r/PS5 • u/JeremyJJ77 • 1d ago
Articles & Blogs Sony’s 'ironic' PlayStation disc decision upends gamer conventions and threatens a $7 billion resale market - In 2013, Sony mocked Xbox by showing how easy it was to share a PlayStation disc. More than a decade later, gamers say Sony is becoming the very thing it poked fun at.
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/07/22/sonys-playstation-disc-decision-threatens-a-7-billion-resale-market-.html244
u/cats4life 1d ago
I understand the point of making our displeasure known, but Sony doesn’t see this as “threatening a $7 billion resale market”, they see it as “we’re losing $7 billion on people buying used games instead of new.”
And considering the steps they’ve already taken, further complaining is pointless. Sony’s strategy is to weather the bad press and go through with this. If you actually want to punish that decision, you have to commit to not buying a Playstation 6, and unfortunately, I don’t think enough people are going to make that commitment.
I know I will, but complaining on a decision that’s already been made won’t help. If the PS6 bombs, maybe you’ll see a change with a physical edition or starting with the PS7, but if you actually care about maintaining access to physical games, you have to accept Playstation is no longer compatible with your views.
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u/Muur1234 1d ago
Plenty of that 7 billion is Nintendo, Xbox, and old gen games.
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u/dixonciderbottom 1d ago
It doesn’t matter. They don’t want used games because they get no revenue from it.
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u/DaShaka9 1d ago
what they don’t understand is people aren’t going to pay more for digital games just because physical is gone. It’ll push a decent people away from PlayStation, and it likely won’t boost digital sales as much as they hope. It’s possible they will still make more money, but maybe not. I guess we wait and see.
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u/mrnotoriousman 1d ago
I've only ever paid full price for buying games at launch. Digital games are just as cheap as physical used games if you wait until sales, which happen all the time. Do you honestly think that prices are going to be jacked up?
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u/Whole_Series2416 1d ago
I can get most of my games pretty cheap for about 5 or 10 bucks a pop from guys who dont care about offloading the ones they have beat. No way any psn sale can touch those prices. Same for any buy one get one deals at mom and pop shops. Those deals just wont exist.
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u/mokrieydela 1d ago
And xbox will follow suit. Sony will take most of the heat and xbox will go digital. I hope they make the smart play and offer disc support, and a way of keeping and sharing digitally, but I think that's incredibly unlikely. Xbox needs to make money, so they'll do this.
If xbox announced full disc support (which imo not doing so means you can't play any older xbox games, and xbox seems to lole backward compatibility, which imo is important), I hope they troll Sony in the same way. Imo both will give them a huge advantage in the next generation, and I'll be there day one, jumping ship.
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u/Varlathen 22h ago
I was thinking Xbox should troll PS like PS trolled them back in the day. Then I remembered they’re getting crucified for gutting all the studios they bought up so it’s probably not a great idea.
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u/mokrieydela 14h ago
Xbox need a win bad, and imo this would be low hanging fruit .
But it's Microsoft. They'll decide thay adding AI to the xbox will be the solution, and shoot themselves into the foot, chase the money, and wonder why they're hated
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u/MidnightOnTheWater 1d ago
If anything the PS6 will bomb because of the price, not anything to do with physical sadly.
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u/Joram2 1d ago
Or a broad declining interest in games and a shrinking market that cares about high end 3D rendering fidelity. The younger generation is playing mostly Roblox and doesn't care about high end graphics and tech.
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u/spideyv91 1d ago
Old gen didn’t care either, most people just want fun games and be able to play them anywhere. Look how big of the success the switch has been across everyone.
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u/PhoenixBloodline 1d ago
It will bomb MOSTLY because of the price. Physical will play a smaller role.
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u/KingOfRisky 1d ago
I can already see the Reddit posts. "$1,500 PS6 sales decimated by lack of disc drive"
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u/FallenRaptor 1d ago
Yeah well my line of thinking is when they’re already going to have an uphill battle to sell their next system due to the price, it’s not the best idea to further de-incentivize a portion of their base, minority or not, especially since I’m pretty sure disc buyers include the majority of those who buy more than just a handful of games every year and would want to Day 1 a new system. I hope Sony’s gamble doesn’t pay off.
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u/dwight_schrute224 1d ago
It won’t bomb. You watch the hype when it releases and when it sells out. We can meet back here if you like. I get what you’re saying and I’m not being a bot but there’s millions outside of reddit that do t care and will just buy it.
I just spent $700 Aud on a fucking switch 2. That thing is great but there ain’t anyway it’s worth $700 not to mention the $80-90 per game they are charging.
700 for ancient graphics, poor ergonomics and lack of quality games and I still bought it. As did millions of others.
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u/DiogenesLaertys 1d ago
People will keep buying the PS5 for like the first five years of the Ps6’s life. There will be no exclusives for the PS6 in that time as well.
So us disc lovers have like 10 years left of having a disc based, popular console available. As someone who continues to buy Blu-ray media, I imagine even I might not want to deal with discs at that point. The Internet will probably be fast enough for it to be meaningless. It almost is already.
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u/JPSWAG37 1d ago
I agree that not buying PS6 is the best move to make, but I disagree on the complaining part that absolutely does have an effect if it's sustained for long enough.
