Forum - View topicNEWS: Sony Ends Physical Disc Production for PlayStation Consoles
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Multi-Facets
Posts: 395 |
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I'm not even a gamer and that headline made me think ".... this ain't gonna end well."
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AiddonValentine
 Posts: 2981 |
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Eh, those numbers have always been iffy to be honest. Saying "it's 85% digital sales now!" seems big except when you realize they're talking about "recent physical releases" vs "the entirety of everything that's ever been released ever!" It's always a slanted metric (and intentionally, at that). And at the end of the day this is a power grab, nothing more than the "you'll own nothing and be happy" goal companies like Sony have always aimed at. Anyway, this also renders any backwards compatibility moot which is also gross. Screw you, Sony Last edited by AiddonValentine on Wed Jul 01, 2026 11:30 am; edited 1 time in total |
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bones2039
Posts: 108 |
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I'm a physical media person completely and hate how things have been going. I still prefer owning Blu Rays and DVDs of anime over streaming everything. There are so many shows I would buy a disc release of that Crunchyroll doesn't seem remotely interested in providing which frustrates me. I'm not the type that has to be watching the biggest, current hit or fears missing out on something great because I'm not watching it at the moment it came out. That is not how I enjoy my anime. I read reviews, I tend to know what shows I'll like or enjoy even if they are "trash" for others.
I still have almost 20 Switch games I've purchased over the past 3 years that I have yet to play. I had the money and bought them because I've gotten worried if I want it later it will be hard to find on disc for a price I want to pay so even if I didn't intend to pay it for a while, I still got it just in case. Its part of the reason I haven't bothered with a Switch 2 as I still have so much left on the Switch to get to. It doesn't help I go through periods of just not playing games for months at a time either so I'm set for my gaming needs for a few years as is. With all digital game consoles, I'll just end up being one of those old guys playing old consoles all the time, which is fine with me. Joining the old curmudgeon crowd doesn't bother me anymore. |
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2781 Location: Germany |
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An incomplete list of post-2026 Sony-developed or published games without a date:
Horizon Hunters Gathering, Convallaria, 4:LOOP, Fairgame$, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, God of War Laufey, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake and the leaked Insomniac games. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sony_Interactive_Entertainment_video_games#PlayStation_5 The press release says ALL games on PS5 won´t get discs anymore and all 3rd parties need to go through Sony to print discs. I don´t think that a strong Xbox brand could have saved us but you never know. The PS6 might also be sooner rather than later and Sony wants to prime the consumer that they want to be Steam Too. Microsoft cut the 2TB model and a base PS5 fits about 5 AAA games at once. Owning digital games in itself is quite a hassle these days due to ever-rising component costs and some get perma-delisted even if you "own" the license. Supplemental Information for the Consolidated Financial Results for the Fourth Quarter Ended March 31, 2026 Page 12: Full game software digital download ratio. FY24: 76%, FY25 78%. Full game software digital download ratio is calculated by dividing PlayStation and PlayStation full game software units sold via digital transactions by total full game software units. https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2026/05/sony-ships-93-7-million-ps5-consoles-but-recent-sales-down-by-almost-50percent?utm Steam got that number to 100% well over a decade ago and Microsoft, the biggest games publisher on the planet, doesn´t even want to sell games anymore outside of CoD, as everything they finance is still going to Game Pass day one. Even after the "Xbox Reset." CoD 2027 will come after a delay and Persona 6 will be on Game Pass day one! I hate all of this but Gamers Tm created this market. Next up, a minimum of 5 Microsoft studio closures are about to be announced. What a console generation.... Last edited by residentgrigo on Wed Jul 01, 2026 12:10 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Silver Kirin
Posts: 1784 |
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I do find it kind of ironic that PlayStation will stop manufacturing discs considering they owe their success in great part to optical media, the original PlayStation was the first CD-based console that was truly a success and the storage capabilities the CD offered was the reason how companies like Squaresoft made Final Fantasy VII on the console, the PS2 also popularized the DVD format, the PS3 had some issues with the Blu-Ray, it wasn't as popular as the DVD format was, but it won against the HD-DVD format, only the PSP with their UMDs kill the idea of a portable console using optical media.
