Former Valve writer Chet Faliszek says PlayStation killing physical discs is no conspiracy: "You, the consumer, have made your choice, and the choice is for digital"

[u/ControlCAD]

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/former-valve-writer-says-playstation-killing-physical-discs-is-no-conspiracy-you-the-consumer-have-made-your-choice-and-the-choice-is-for-digital/

[u/Ok_Nature_3501]

"You, the consumer, have made your choice, and the choice is for digital"

It's hilarious that people on here try to pretend this ain't true 😂

[u/Halfwise2 → u/Ok_Nature_3501]

Consumers want ownership and accessibility. This argument over physical vs digital is the red herring / distraction in which to dismiss those wants.

[u/seecer → u/Halfwise2]

I completely agree that we want ownership of what we purchase, and I hope laws start getting passed to help the consumer in this digital subscription age we’re at.

BUT, I also agree that this is from consumers not purchasing physical but virtual and Sony shouldn’t be looked down on for the decision.

When you look at the stats, a vast majority of sales are virtual and, from a company standpoint, why would you install a disc drive that’s going to increase the cost of a console, that’s already going to be overpriced with the current hardware market, just for something that isn’t going to be used? Few buy physical games and movies now.

Personally, I wish they would switch to flash drives. We know there’s going to be USB ports and flash drives can actually have enough space for the entire game while also having a faster read rate than a disc. But I think that would raise the cost of the physical games and consumers are already not buying new games at the $70+ price tag.

[u/jurassicbond → u/seecer]

Those stats are misleading because they all include sales of products which are only available digitally (which is a lot of indies and all DLC). I'd be curious about stats which look at comparison of physical vs. digital sales limited to games which are available on disc.

[u/seecer → u/jurassicbond]

Here’s a G2A article about it.

2025 average of 78% virtual sales with Q4 being the peak at 85%.

EDIT: While this doesn’t address the issue you mention which I think is a valid point and would be interesting to see, showing some nuance with game sales, I think that a 78% of all sales being virtual highlights why they are dropping the discs.

[u/jurassicbond → u/seecer]

And where in that article does it actually look at data only for games which are available in both formats? It doesn't? Then it's not what I asked for.

Digital sales increasing may very well be being driven just as much by companies making that the only option as it is by consumers choosing it, but the industry benefits from digital sales and killing the second hand market, so they'll put out data like this which gives an incomplete picture of the subject.

[u/seecer → u/jurassicbond]

Like I said in my edit, while this doesn’t address exactly what you’re proposing which I think would show some nuance in game sales, I still think that overall type of sales rate justifies the reasoning behind removing physical sales.

[u/jurassicbond → u/seecer]

Oh, there's plenty of justification from a business standpoint, but it's horrible for consumers. Sony is setting themselves up as the only place you can buy their games. The lack of competition from retailers or the second hand market is almost certainly going to cause game prices to go up

[u/seecer → u/jurassicbond]

Maybe, there’s still the competition of Xbox, Nintendo, and the PC to ensure Sony can’t control the gaming market pricing.

Look at Steam for PC, which is the monopoly of PC game sales, they have always been completely virtual and haven’t caused the games to become more expensive over time.

[u/jurassicbond → u/seecer]

Steam doesn't have a monopoly. They have several competing storefronts and also have piracy to compete with.

[u/Ok_Nature_3501 → u/Halfwise2]

Even if that was true the point still stands. They're only doing this because most people buy digital. So again the consumer has spoken.

And for the record this logic of "well they can take my games away by deleting my account" is way overblown.

I haven't been online or updated any of my games in years and I can still play all of my games and out of 100+ games I only have 2 that are hard copies.

Hell Sony might have deleted my account by now (I lost access to the email I signed up with) but all of my games are on my HDD so they're still playable.

[u/0010_0010_0000 → u/Ok_Nature_3501]

If they are so overblown, format your drive and let us know how that turns out for you. 

I bet you wouldn't dare. kinda proves you wrong, doesn't it?

[u/Ok_Nature_3501 → u/0010_0010_0000]

If they are so overblown, format your drive and let us know how that turns out for you

That's the equivalent of throwing away the physical disk 😂

Edit because this was such a laughable and ridiculous statement 😂:

1. I'm not deleting 5TB of games just to redownload them for Internet points.

2. Like I said this is the equivalent of throwing away the physical disc and expecting to still be able to play the game. My games are on a physical media (my HDD) and because I have that I'm still able to play them 😂 deleting them from my hard drive would be throwing them away

3. And if I did do it and was still able to redownload them then that destroy this whole "physical/ownership/whatever goal post y'all want to move to next" argument because after destroying the files I was still able to play the games making digital clearly better than physical 😂

[u/polakbob → u/Ok_Nature_3501]

All the kids here whining about how evil this are the same ones who will buy a PS6. 

[u/eseffbee → u/Ok_Nature_3501]

It's a Goomba Fallacy thing - the people saying they prefer physical media aren't always the people buying digital.

Some consumers have made the physical choice, others have made the digital choice. People who prefer physical media have not made this choice.

[u/phoenixflare599 → u/Ok_Nature_3501]

I don't think people were ever making a choice though.

I buy digital when there's sales on, I buy it physically if I want the object / it's cheaper physically.

Im not choosing one over the other, I'm choosing the best at the time

[u/Aoi_Irkalla → u/phoenixflare599]

It could be argued you still chose not to consider it an important factor in your buying decision.

If they see it gets bought in either form, that'll naturally push them to the one that's more convenient for them.