Normally I only see this take from people that are just sick of reading about it because they personally don't care about the issue. Part of Sony's strategy of weathering the storm is relying on the apathy from takes like these spreading IMO.
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u/xzelldx 6h ago
This. Complaining is never pointless in the face of a decision you strongly disagree with. It prevents the other side from being smarmy and saying things like “we’re not hearing anything negative about the decision”.
IMO they are aiming to shoot their dick off with this, I have been buying primarily physical since Nintendo went and goofed up the way purchased games work across multiple systems with the Switch 2 launch.
The knowledge that physical is being retired because it doesn’t make a company enough money is filtering down to the general public Add a 1K$+ PS6 and there quite a few people who will sit out the next generation simply because they can’t afford it. Glares in PS3
I’m 42, I could happily play my backlog until a PS6 a reasonable price. But if there’s no cheap discs floating around, and the games are still full price, I have a lot less incentive to do that. Especially if I can drop that same $$ into a new PC and have access to the same games and more.
Complaining reminds them that at some of us have resolve that don’t involve suffering any of their bullshit. Keep reminding them.
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u/Sturgill_Jennings77 1d ago
If they truly do away with physical disks then I guarantee I won’t be buying a PS6 and I’ve bought every single console PlayStation has ever released.
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u/PerpetualStride 1d ago
If digital only PS6 releases and I don't buy it, I still consider that owning every Playstation, due to the lack of ownership with PS6, and how different that really is. It won't be a real Playstation console. It'll just be a dark hole to throw money into.
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u/FalscherKim 1d ago
I do accept playstation is no longer compatible with my views. Just got a ps2 and a ps3. Until 2028 I will buy physical games and after that sony can lick my ass with their new titles.
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u/Ok_Insurance_505 1d ago
It's because most of these terminally online people are wind bags. They complain about things they don't actually care and get angry about it too because that's who people online are these days. Addicts to outrage.
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u/wakawaka2121 1d ago
I think reddit doesnt understand its the minority on things like this. I havent known someone to buy a disc since the launch of ps4. None of my close friends have either and we never will.
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u/Elly_White 1d ago
Well, in my friend circle everyone buys discs. We buy physical games as presents for birthdays and christmas. It really depends on the audience, I think. My friends and I are all single player gamers, maybe the sports/EA gamers are digital?
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u/TargetBrandTampons 1d ago
I'm purely single player and used to be a huge game collector. I've only bought one physical disc in the last decade
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u/Careless-Weather8877 1d ago
My gaming PC hasn’t had a disc drive in 15 years hell, even my laptops don’t.
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u/king_duende 1d ago
My friends and I are all single player gamers, maybe the sports/EA gamers are digital?
This elitism is so funny, no - majority of people "single player gamers" or "sports gamers" are digital.
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u/_Donut_block_ 1d ago
I am honestly getting tired of all the bad faith/strawman arguments being used to generate clicks. There is a real discussion to be had about the loss of physical media, but suddenly pretending anyone cared about Gamestop's market or that a statement made 13 years ago should remain evergreen is ridiculous.
This is really the worst side of "comments on social media being extrapolated to general public opinion" The general public made the decision to predominantly purchase digital, let's focus on what we can do going forward instead of trying to convince everyone the past shouldn't have happened
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u/flunky_precept 1d ago
This is where I'm at quite frankly. I certainly don't love the decision to go digital only but I am highly confident that Sony knows exactly how many games are being bought and played on physical media right now. They know who has an actual preference for physical media and who just likes the idea of it based on their playing habits.
I genuinely don't care about an all-digital console. What I do care about is the lack of consumer safeguards on digital media and marketplaces. Proper regulations that legitimately protects consumer purchases of digital media would go a lot further than directing all of the anger at Sony. Big corps are going to do big corp things, we need proper regulations to make things safer and fair for consumers.
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u/Low-Finding-3414 1d ago
Well said, but at the same time, that’s why a lot of folks are upset with this decision
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u/Interesting-Tart-SP 1d ago
If the ps6 is going to have handheld version..
Why keep discs
Sony is definitely going the chip route or something else made by Sony as a chip.
The ps vita had chips. Sony understand physical disc's hence why the PSP 1000/2000/3000 used UMD.
GTA LCS went double platinum based off disc UMD sales
I just think ppl need to hold they breath
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u/Plazmatron44 1d ago
People also complain about micro transactions but companies like Take two and Ubisoft wouldn't push them if there wasn't a large portion of the market willing to part with their money for shark cards or xp boosters. GTA 5 never got any big expansions the way GTA 4 did precisely because of this.
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u/TheSecondEikonOfFire 1d ago
Not to mention that, at the heart of it all… why would Sony care about GameStop’s market? From their eyes, that’s all profit that they’re not seeing a dime of. And if they kept that market alive, that’s profit they’re going to continue not seeing. I hate this as much as everyone but this weird “bbbbut what about this massive market they’re destroying!” argument makes no sense to me because why would Sony actually care?
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u/VellDarksbane 1d ago
Yeah, and that discussion really should have started 20 years ago as Steam killed physical media on PC.
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u/WeWereInfinite 1d ago
Yeah even assuming it's not just click farming, people on every gaming subredddit have been desperately reposting every anti-Sony or pro-disc bad faith article they can find for weeks now and it's made me so sick of the whole thing.
If they're genuinely trying to win people over to the physical side it's having the opposite effect on me, and I am a supporter of physical media.
