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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

#391

Post by IanCal »

somenameforme wrote: post #363
ryandrake wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gamers are notorious for accepting whatever abuse game companies and studios want to inflict, and then keep buying and buying. All the horrible anti-consumer technologies and business practices from DRM to games that are released unfinished, to kernel-level anti-cheats and rootkits, all are routinely done with video games because the industry knows gamers are fanatics and will put up with anything. If gamers want to…

The whole point is that they aren't accepting it. In terms of sales PS2 > PS4 > PS5. That alone is already a big issue but it becomes just comically bad when you consider that the world population is about 33% larger than during the PS2 era, gaming has become completely normalized, and that the competition in modern times is mediocre.

Have profits gone down?

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

#392

Post by nemomarx »

wtetzner wrote: post #382
nemomarx wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The next console is going to cost at least 1000 dollars, right? There's simply no way to sell hardware at 300 million units now. So I think their strategy is to abandon the mass market and sell to price unconscious consumers who will also pay more for games.

But what's the point of even releasing the next console? The current console generation has barely gotten started, and developers have barely taken advantage of the new hardware. Maybe they need to look at releasing a cheaper console and making more quality games instead of constantly pushing so hard on graphics. Graphics help sales to an extent, but it's clearly not the whole story, given the popularity of the Wii o…

For the ps6, they were already done with design and they'd need to let that go to waste to not put it out. I doubt it'll have many exclusives though - it's probably a ps5 pro pro thing.

But I'm also not sure they can sell a cheaper console. PS5 prices just rose and they'll rise again next year - so that level is already going to cost 800 dollars to consumers. You can't really sell hardware to anyone until ram prices come down it seems.

They could release a ps4 level console but I'm not sure it would be that cheap to source parts for... There are rumors of a handheld so that might be cheaper.

Basically console gaming is about to get impractical and they'll try and find a path to stay alive. That's my read.

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

#394

Post by vinyl7 »

alightsoul wrote: post #59
accrual wrote: post #31

> Sony's announcement follows Rockstar's announcement that Grand Theft Auto 6 will come with a download code in a box rather than a physical disc. It's a move that most notably stamps out second-hand reselling of a game. This is the big point for me. If one buys a digital PlayStation game there's virtually no easy way to transfer it to another owner or sell it like one could do in past console generations. There will…

they weren't happy about people reselling their games for 5 dollars each, when they could charge 75 dollars to each of those people instead

Jokes on them if they think a significant portion of those sales will convert

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

#395

Post by wtetzner »

palmotea wrote: post #367
lelandfe wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although it's just anecdata, after spending $600 on the console, I certainly was dismayed to find 10-year old games only being sold at their original prices. Surely they should at least track inflation? Perhaps Sony could add an optional tipping screen before digital checkout for the good customers.

> