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NEWS: Sony Ends Physical Disc Production for PlayStation Consoles

Sometimes it’s almost hard to believe GameFly is still a thing in 2026. This would also impact GameStop though I don’t anyone has a problem with.

Why would Sony have Steam on a PlayStation console, when Valve already has the Steam Machine with Steam?

In the case of GTA yes, the question is how it will go for other games. Say the PS6 costs 1250 and games cost 80, will gamers at large go for that besides the biggest exclusives when it is digital only?

Why would Apple have the Epic store on iphones when Apple already has the App Store on iphones? Because courts told them they had to allow 3rd party store fronts in their ecosystem.

That Sony tutorial video How To Share Games On Playstation has certainly aged like milk

IIRC the Playstation Store doesn't accept game keys from 3rd-party stores neither

So, without physical discs, only the PS Store controls all the prices

As others have said in this very thread, comparing revenue is misleading. Digital revenue includes anything that is sold exclusively digital, so DLC, small games that never had a physical version, and microtransactions, all get lumped in with digital versions of games that also had physical versions. It's like balancing scales while someone pushes on their side with their finger.

If a direct comparison is made for just games that have physical versions against their digital counterparts of the same thing, then the split is much closer to even.

Preferences are also mitigated by the level of control the companies have. They know full well that the strongest tactic they have is to make it so you can only get something on their terms. Of course people started buying DLC when the industry collectively gave up on expansion packs. Of course they bought those skins when they were no longer unlockable in game. It's less of a preference and more that they know FOMO works. And this is compounded by it being "just the way it is" for long enough that younger customers don't know any better.

There's no way to stop this?

We will not be doing console war investor speak, thank you very much, especially since Microsoft is rumored to be going digital only with their next console (if their gaming division even lasts long enough to release new hardware). And that's before getting into how the Switch 2 and Steam exist for price control.

Vs the World has since been relisted.

Just because the courts sided with Epic in that case doesn’t mean it would work in another case.

We’ll also forget that was case was one where no one was on anyone’s side and the consequence of that was Fornite being removed from the Apple Store.

So again why would that happen when the Steam Machine exists and when most PC Owners have made it clear they don’t have much an interest even before this news in buying a PlayStation?

I Took 7 years for that to happen though. And the issue was that it got delisted at all.

The benefit for Steam isn't selling Playstations over Steam Machines. Steam doesn't make anything off the Steam Machines anyway. The point would be having the Steam store available for the 93M PS5s out there as Steam actually makes its money from the software they sell on their store, not the Steam hardware.

There's no way to stop this?

This will also mean that a hypothetical PS6 is likely to not have a disk drive and thus not be backwards compatible with the games that I already have, and I definitely don't want to juggle an extra giant box in my TV's limited HDMI ports.

Sony may have coerced me into getting a PS5 with Demon's Souls and it does play most of the PS4 library, but there's been little of interest to me from their releases. I won't say that I won't ever get a PS6, but it's going to be a low priority.

Can't stand sony, but we knew this was eventually coming. All the console makers are going to follow suit. The real question is what decade will it all be digital platforms? Or will Game Subscription Streaming become a thing first?