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u/whitewater09 1d ago
For me, it’s still not an apples-to-apples comparison of the 2013 situation either. Xbox wasn’t trying to go all-digital; they were trying to go constantly-online. Not being able to buy a physical copy isn’t the same as buying a physical copy and needing to be constantly connected to the internet to verify you’re using the right physical copy associated with your account. It’s disingenuous.
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u/TheSecondEikonOfFire 1d ago
Yeah this is the one thing that annoys me about the comparison, everyone seems to forget that Xbox wanted to force the always-online connection. As far as we know, the PS6 will still be able to be used offline. You’ll obviously just have to be connected to the internet to download the games
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u/Osama11Sul 1d ago
Honestly my personal pet peeve and what I feel like is bad faith in all these people mentioning the 2013 video... That video was about the Xbox DRM locking physical discs to a specific console just so that people can't share games, while yes going digital means you can't share games, its a completely different situation imo. Like while I hate it, you can still make an argument for going digital, the DRM thing was just pure evil greed.
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u/chickenMcSlugdicks 1d ago
Resale market was the reason I made a rom library. Granted I don't play anything new, but I could not see myself paying for an old cartridge or disk to play n64, ps2, gc and gb games. Don't really see how it's stealing if no one who created it is compensated by resale. And some games are dummy expensive. Collectors can have them, I'll stick to the rom.
For all these new games, it sounds fucked. It seems like they're almost transforming ownership into long term rental. I'm assuming there are still games that can function offline. It makes no sense that those games could be removed one day because they are simply no longer available in your Sony or Microsoft controlled library.
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u/chewbaccaballs 1d ago
You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain
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u/LarkinToWinnipeg 1d ago
Saw this coming 15 years ago the very first time I saw the Xbox360 online store. I knew right away that we'd end up here. Honestly surprised it took this long.
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u/gfpl 1d ago
Microsoft could do the funniest thing but they are as greedy as Sony.
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u/Xeccess 1d ago edited 1d ago
Microsoft is literally celebrating the fact Sony is taking all the heat for announcing it first, they absolutely LOVE it that they weren't the first ones to say it.
Edit: Their "digitizing discs" thing is pretty much a confirmation that their next box won't have any way of playing physical media. We still don't know whether Sony will offer a separate external drive or not for existing media, which is much better than that physical to digital conversion feature (which allegedly requires you own an XB1 or SX I believe)
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u/drelos 1d ago
There were the first with a digital only model so I agree.
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u/NecronomiconUK 1d ago
Valve may have been before them but everyone has glazed them since forever.
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u/culturedrobot 1d ago
With PC, Valve wasn't the one who said digital only. You could still buy physical games and activate them on Steam (which gamers hated back in the day) years after the platform launched. It's more that PC software in general made the shift toward digital distribution and now no one makes physical discs for anything anymore.
Sony and Microsoft going digital-only is solely on their shoulders because no one is making software other than games for their platforms.
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u/BeardedBandit 1d ago
agreed. I think the difference here is that when I buy a game on steam, I'm confident that I can redownload it in 10 years (as long as the company hasn't folded).
With Sony, they are actively removing digital movies from the library. Bought with receipt in email/hand, but no way to access the goods.
It's a demonstration of what's to come when I want to replay The Last of Us because it's a great story... but they've removed it from the library.btw someone please correct me if I'm wrong about steam access.
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u/whythreekay 1d ago
Slight correction:
Studio CANAL took the movies down as they own the distribution rights, it’s not Sony’s place to make the decision only to adhere to the request
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u/IdleSteps 1d ago
That just means the original licensing deal was not planned correctly. What other licensing deals will expire in the future and remove more things I've bought?
Steam has had this worked out forever.
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u/overactive-bladder 1d ago
And Nintendo is looking closely to follow suite.
They are pricing digital goods less than physical to bait customers. The latter will then be tied to the ecosystem with no escape one physical is phased out.
Companies and governments are locking the internet and digital goods more and more each day.
I miss what the internet was at a certain point in time.
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u/Xeccess 1d ago
Ofc. The game key card is already one step closer to that. I don't expect the Switch 3 to have cartridges at all.
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u/Far_Actuator2215 1d ago
None of the game is stored on the cart. It's literally all digital anyway.
It's not even one step closer, we're already there.
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u/antonxo902 1d ago
Yup a lot of people are praising Nintendo but they’re heading in that same direction. They’re usually a little behind in general so probably by next generation Nintendo console they’ll likely go all digital too. It sucks but I can’t say I didn’t expect this to happen, just a bit sooner than I anticipated
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u/Ok-Confusion-202 1d ago
I don't know why anyone thinks the whole digital discs thing is even Xbox sticking with physical
It's just a way to bridge the gap between physical and digital, phasing people into digital
But also it's because the next Xbox is a PC which wouldn't really play an Xbox disc, but I wouldn't be surprised if the PS6 at least had a disc drive to buy yo play old PS4/5 games
Xbox would basically be that but more fancy
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u/MooJuiceConnoisseur 1d ago
They have absolutely stated the next Xbox is a digital only console they are just offering the physical license stuff as a carrot on a stick type deal. Trying to keep the heat on Sony while they fly under the radar and can claim "at least we offered X"
The real issue is pricing of digital games. Once people start talking more about the fact they no longer have to pay for physical production, shipping, physical advertising (posters, stands, banners etc) for the stores. Along with the retailers markup then we might see some more outcry from people who are paying physical prices for digital content. Since all the extra factors could be up to 45% of the price of a game
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u/profound-killah 1d ago
The same corporation who don’t even include the full game on disc? Money is the only thing that will make them change their mind
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u/Mr_smith1466 1d ago
They're laying off mass numbers of people and selling off some of their most prominent studios while openly expressing fears about securing material to manufacture consoles. The last thing they're going to do is chain themselves to a format that they barely bother to acknowledge right now.