And yeah, I know things have changed in the last ten or fifteen years in regards to games (and other media) distribution and storage, though games' files sizes have been increasing as well. |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2567 Location: Online Terminal |
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See, that's one thing I felt was at least intuitive. Making a physical game costs additional money in both materials and processing, so passing that expense on isn't unreasonable. It's like when you pay for the Deluxe DVD set with all the goodies inside instead of just the discs. It's not ideal for the customer, but it's a reasonable concession. I will make the outlandish statement that the Switch 2 might be the final video game console of any consequence. Between the Steam Machine and whatever Microsoft and Sony will be making, all we're going to be getting is scaled-down computers that (for Xbox and PS) require an additional subscription to access the games you don't own. Games on a tablet or phone are a much better value proposition at this point. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 5385 |
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For sure. I don't like it, especially since digital was supposed to reduce costs (which ended up with companies pocketing the savings and charging full price) but at least I could still do it and show them that I'm still willing to buy physical. Sony is removing the option entirely, which is worse.
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Glordit
 Posts: 1203 |
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I had a look and the RE4 Remake its 749 on PSN and 379 for Disc from a retailer. (local pricing)
Sony is going to love their new all digital system and the average person will just sigh and pay for it anyway. Just look at how many GTA VI pre-orders have been made. Last edited by Glordit on Wed Jul 01, 2026 1:40 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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SinisterOracle
 SubscriberPosts: 892 |
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And this my friends is why I have not purchased any gaming consoles since my PS4. I was irked enough that it wasn’t backwards compatible with earlier games that I decided PlayStation would not get any more money from me.
This is a very shortsighted and crappy decision by Sony to eliminate physical copies because many of us still prefer physical media as opposed to digital media that you’re only leasing until the rights are lost by the rights holders (who is never going to be the purchaser in this scenario). Just another reason to hate Sony and their monopoly over industries. |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 6228 Location: Virginia, United States |
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If you have been watching ANN's Light Novel, Manga, and Anime release schedules, you will see just how sparse anime BD's have been considering just how much anime is being broadcast each quarter. Things are pretty dismal on that front.
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Siegfriedl88
 Posts: 374 |
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I can see all physical copies of games will have their prices skyrocket for collecting purposes now though...Even more so for games not digital. like with the Ps3 shutting down people will miss out on drakengard 3 and their DLCS or downloadable ps1 classics like xenogears |
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Greed1914
Posts: 5385 |
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Yep. Funimation used to release all of its licenses at least once on disc. Now, only a handful of titles see a release, and that's with Sony buying up a whole retailer. I used to check TRSI regularly because there was always a slate of new releases up for order every couple of months. Now, I tend to forget the CR store exists because they don't have anything new to look at. Heck, lately when I have looked at the pre-order tab, you can't filter for blu-ray as a product type. I'd say that was a bug, but for how long that has been happening and with the lack or releases, I suspect it was intentional. This is the same company that decided to delist products that were "slow sellers." This announcement all but confirms to me that it's intentional. |
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Riku157
Posts: 192 |
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That's because digital always has the price the game was first released at. You'd only see price decreases during sales. Spiderman 2 would be $90 outside of sales, but I got it for $40 or something during a sale earlier this year. Bestbuy has it on their website at $90, but if a sale is going on it'd be lower (sales would be less common for them though). Not saying this isn't more advantageous for Sony, but I don't think that's the best example of why. |
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5738 |
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Looks like I might be going on a spending spree on PS3 and VITA.
I'm not sure how to feel about this. On the one hand I much more prefer to actually own a physical version. But now, most games you buy have a load of patches and additional content added through DLC, which renders your disc an incomplete version. Last edited by MarshalBanana on Wed Jul 01, 2026 3:15 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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DKL
 Posts: 1994 Location: California, USA |
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I'm surprised that this doesn't get brought up more. If I was to pick up a Stellar Blade disc today and popped it into a PS5 that isn't connected to the internet, how much stuff would I be missing? |
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