No physical discs for Playstation games (1st & 3rd party) from 2028 onward

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Carpocalypse
Even I buy digitally, I don't think that taking away physical is a good idea from a consumer standpoint. Less options means that there's more potential of Sony (Or whoever) screwing us over.

If I don't like Sony's prices or business practices, I can buy them from Amazon, Or Game (The UK version of Gamestop), or Argos, or a multitude of other options.

If Sony stops doing that, the competition is gone, because you're still reliant on Playstation Network. There's nothing stopping Sony from jacking up the prices even higher, because you're locked into their ecosystem, their sales platform. You don't have another choice. It's either PlayStation Store, or nothing.

In addition, If they just put a code in a box, why not just go the full way and replace them with the little plastic cards you sometimes see with Xbox:

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Continuing to make the Blu-Ray boxes is a waste of plastic when there's no disc inside, and it doesn't need to be that big.

In my opinion, less competition is bad.
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Then there begs the question of what happens to game stores? They can't sell physical copies anymore when they're gone, there won't be a market for second-hand games. They'll be at the mercy of Sony/Microsoft/whoever else follows suit. Suppose those companies decide down the line they don't want game stores selling products and only commit to exclusively selling on their platform? Those stores would be SOL.

There's the very real possibility game stores go the way of Blockbuster, and that's a scary thought.
 
CGT980
Then there begs the question of what happens to game stores? They can't sell physical copies anymore when they're gone, there won't be a market for second-hand games. They'll be at the mercy of Sony/Microsoft/whoever else follows suit. Suppose those companies decide down the line they don't want game stores selling products and only commit to exclusively selling on their platform? Those stores would be SOL.

There's the very real possibility game stores go the way of Blockbuster, and that's a scary thought.
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Either they get furious with Sony, and drop them entirely, forcing Sony to sell directly, launch a lawsuit against Sony, or they go the way of Blockbuster
 
This sucks big time, but it was inevitable. The average consumer does not care enough about video game preservation or the second hand market to give up on the many conveniences digital games come with. Also I'm pretty sure that PlayStation's latest sales report showed a share of like 85% digital for all of their game sales. That number has been trending upwards for years.
 
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I've been digital for quite a good while now and the convenience is amazing, however, nothing will ever beat owning a physical representation of your purchase in full.

Having said that, physicals haven't been worthwhile for ages; all you get is a jewel case with a code for the guide and game. How far things have fallen. It was inevitable but I have to say, how hypocritical does Sony look for announcing the thing they clowned on Xbox for? :rolleyes:

Jump_Ace
I respect those who have physical media, I get it, I really do. But now, I'm actually hoping Gamestop goes under now and stops ripping off gamers to stay a float. I never understood why gamers wanted to save GS. 'They rip me off every time I go in there, and I love it!' F- that company. I know it's nice to get 'something' back for your games and to loan them out to friends. Times are a changing, remember when apple dropped the audio port? Kinda reminds me of that. So now I just have bluetooth instead and go on.


Jerome
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Gamestop? Ew.

Ew.
 
I know Xbox has been going that way for a good while now, it would just be amusing amongst the various recent policy shifts Microsoft/Xbox has been doing lately to try and capitalize. If anything I'm surprised Playstation made it fully official first.
 
I think if there were alternatives to the PS store to get games it wouldn't be as bad.
appu
Nintendo is now the last bastion for physical games, who would have imagined! Their controversial game keycards are still sellable.
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I don't really think of them as physical since it basically a code that can't be used until you connect to the Internet if I'm not mistaken. But at least you can sell them
 
kjb
I think if there were alternatives to the PS store to get games it wouldn't be as bad.
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If only Sony put their games on Steam.. oh well. Not like it will stop me from buying the next Playstation to play the next Gran Turismo.
 
I know this sucks, but there's a small percentage of players who are still buying physical games.

CinnamonOD
I’ll keep the PS5, but I think I’m done buying consoles after this unless the next Gran Turismo makes the next PlayStation worth it.

Even then, would I really own the game?
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If you didn't buy your digital game on GoG, then you don't own your game anywhere.
 