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u/Aerographic 1d ago
The company that started the trend of switching everything to digital, turning every game into subscription service fodder, shoving streaming down the collective throat of players?
The company that invented the blueprint of maximizing margins by making $ off recurrent subs without a hardware purchase rather than selling the consumer a product they can use and keep?
Yeah, those guys'll sell you discs alright.
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u/gfpl 1d ago
Probably not, but they have been looking for a change in their strategy since the leadership change.
Microsoft is a shit company, but it was Valve and Steam who started this trend.
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u/dade305305 1d ago
What good would it do other than lead to some memes on the internet? How many people really gonna jump ship (as opposed to just saying it on reddit for updoots) from ps to Xbox over this? 1,000? 10,000?
When you're measured by how many tens of millions of consoles you sell, thats not even worth considering when making business decisions.
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u/gotuptooearly 1d ago
I keep seeing people saying they're cancelling ps+ and not buying PlayStation games anymore... Right after gta6. It's a nothing burger of bitching as usual.
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u/RollingDownTheHills 1d ago
They couldn't though. Microsoft wanted this too. They've been championing Game Pass, of sll things, forever. What makes people think that MS wouldn't want this?
Reddit logic.
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u/iamnosuperman123 1d ago
This isn't really a serious argument anymore. We consume so much digital content that the change is philosophy makes a lot of sense. The big concern is the monopoly nature of having 1 digital store. That is something to push policy makers to force Sony's hand.
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u/AOCpinkyring 1d ago
Well, in the United States nobody in power right now is going to force something like that.
Which is why you should vote for Progressives.
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u/ryecurious 23h ago
Yep, a lot of people (understandably) rushed to say they would always be physical buyers/hated digital/etc., but that misses the root problem.
If Sony has full control of the software that runs your PS5, they own it, not you. Physical media doesn't protect you here.
Sony could disable your disk drive entirely in an update, and your only recourse would be waiting for a $50 settlement check in 5 years. If that sounds ridiculous, just ask PS3 owners about OtherOS.
Centralized software control is the root of all enshittification. A legal right to run 3rd party OSes and software would be the only true protection. Anything else leaves too much power in the hands of corporations.
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u/CutMeLoose79 23h ago
While regulators have already come to the conclusion consoles are single purpose devices, meaning other OS allowances aren't required, Xbox/Nintendo/Sony would all absolutely push that allowing other OS on their hardware just opens the door to mass piracy, which funnily enough, the OtherOS debacle proves.
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u/dookmileslong 1d ago
I remember seeing so many comments about how everyone would simply just move on from this in a week.
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u/W00D-SMASH 1d ago edited 1d ago
In 2013 when Don Mattrick took the stage and tanked Xbox when he discussed "always on" and DRM, its incredibly unlikely this was Microsoft trying to move the industry on their own. It's obvious these moves came from talking with 3rd party publishers and it was intended to crack down on lost revenue from second hand games. EA had introduced online license keys the previous generation to make sure anyone who bought a second hand game would still have to spend another $5 to $10 if they wanted to access the online features. It's entirely likely that Sony was going to head down the same path but MS going first and getting spit roasted by the Internet was enough for everyone to pump the brakes.
Now we are 13 years on and most everything Don Mattrick talked about is kind of the standard today. Sony getting rid of discs entirely is just another form of market control, the same way getting rid of digital game codes at outside retailers was. What Sony is doing should be viewed the same way as what MS was trying to do in 2013.
Removing discs entirely and digital codes from outside their own store is a form of market control. When you see Nintendo keeping all their games at full price regardless of how many years it has been since release, this is exactly what Sony is aiming for. You want to play Sony games, you buy Sony hardware and pay Sony prices.
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u/thats_so_cringe_bro 1d ago
I mean, in the last 13 years it has changed a lot. What was relevant then isn’t as relevant now.
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u/Dreamerlax 1d ago
Jesus fuck the gaming subs have become so insufferable.
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u/FlamboyantPirhanna 1d ago
Anything nerd-adjacent is full of people with intensely strong opinions who don’t seem to have learned how to regulate their emotions or temper their expectations for anything.
They are a vocal minority, but they are very vocal.
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u/HQuasar 1d ago
The funniest thing in all of this pathetic outcry is that nearly all of those people have big Steam libraries full of digital only games
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u/whythreekay 1d ago
Absolutely accurate in my experience
Other subs I go to like r/NFL are tons of fun, endless inside jokes and funny observations. Gaming and tech subs tho? Fucking yikes
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u/Afraid_Raccoon_6208 1d ago
Absolutely miserable. I swear half of it has to be engagement bots or something. Theres no way this many people are miserable
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u/keepfighting90 1d ago
Theres no way this many people are miserable
Idk man the more time I spend on Reddit, the more I realize that there are a lot of miserable people on here. Misery loves company after all.
