the two options.
Both offer advantages. Digital means that you can start playing immediately, download always the latest version without any 0-day patching marathons, and do not have to find the Blu-Ray or cartridge first before playing the game.
Physical media comes with its own set of advantages, at least those that still come with a disc and not just a download code (virtual in disguise). The main advantage is that you can lend or sell the game at any time. Buy it, play it, and sell it once you are done. With digital, there is a chance that games are taken away from you at one point in time, because you buy only licenses.
Sony plans to end the Disc
Sony announced this week that it is ending the production of physical discs in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles. Sony claims that the change is a response to shifting consumer preferences.
All new games releasing January 2028 or later will only come in digital format. They can be purchased on the PlayStation Store or at retailers, but also only in digital format. Think of the code in a box releases that are out already or will come out in the future.
Microsoft might follow
While Microsoft has not yet officially buried physical releases, The Verge reports that Microsoft is working on a system to turn physical game discs into virtual copies in preparation for the move.
The idea is simple: When you buy a physical copy, it is added automatically to your game library on installation. However, unlike on PlayStation, where you can’t lend or sell it, lending or selling remains an option, reportedly.
When you sell the game and the new buyer installs it, it is removed from your library and added to the buyer’s.
The end is near
While digital-only gamers could say that this does not really matter to them, it is shortsighted. For the companies, Sony especially, it is a way to dry out the second hand market. If you can’t buy used games anymore, then you may be inclined to pay full price online. More money in Sony’s pockets and less options and rights for gamers.
There is another aspect to this. Some gamers prefer physical boxes and content. While these have deteriorated in quality since the good old days, where games used to come with big manuals and extras at no extra charge, it could seriously dampen the collector’s edition market as well.
I have made up my mind a long time ago. I prefer physical, as it gives me full ownership of the copy. I can sell or lend the game at any time, or put it on a shelf to look at its glorious artwork.
I won’t buy digital games on consoles and if this really hits in 2028, Sony won’t squeeze any more money out of my pockets. Will focus my efforts on retro gaming then. Lots of great games out there that need to be replayed or played for the first time.
What about you? Are you a gamer? Do you prefer physical or digital?
You know I’m a gamer but, a PC gamer not consoles. We do have a PS3 though, the kid just picked up a copy of Need for Speed Carbon for the PS3 and he loves it.
Physical is digital, personally I’d rather have a HDD filled with data then a wall of shelves filled with boxes but I get the point, it’s really about ownership. These days I won’t buy a PC game until the DRM has been removed or cracked and I can download a copy that doesn’t collect my forking data!
We’re talking Denuvo and single player games, the steam stub is easy enough to remove and there’s always GoG. Epic is still 40% owned by the Chinese so, um, hard pass. I quit playing online games when “grief play”, “pay to win”, and “micro-transactions” became the goals.
Back to the console discs though, Sony is completely out of touch with it’s customers. Those board members need to step out of their climate controlled bubbles and visit a shops like this one that we go to “https://cakehoardergames.com/”. Those old discs are still creating a lot of profit.
There’s a lot more then just holding that box in your hand too. You can hand it to another human. You can take it with you to a friends house. Games can still be a thing you do “with” someone instead of sitting in your house alone.
I agree. I also play on PC and when I buy digital, I tend to buy at Gog. Sony is giving us a great example why digital is inherently bad for gamers. When they made the announcement, they revealed that they are closing the PS3 and PS Vita stores. This means, that you won’t be able to download and install digital games purchased in these stores anymore. This may happen to PS4 and PS5 games in the future as well. The company that got your money is taking away access to games and assets you purchased.
We need stronger consumer protections, as companies do have the power at the moment to do as they please.
At the very least the “right to repair” should apply to pc and console games.
Game preservation laws are weak and terrible. Consumer rights have gone out the door long ago. Gaming has morphed into this fowl smelling beast long ago. I used to enjoy playing games and was even open to hosting a game server when that was a thing then for reasons unknown hosting a game server was blocked and and things were never the same again. Game Mods became paid for and I must say they suffered for it too because there was no community spirit behind games anymore either.
Physical media or even Piracy will always be king no matter how you want to look at it. All they are doing is making a stronger argument for piracy with everything companies are doing.
I still buy media especially music and then rip it myself for my own personal use.
I used to buy a lot of switch games but when the switch 2 came along with their idiotic game key cart’s and limited cart sizes which forced smaller indie games out then I simply stopped buying games. I own over 200 switch 1 games and less than 6 switch 2 games. They have essentially killed my enthusiasm for console gaming.
They have gone way too far in screwing over the consumers these days.
Games and movies get pulled from the services all the time. Sony did it themselves recently so you essentially own nothing and can expect to be screwed over at any point in time.
GoG is just about the only decent store for gaming because once you download it then it’s yours. I wish they would pair up with a disc pressing factory and implement an option to order a physical edition though. Basically a print on demand option. Can you imagine the cool big boxes you could once again get.
Essentially they would be winning all types of consumers. Those that want and collect physical games and those that don’t. Of course no DRM and perpetual license to the game you buy.
I expect that there will be a much bigger push in Piracy, Emulation and console modding and honestly I hope so. If the companies are not will to accommodate their consumers then those consumers should start to rebel without impunity.
It’s not only about ownership. It’s about Sony wanting to kill the resale market.
Also, if they control the store, they set the prices.
I got a couple older games for $40 both. Each one of them cost $ 60 on the PlayStation store.
The Playstation store also has the worst refund policy. You can only refund if you have not downloaded the game, and only in the first 14 days of purchasing a game.
Customer Support is pretty bad as well, and now that they are using AI for everyhing, you can be denied a refund even if you are still within your right.
They can also ban your account for no reason, or if their AI considers you did something wrong. So, there goes your digital library.
It’s already evident that things have stepped up considerably to emulate the PS5 now. The gloves have seemed to come off.
This is just one step forward in the rebellion against much of this garbage.
Hardware modding will follow for the PS6 < downwards on and likely sooner than most people think.
We might even see a emulation for online servers and systems in an attempt to skirt sony/playstation altogether whilst keeping an authentic like experience. Some of these systems are already in place elsewhere to rebuild games and system that had been discontinued and no longer supported on other systems.
Game preservation is just completely out of step here and lousy so it's clear that community will always have to step in and do the right thing.
Sony can suck rope as far as I am concerned and the PS5 was a miserable system that just become more of a have to have it item because scarcity at one point. Technically it wasn't bad but sony fumbled it pretty badly too so the writing was on the wall for their failure. It's been a long time coming if you ask me.
One of the many and growing number of companies, corporations, governments and entities becoming too big for their boots.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.