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Makes me wonder if this will happen again.
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Just to further highlight why this is a problem in the long-term, or at the very least highlight some points that I don't really see being considered in this thread, with Sony making this move:
  • As a consumer, the choice of how you get you games, and by extension media in general, is being taken away. Even if you are someone that mostly or only buys games digitally, it's at least a choice on your part of how you want to spend your money. By getting rid of the option for physical media, your options are being forcibly reduced, so if you really want to get a new game, movie or whatehaveyou, you're being forced to spend your money the way Sony wants you to, instead of the way you want. That sets up a dangerous precedent within the entire industry going forward, because it gives the likes of Nintendo and Xbox the greelnight to take choices away from people on other products (Nintendo is arguably already experimenting with this with Switch 2 Key Cards).
  • It basically removes a large chunk of competition for Sony, because this kills the second-hand market for new games, as well as killing your ability to get a game from another retailer. Have rewards points at your local big-box store that typically lets you get physical new(-er) games cheaper than digitally? Well, say goodbye to that route. Have a title on your radar that you're not sure about, and as such you don't want to commit to a full-fledged digital purchase? Well, the ability to get it used or used on the cheap from someone else is now gone. That could potentially be a major issue for local mom-and-pop shops who thrive on attracting people with used copies of recent games, among other things.
  • Related to the above, there ends up being significantly less incentive for Sony to put things up for sale on their platform. As mentioned, there'll be no second-hand market for newer games, so Sony don't have to worry about losing out on cash from a prospective buyer, because their only choice to get a game is through Sony's own digital distribution. As such, what reason does Sony really have to put things, especially 1st-party releases like Gran Turismo, on sale? On PC, you have Steam, GOG and others that have sales on media regularly, and as such are competing against one another. There's no way in hell that Sony will allow a different distributor to compete against them on their own platform, and Sony has made it clear that they're no longer interested in putting select PlayStation titles on PC.
  • In the grand scheme of things, this makes the issue of consumers actually owning the stuff they buy even worse. As already mentioned, Sony unilaterally decided to go into people's libraries and pull content that was already paid for, and consumers can't do anything about it. Now that they've created a precedent, they (or other companies) can decide to remove other paid content, including games, from one's digital library. Since the only way to even get said media begin with was through the PlayStation Store, consumers have next-to-no way to acquire that game though other means.
  • Lastly, and I think this is important from a big-picture cultural perspective, this has the potential to really hurt the longevity of games beyond their initial lifecycle, and create even more Lost Media. It's bad enough that there's established precedent for paid content to be taken out of peoples libraries, for always-online games to be lost when servers shut down, or for games to become damn-near inoperable in the event of a server issue or other network failure. What does the future look like for "regular" games or other media that can only be bought digitally online when it's decided that said media no longer worth selling? IMO, a big part of the reason games, movie, music etc. has evolved to where they are now is in no small part due to having the means to go back and engage with older examples of said media, learn from them and see how things have changed over time. Right now, I can go across my room, grab my copy of GT1/2, Final Fantasy 10 or Armored Core Nexus, among others, and play them right now, despite said titles being 20 to nearly 30 years old. What's the over/under that GT7, or even the next Gran Turismo will be around and playable in their full glory for a decade+ for people to enjoy? Or, if you're describing an older game to someone who's never played it, but you aren't able to truly show them what the game looks or how it plays due to it being a de-listed item that was only available digitally, and as such can't be engaged with any longer? The idea of not being able to pass these ideas along sucks quite a bit in my opinion.
Long post I know, and apologies if repeated myself in this, but I'm at least a little passionate about this as someone who has a mix of digital and physical media in my collections, though admittedley the physical is definetly a bigger portion. I know that the world for the most part has moved on to digital distribution, but taking away the choice in order to make it where digital is the only option for buying games and other media in the future only benefits Sony in the long-run, and doesn't truly do anything for consumers as a whole, outside of adding a little extra convinenece.
 
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CinnamonOD
I’ll keep the PS5, but I think I’m done buying consoles after this unless the next Gran Turismo makes the next PlayStation worth it.

Even then, would I really own the game?
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I usually wait a year or two before going into the next gen of consoles. Give them a bit of time to iron out the wrinkles. Learned that lesson the hard way with the Xbox 360.

But the next one might be the one I nope out on altogether if things keep trending the way they're trending. It's coming to a point where I'm inching closer to taking a step back from modern gaming and focus more on what I have in my collection, both modern & retro.

As for the next GT, I can't see myself being all that interested right away if there's no proper single player career. It'd be more like GT7 where I buy it on sale. It's a great game, there's things I absolutely love about it, but there's just too much of a focus on the online multiplayer/e-sports side of things for my tastes. Not that there's anything wrong with that. By all means, improve upon that, but the issue is when it comes at the expense of the single player experience.

I'm more of the old-school type, the single player experience is what I enjoy most. The online multiplayer doesn't interest me at all unless it's in a group of close friends.
 
Veinz
Discs are pretty much just glorified license keys nowadays. This was inevitable given how large games have become. I'll miss them about as much as I miss DVDs or CDs.
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The big difference is that those keys can currently be bought and sold on the second hand market. Unless Sony makes it possible for the transfer of games from one account to another, this is going to be bad for the consumer.
 
I can see some good and bad points to this decision.

Of course for the bad side of things, it’s unclear how sharing your games is going to work. Nintendo tried a system with their digital cartridges and it’s not great but at least you can share digital games for a short period. We’ll see if Sony can come up with a better system.

Also brick and mortar game stores might not survive this one, honestly. That’s already a really difficult market to survive in, and ones that don’t have a consistent retro-based consumer base are likely going to really struggle or die out. GameStop is going to be on life support again following this, no doubt about it.