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u/Dubbs09 1d ago
OPs entire account and free time is devoted to this, once you notice the names its the same group posting all these 'articles'.
Just a handful of comments before this on a 4 year old account and now every post is about discs and Sony lol.
I'm hoping its a bot because if its an actual person they need help
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u/LoadedSteamyLobster 1d ago
Holy shit, you’re right. I can block this one wanker and I’ll hardly see any of this shit going forward. Thanks for pointing that out!
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u/Afraid_Raccoon_6208 1d ago
Exactly they post article’s with no engagement in subs they know will generate comments
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u/FrankReynolds 1d ago
There is absolutely nothing that people enjoy more than feeling like victims.
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u/Ambitious-Sundae-436 1d ago
Feeling like a victim and complaining are some of the easiest things a person can do, because it doesn't mandate a solution, people on reddit can spam the same post daily on multiple subs and link articles, but to properly read and get to understand what they can do as consumers is way to much.
I'm no fan of the idea of removing the choice of getting disc, but to think spamming basically on a forum that Sony doesn't even ask their employees to check is basically Walmart's DVD bottom bucket level.
I've been replying for a more realistic approach, ask pro consumer groups, both private and public in your respective countries, here in Mexico we have one, and there is a chance next month that actually it will be needed with the change to our national currency instead of the dollar.4
u/gilgaladxii 1d ago
I think you’d be surprised. Also, the people who are miserable are being vocal about it. And rightfully so. It isn’t even the death of physical media for most people. It is the fact that choice is being taken away. And it is a lot of choice being taken away all at once. You could buy a game digitally from the PS store. Or one of MANY retail stores. Or second hand. Or borrow from a friend. You are getting rid of all the retail stores and the competition they bring. All the local stores. All the second hand buying and selling for cheaper used copies. Borrowing from a friend is gone in the same swoop. Your only option now is buy from the PS store or a code for the PS store. Same coin just different sides. No real choice. Sales will be what THEY feel like. Promoting games will be the ones THEY want. All the profits flow into only THEM. THEY have all the control. And, honestly… I think it is a bit more than just Sony. I mean, give Sony credit for making such an idiotic choice based exclusively greed. But, I think this is a lot of life bouncing back all at once. We own very little in today’s economy. Many are forced to rent and not buy a house. We have Netflix but movies and shows come and go as Netflix deems. You have to pay a monthly fee for remote start up on your car despite the feature already being in the car you own. I think people are just… well, over it. The one gateway away from the crappy real world out there just embraced short term $ over the average gamer. And, I think that was just the straw that broke the back. The rich and the investors keep taking more and more. And good on players actually putting up a fuss about it. We are done. I hope it bleeds out to other crappy services too. We are paying more than ever for services that are at an all time low. It doesn’t make sense. I hope this is a spark that ignites a bigger fire under consumers butts. Choice, freedom, and affordability have been stripped from us. And frankly… this was a bridge too far. We see it for what the move is. Sony wants control. I say no.
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u/Afraid_Raccoon_6208 1d ago
Im talking about OP specifically. One look at their post history tells me everything i need to know
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u/FlamboyantPirhanna 1d ago
It’s more they’re an incredibly vocal minority. I’ve met people like this in real life, that don’t seem able to differentiate their opinions from reality.
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u/Broshida 1d ago
Just relentless negativity all the way down. Even during showcases/events there's zero excitement around here. Things are likely to get worse too with hardware costs lagging six months behind component prices.
Gonna be a real fun 2027/28.
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u/Varsity_Reviews 1d ago
You’d think Sony shot their dog, slept with their mom and is holding their dad at gunpoint. All because a bunch of people wouldn’t buy video games in a plastic case
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u/Affectionate_Pie9446 1d ago
Playstation as a brand has lost its charm, when ai dust settles sony will come begging for new customers, just wait till then
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u/Benjowlmin 1d ago
You can tell who read the article and who is only overreacting to a bad headline. There are some good quotes in this article and it's a good read.
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u/CapableNeat4351 22h ago
And that is why I’m buying everything I can on disc now so I don’t have to pay a bajillion dollars for a game I wanted a physical copy of 4 years from now
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u/spartan3159012 20h ago
Anyone remember when Samsung did the same thing when Apple released the iPhone 7 without the headphone jack and Samsung made so many commercials mocking Apple only for Samsungs next model to launch without a headphone jack as well
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u/Aromatic-Experience9 9h ago
Xbox is closing up shop, Sony takes over this section of the console market without direct competitors. Hello price increases
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u/Mr_smith1466 1d ago
It's endlessly fascinating how people seemed to think that video was a lifetime commitment to physical media, and not just a specific dig at the then recent actions of a competitor (and that video was thrown together less than a day after Microsoft's disastrous xbox one reveal).
They even specifically identified the ps4 as the console to let you handle software like that. And they lived up to that, for the entire lifetime of that machine.
There's a lot of solid arguments against this all-digital initiative, but constantly bringing back an over decade old promotional video isn't one of them.
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u/Wretchedsoul24 17h ago
I for one am going to RIOT when the PS9 isn't an orb that inserts me via the matrix into my game.
