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Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

blog.playstation.com

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Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#301

Post by 0x457 »

j45 wrote: post #248
0x457 wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You own the physical game. When it comes to consoles - you do not.

Are you saying physical discs can be disabled once the console and disc are in the hands of the owner?

- some games require online server (See The Crew)

- some games change with updates (try to play destiny 2 red war story line with your physical disc that you can still buy for some reason despite game being free)

- Nintendo can block specific cartridges (only thing that step Xbox and PS from doing that now is that it's not implemented on their end)

- some games have separate online pass and/or DLC codes that can only activated once

- on PC CDs used to come with a cd-key you had to activate (still do?)

- See Xbox One 2013 DRM plan

Only way to "own" a game is to have a pirated version of a game regardless of a platform.

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#302

Post by VectorLock »

They want this even more than they want $100 games. Rockstar not shipping discs for GTA6 and PlayStation ending disc production is the perfect two pronged approach.

Honestly gamers have been stomaching this for decades with Steam so Sony wants in on some of that sweet sweet action as well.

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#303

Post by jaggederest »

Taikonerd wrote: post #232
phire wrote: post #23

With this news, I have to wonder how much longer bluray will live. Will we continue seeing new bluray releases of movies and TV shows for decades, or are their days numbered? The loss of console gaming presumably removes a guaranteed revenue source that was keeping Bluray pressing plants alive. Sales of DVDs and Bluray have been declining for years [1] [3] . Some people have been excited pushing the news that UHD blu…

> With this news, I have to wonder how much longer bluray will live. I hope that physical media sticks around. DVDs and Blu-rays often include something that digital releases don't: director's commentaries, "making of" featurettes, and other extras. For me, it adds a whole new layer of fun to movies I already like.

I wish companies would release these for promotional purposes on e.g. youtube or equivalent.

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#304

Post by fg137 »

kuerbel wrote: post #214
maherbeg wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's better about the dedicated player out of curiosity?

(Not op) it typically offers better video processing and upscaling, more accurate color reproduction, cleaner gradients, and superior HDR handling (including dynamic tone mapping on some models). Many also support Dolby Vision from UHD Blu rays, which the PS5 does not. It won't show on a bad screen that much, but a dedicated player will squeeze out more of the disc.

Knowing nothing about the topic: what kind of processing and upscaling happens when I play a 4k movie on a 4k TV?

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#305

Post by rhinoceraptor »

mikestew wrote: post #271
pcl wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that? Vinyl has some unique characteristics. But as far as I’m aware, blu-ray is just a storage format for bits, so other than the box art, what is compelling about a blu-ray pressing?

Ever compare a Blu-ray to the same content over streaming? It's not even close. Unlike vinyl records, Blu-ray is vastly superior in quality to alternatives. In case you're asking "why", it's because your "4K" stream is compressed to hell and back. Your home internet connection doesn't even have the bandwidth to stream the quality of a BR.

A UHD Bluray tops out at about 150Mbps, most home internet is capable of that. It would just cost too much for the streaming services to support it.

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#306

Post by henriquecm8 »

tacticalturtle wrote: post #116
thimabi wrote: post #93

In a few years Sony executives will be wondering why a portion of their consumer base decided to prioritize other forms of entertainment. I can speak for myself in that I’ve never upgraded past the PS3, and I feel no regrets about it.

At this point it’s a pretty small portion. Last quarter 85% of all game sales were digital. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-just-reported-a-new-r...

I wonder how many units the 15% represents, and what the percentage would be compared to number of sales in 2010.

Yeah, the percentage has got smaller, but the industry also got much bigger.

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#307

Post by MrGilbert »

jwitthuhn wrote: post #260
MrGilbert wrote: post #247

This will hopefully backfire. As soon as there are no more physical copies of games available, Sony will run into the same situation that Apple is currently, which will make them a Gatekeeper in the EU. That will eventually mean that they need to open their platform for third-party-vendors. But, yeah. It will be bad for a few years at least, I'm afraid.

Why would physical copies matter for this? All physical games have to be signed by Sony anyways so it's not like a third-party can produce them.

That doesn’t matter. It’s about the end-users perspective in that case. You can sell physical copies in physical stores or online on competitive pricing. The main point is that the customer has a choice. As soon as the physical discs vanish, they won’t. And that’s where gatekeeping starts.

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#308

Post by somenameforme »

exitnode wrote: post #52
lelandfe wrote: post #38

To illustrate why this is stupid, I will furnish two links to purchase Dark Souls 3 (PS4, 2016) Ebay, to buy: $11 + shipping[0] PS Store, to rent: $60[1] [0] https://www.ebay.com/itm/298370753624 [1] https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/dark-souls-iii/

It's sadly not stupid from their perspective

Except it really is. I don't see how businesses don't understand how this sort of anti-customer predatory behavior, MBA stuff, is directly driving reduced sales. The PS5, for instance, has only managed 96 million sales. For contrast the PS2 managed 160 million sales to a smaller market with much fiercer competition.

And I'm one of those tens of millions opting out. The PS2 felt like a great consumer-focused value. Modern consoles feel like opting in to get kicked in the balls and squeezed for every single penny they can get out of you.

The reason modern consoles aren't selling 300million+ units is because of myopia. And the worst part is that it's a vicious cycle. They see their sales shrinking so the penny pinchers and MBAs get even nastier squeezing the ever-shrinking userbase even more resulting in less sales meaning they need to squeeze those that remain even harder and so on.

At seemingly no point is anybody asking 'Hey why do our sales keep falling even though the potential market's way larger and the competition is pretty meh?' I guess that doesn't look as good on a powerpoint slide as trying to kill the used game market and pretending it will have no knock-on effects.

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#309

Post by fg137 »

criddell wrote: post #205
CM30 wrote: post #165

Well, if Nintendo and Microsoft go the same route (and sadly, I see that being almost inevitable at some point), that's probably the end of my interest in gaming as a whole. I generally refuse to 'rent' or 'license' things on a temporary basis, and have decided in this generation that every game I'll get for Switch 2 will be a physical game on cart version, without exception. And the reasons for that are pretty simpl…

I'm guessing you know this already, but I thought it's worth saying - some Switch 2 carts only contain a game key and not the actual game. https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/...

Unfortunately some switch 2 games are only available as digital download codes (e.g. Split Fiction) even though Xbox and PS5 physical versions are real discs. For now.

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#310

Post by overfeed »

VectorLock wrote: post #302

They want this even more than they want $100 games. Rockstar not shipping discs for GTA6 and PlayStation ending disc production is the perfect two pronged approach. Honestly gamers have been stomaching this for decades with Steam so Sony wants in on some of that sweet sweet action as well.

> They want this even more than they want $100 games

Killing the secondary market for games hasten how soon they can sell $100 games.

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