On the “positive” side, I guess… I can’t even really remember the last time a full game even came on a disk I own. All physical games these days are pretty much glorified access keys anyways, and you don’t really own whatever is on the disk. So getting rid of them entirely will be a pretty substantial reduction in e-waste, which I’m for.

Also I think it’s pretty funny seeing people go “if I don’t own games then piracy isn’t stealing.” Like there’s going to be any way to pirate PlayStation games after this. Pirating games in the future digital ecosystem is just going to be way too much of a headache with all the constant checks, updates and DRM for anyone to really even bother trying I think.

Anyways if Sony does put their head down and keep on course despite the backlash, I feel pretty confident Microsoft is going to drop the facade and announce they’re going digital or streaming-only in the next few years as well.
 
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CGT980
Then there begs the question of what happens to game stores? They can't sell physical copies anymore when they're gone, there won't be a market for second-hand games. They'll be at the mercy of Sony/Microsoft/whoever else follows suit. Suppose those companies decide down the line they don't want game stores selling products and only commit to exclusively selling on their platform? Those stores would be SOL.

There's the very real possibility game stores go the way of Blockbuster, and that's a scary thought.
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RIP Physical Discs..... I Will never forget the good old times i just plug in those discs and play games, just like good old NES to PS2 era.
 
I’d like to take a moment to share my thoughts.


I was a little boy with a December 23 birthday when I got my very first PlayStation and my very first game: Gran Turismo. From that day on, I’ve been part of this community and have played every Gran Turismo ever released.


Two years ago, I had the incredible opportunity to meet Kaz at the Montreal GT World Tour, and he even signed my original copy of Gran Turismo. As someone who has been collecting video games since I was a kid and loves owning physical copies, today’s news has left me completely devastated.


I own every physical copy of Gran Turismo ever released, and seeing the industry move away from physical media really hurts. In my opinion, this is nothing more than corporate greed from Sony.


If Gran Turismo 7 ends up being the last physical release in the series, then it will also be the last game I buy—and the last gaming console I ever purchase.


It’s a sad ending to a story that has been part of my life since childhood.

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TBH honest it is a very anti consumer decision . Unfortunately the numbers back up this decision. Personally I love having choices, now unless I get desktop I have no choices whatsoever. If Microsoft was smart they could seize upon this and use to their advantage next console generation. More than likely than will just follow suit 😞. Anyway it sad to see to our buying power continue to erode
 
kjb
Unfortunately the numbers back up this decision.
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I don't think it's the numbers everyone's thinking though. The whole "PS5 players are buying digital 80:20" is just a marketing excuse for something that's been in the works for two years.

As it stands there isn't, as far as I'm aware, a commercial consumer-grade, console-suitable BD bigger than the triple-layer 100GB discs used for PS5/XSX consoles; 128GB BDXL isn't compatible with UHDBD, and even then, 128GB isn't enough for fat, upcoming games like GTAVI - never mind anything 8K coming up. Bitrates aren't enough compared to NVMe either: just over 100Mbps for BluRay was already orders of magnitude below Gen4 NVMe (like the PS5's internal drive), never mind Gen5 NVMe.

There's nothing in the works either to succeed it - although there's a startup that seems to be manufacturing 1TB discs for storage purposes (and a four-figure drive to read them), it's not exactly commercial, consumer-grade - and indeed everyone is abandoning BluRay - Sony already announced an end to BD recorders earlier this year, while other large manufacturers have been phasing it all out.



It was inevitable that - whatever it looks like - the next PlayStation won't have an optical drive, because everyone's stopping making them (and the discs), and the date lines up with when we were all expecting the PS6 to be somewhere between "announced" and "available".
 
Well this makes me sad. I like physical discs. I especially like when they do a special edition that comes in a steelbook. When I saw that GT7 had a version like that, I ordered it immediately. I've even looked up empty steelbooks for my games that don't have one just so they do.

I know some people don't like having to change out the discs in the console when they want to play something different. But I'm old-school and that was the way it was since the beginning (well, it was cartridges back then...but yeah...)
 
It was only a matter of time before this happened. Sure, I too have downloaded games on digital like ACC and Forza Horizon 5 but I do have hard copies as well. All of my GT games are hard copies (GT4-GT7) because I love the franchise and want to keep a physical reminder of the games, even if I don't play them anymore. They mean something to me. Not having that option for the future does piss me off on many fronts, not least because it reeks of corporate greed. Game shops will go bust if they don't have anything to sell, the resale market will die and the price of games will remain high long after they're released... thus ensuring that the house never loses. What a sorry plight we find ourselves in.
 
Well this certainly sucks. just like many of you here, I loved going to the store on release day and opening up that case and finding that brand new shiny disc.

I kinda thought this was coming based on the "digital only" copies for GTA 6. its really too bad.
 
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I prefer physical copies just so I can actually own a physical copy. This is kind of sad if you ask me. Why did they even think of this in the first place? The benifits of a digital copy are outdone by the downsides. I will miss having a physical version of the next Gran Turismo :confused:
 
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