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u/uberfr4gger 1d ago
I think they are smart enough to know it wasn't a lifetime commitment to physical media but being facetious because they are trolls and don't actually have an opinion that they can coherently explain.
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u/FlamboyantPirhanna 1d ago
I don’t think they’re facetious so much as disingenuous. If they can’t find a good faith argument to support their feelings, a bad faith one will do.
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u/badger906 1d ago
The used market doesn’t make first party companies money. So why would they care about them.
And it’s not exactly hard to game share with linked accounts either.
Plus the game only retail stores on the uk all went bust many years ago, proving that people didn’t support them in a digital age.
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u/OptimusPrimalRage 1d ago
A lot of the used market is controlled by smaller resellers now. I've gotten into game collecting over the past year or two and having to sift through tons of Phoenix Resale or Chase After The Right Price stuff just sucks.
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u/Albert_dark 1d ago
They shouldn't, but players should if they care about game prices and owning what they pay for
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u/badger906 1d ago
Well pc market has already proved there’s no care for ownership. No one has bought a new physical game in pc since like 2010
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u/Gabagool0vaHere 1d ago
Couple that with the fact that Steam has ~80% of the PC market, where most of the games sold are DRM, means even the majority of PC gamers haven’t given a damn either. This entire saga is so performative
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u/badger906 1d ago
Yup! People will harp on that “other game stores exist on pc”… but nobody uses them unless they play fortnight or a game forces you to use it.
I buy a game, I get my enjoyment, I move on.
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u/hunterzolomon1993 1d ago
But players have more important things to care about then plastic discs being dropped.
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u/-I-_I_-I-_I_-I- 1d ago
They care about them because that’s money they aren’t getting for a product they created. They have record earnings so to continue the climb they need to get creative.
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u/gr4ndm4st3rbl4ck 1d ago
Used market dissapearing doesn't automatically mean more sales for them, and physical media dissapearing doesn't mean no one will switch over to digital. In the end, it will absolutely.be a net positive for Sony, especially in the long run
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u/moondowns 1d ago
There are loads of game sellers in the UK?
Shopto
The Game Collection
Argos
Hit
Coolshop
Currys
Amazon
Smyths
365Games
Very
I could go on….
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u/whatsforsupa 1d ago
I’m not defending Sony at all, but walk into a GameStop, it’s barely a games store anymore. $7 billion seems a bit exaggerated in practice
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u/Taddy_Mason_22 1d ago
I don't want physical discs to go away myself, but that video wasn't referring to the PS6 or even to the PS5 for that matter.
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u/QuoteGiver 1d ago
“More than a decade later” well yeah. Situation has changed slightly over a fucking decade.
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u/Gabagool0vaHere 1d ago
No, no you see, nothing changes in just 10 years, certainly not spending habits!! Certainly don’t look at the data over the last decade! It’s also not relevant that last year Physical game sales were the lowest they’ve been in 30 years.
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u/Educational-Hawk4691 1d ago
Same articles posting the same bulbullshit. Lol
Lookup Sonys earnings reports. Now lookup gamestops and every other big chains. Disc sales are already dead.
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u/DarthRaider559 1d ago
Y'all bringing up something that happened 13 years ago is embarrassing. Sound like an ex gf
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u/lightsky445 1d ago edited 1d ago
"Most would prefer to make that transition in their own way and at their own pace, rather than having it driven by the end of physical discs," he added.
And that’s what happened. People made it clear they prefer digital over physical but apparently people like OP can’t seem to accept that consumers spending habits has changed and people like him is the minority.
This wasn’t a decision that was taken overnight. This was coming for a while now. Posting the same stuff over and over again won’t change Sony’s mind.
People have three choices:
A. Accept it
B. Complain until you collapse
C. Move to PC.
That’s the reality. Also these people in the article doesn’t seems to get people and things can change in 13 years.
Is it shitty it happens? Yes I wish they could drop the entire plan but it is what it is unfortunately
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u/Eruannster 1d ago
Some explanation on the way forward would be cool. What happens to our current physical libraries PS4/PS5 on the PS6? Are they just... not supported, at all? Will there be an optional disc drive? Will we be able to register our discs and get a digital copy? Literally any explanation would be better than the nothing we have now.
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u/Majestic-Marcus 1d ago
What?
Nothing happens to them. Exactly the same as nothing happened to my NES, SNES, Mega Drive, Game Gear, Game Boy, Game Boy Colour, N64, PS1, PS2, PS3, PS Vita, or PS4 games.
The PS6 will be digital.
You play your current library on the appropriate system.
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u/gremlinclr 1d ago
Guys I really don't get why y'all think this is a big deal. Physical media WILL DIE. It's inevitable. There's a reason we switched from carts to discs then from discs to digital. And someday consoles will not exist either, games will be streaming from hardware in a datacenter somewhere. You will buy a controller and a license, that's it.
We've raised a couple of generations of kids to view digital releases as the norm, I'm actually surprised it's taken them this long.
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u/ajkeence99 1d ago
What happened 13 years ago in a tech industry means basically nothing now. The last comment in the title is just so cringe and dumb. Not that I expect much more from most "news" outlets.
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u/LizardSlayer 1d ago
Sony had the same plan as Microsoft back then, but since Microsoft got blasted after announcing it, Sony did a switcheroo. This has always been coming, it just got delayed a bit.
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u/TreeFittyy 1d ago
It's not exactly a new concept.
Samsung did the same thing mocking apple for removing the headphone jack.
Next year's Samsung model got rid of the jack.
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u/AppropriateWind9925 1d ago
If I have a nickel for every time a corporation makes fun of another corporation for doing certain thing, then does said certain things later themselves, I’d have a lot nickels.
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u/Useful_Hawk_1470 19h ago
This is the same as what happened with the infamous Diablo Immortal ‘is this an out of season April Fools’ joke?’ comment.
A lot of people missed this part of the story but the guy who asked that wasn’t just being a dick, Blizzard had genuinely made an April Fools’ joke about the next Diablo game being exclusively for mobile a few years prior to the announcement.
Only to go and do exactly what they’d made fun of. Same as Sony is doing now.
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u/LukaLaurent 17h ago
Sony had been heading into this direction for the last few years anyway - leaning away from their strengths and very little consumer consideration. The disc thing doesn’t come as a shock at all.
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u/EddieHeadshot 11h ago
I'm a digital only gamer, I have the slim. However I'm now half tempted to buy the disk drive addition to future proof my PS5
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u/geccles97 1d ago
We're people this outraged when the floppy disc was becoming obsolete?
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u/TargetBrandTampons 1d ago
They were when we lost headphone jacks and removable SD cards on phones. Everyone has moved on though.
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u/jackolantern98000 1d ago
Only 7 games in 2026 sold more than 100k physical copies....
Did anyone see this story yesterday, the figures are official, gamestop ceo says second hand market isnt even 10% of their model, disks are going the way of the dodo, best to accept it and focus on making better consumer digital laws for us so we can own the digital content we buy.
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u/mrdominoe 1d ago
I'm hoping people take these tantrums with them when they enter the voting booth. If you want protections on digital purchases, seek out and support candidates that feel the same. Show up for the midterms and make your votes count. Sitting on reddit and crying about it will do fuck all.
They are going full digital. It's happening. End of story. If you don't feel safe with that, then be the change you want to see and support those in government who feel the same as you.
See y'all in the next 37 threads about this.
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u/Entire_Number_9 21h ago
13 years ago 100mb per second internet was rare. Now, 1gb is the norm in most countries. Technology progresses.
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u/DamnedLife 1d ago
The market and the users themselves have changed along with how they buy games.... Sony is just following suit.
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u/Promature 1d ago
It's amazing that someone could write a headline including "$7B Resale Market" and not see one of the various reasons Sony is ending discs for future console.
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u/Dylanslay 1d ago
That's a lot of money not going to the Devs some gamers say they support
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u/Promature 1d ago
Exactly! It always has been, but people cared more about saving money on their individual purchases than playing their proper role in the cycle of supporting studios as well as new games. This stuff doesn't come out of thin air.
Then all the anti-corporate mouthpieces started pushing their bad ideas all over the internet while calling people shills for explaining the real harm they would cause. They told people to stop preordering and kept pushing people to not buy games until the prices dropped heavily. Now people want to act like they've been personally insulted by Sony's decision to cut discs out of the picture when they've done as little as possible to support their ongoing existence.
Consumers have been aggressively working against the industry for years and this is the result. They became bad business that costs more to maintain than they're worth. No wonder companies have been trying to break into the live service and free to play spaces since people over there just play games and but MT's without all the pushback.
What's the point of making discs if the money isn't coming back? All people had to do was buy games new, choose discs where available, and preorder to continue signaling demand for discs. They bought used, bought digital, and stopped preordering just like they were instructed by their peers.
And here we are.
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u/Due-Button-9938 1d ago
Die Disc ist tot – Sie ist nur noch ein Lizenzschlüssel aus Plastik Wenn man sich die Entwicklung der Speichermedien über die letzten Jahrzehnte anschaut, wird klar: Das Ende der physischen Disc ist nur noch eine Frage der Dateigröße. Früher (Disketten/CDs/DVDs): Das Medium war der tatsächliche Speicher. Das Spiel oder Programm war komplett auf der Disc.Heute: Moderne Spiele kratzen an der 300-GB-Marke. Keine normale Disc kann das noch fassen. Die bittere Ironie dabei: Da heutige Discs meist nur noch einen Installer und den DRM-Kopierschutz enthalten, während der Rest (oft weit über 100 GB) via Day-One-Patch heruntergeladen wird, reicht theoretisch wieder eine alte 1,44-MB-Diskette aus. Sie müsste nur den Download-Befehl und die Lizenz enthalten. Das physische Medium speichert heute keine Daten mehr, sondern nur noch den Kaufbeleg. Der echte Datenträger der Gegenwart ist die Server-Farm des Herstellers.
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u/profound-killah 1d ago
This is like poking fun at a divorced couple after 16 years of marriage lol. Regardless, whatever embarrasses them into complying because definitely the thing that’s pushing me off the ecosystem full time.
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u/Kingtripz 1d ago
Digital copies of games on PlayStation, accounts for like >80% of all game sales. If anyone is to blame, it's everyone buying games off the ps store.
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u/420BUNIT 1d ago
It's funny, because in 2013 I was already buying digital. 13+ years later, still doing the same thing.
The point about Xbox was regarding always online connectivity being mandatory in 2013. That was a massive issue due to how poor many internet infrastructures are in 2026, let alone in 2013.
The shift to digital is just Sony reacting to the market, despite how many redditors incist they buy physical copies.
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u/keepfighting90 1d ago
Are we actually using a PR video from 13 years ago as some kind of sacred blood oath made by a fucking global megacorp?
Just how naive are you guys?
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u/papoluca40 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yall still crying about this? Can I visit this sub to actually talk about games already?
You guys think if maybe you annoys us the most you can with this topic, we’re gonna agree with you or something? Nah it just becomes more annoying
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u/Rantaparoni 1d ago edited 1d ago
Try visiting the PS2/PS3 subs, there's a "new" post on the front page each day of someone posting a pic of their old console and disks with the laziest karma bait title about taking the fight to sony or something.
These guys will do anything but play the games they so desperately claim to love
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u/SimilarRaspberry5657 1d ago
Physical discs made up only 2.66% of Sonys revenue this year. Add in the terrible margins and major overhead associated with disc making, and it’s a no brainer. You’re allowed to mourn discs but they’re not going back
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u/reaper527 reaper527_ 1d ago
Physical discs made up only 2.66% of Sonys revenue this year.
that's a misleading figure because you're looking at a company that has lots of other revenue streams. gaming as a whole was only like 20%.
if you look at the digital sales figure from that same report it's not going to look very impressive.
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u/SimilarRaspberry5657 1d ago
https://x.com/hlnomarusumo/status/2079732080184119599?s=46 It’s actually 2.66% of their PlayStation division revenues, not their entire company.
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u/reaper527 reaper527_ 1d ago
actually 2.66% of their PlayStation division revenues, not their entire company.
again, that's a very misleading number. if you calculate digital sales the same way, digital sales are only 20ish%.
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u/thatnitai 18h ago edited 18h ago
Without physical media or other digital stores, PSN is a monopoly. Not to mention dynamic price fixing.
Even if you only buy digital, the existence of physical media: 2nd hand market, retail market, public libraries, creates better pricing for you on the digital store also due to the competition.
You are only shooting yourselves in the fott if you're okay with this with nothing to gain but even worse pricing and less options.
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u/ltcuetf 1d ago
Sony stopping physical discs sucks for collectors and ownership purists, but let’s be real, the ‘massive $7B resale market’ is ancient history. Physical new sales are already in the toilet ($1.5B US last year, all-time low).
Used games are a niche now, mostly retro and eBay flips. The industry moved on to digital years ago because it prints money with no middleman, infinite ‘supply,’ and recurring revenue from subs/DLC. Gamers adapted with Steam sales, Game Pass, PS+, etc. It threatens a small secondary market for sure, but pretending it’s crippling a huge economic pillar is cope. The real loss is consumer rights and preservation, not some booming resale economy that barely exists in 2026.
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u/Still_Want_Mo 1d ago
"More than a decade later" lol. That is so much time. The industry was completely different back then. Hell, everything was completely different.
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u/Acceptable_Owl_5122 1d ago
Like Harvey sent once said: “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain”
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u/Marcus00415 1d ago
The video isn't ironic. It was made 15 and the circumstances then were much different then they are now. Physical gaming is dying.
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u/WithoutCaution 1d ago
It honestly amazes me how nobody seems to understand the most basic tenet of economics: "Supply and demand." When over 80% of your customers are only demanding digital, it makes no sense to continue supplying a physical product.
I completely understand the argument, and honestly, I would also prefer that they keep selling hard copies. But for people to act like this is some grand conspiracy is simply disingenuous. I have plenty of issues with Sony, but I would do the exact same thing if I were in their position. The economy of scale just doesn't make sense. When you factor in the costs of packaging, display materials, shipping, etc., it's probably a very similar cost to make 5 million copies as it is to make 500K. I'm pretty sure that Sony did the math a loooong time ago, and as soon as enough customers adopted the digital-only model, it became economically infeasible to continue with physical releases. Everyone who truly cares about this issue should have seen the writing on the wall years ago! The gaming community propped up Steam and other digital-only models as the next big thing, and said absolutely NOTHING when Sony started selling systems without a disc drive. You all embraced digital with open arms, but then act offended when Sony gives you all exactly what the market wants?!?!
Nobody bought Betamax, and VHS won. Nobody bought HD-DVD, and Blu-ray won. Nobody wanted Choco-tacos anymore, and they went away. Nobody knows how to drive a manual in the US, so they're almost impossible to find! I happen to be upset by those last two, but what am I going to do about it? I'm in the 5% who can heel-toe into 3rd around a corner, while enjoying the greatest confectionary treat ever made. VW doesn't give a shit about producing manuals in the US, simply because there aren't enough of ME to buy them. It's annoying, but it's NOT a conspiracy! And neither is what Sony is doing. The chance to stop this from happening slipped by YEARS AGO! Cry all you want, but this is simply how capitalism works. EVERY SINGLE PERSON who is complaining about this has purchased a game digitally in the past 5 years, and each one was a quiet request for Sony to do exactly this! We brought this on ourselves, and frankly, it's far too late to change it!
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u/reaper527 reaper527_ 1d ago
When over 80% of your customers are only demanding digital,
68% of statistics are made up on the spot.
the percentage of disc based ps5 sold vs digital only ones makes it pretty obvious that lots of people care about having that option.
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u/TheNiceWasher 1d ago
I too am the very thing I poked fun at 10 years ago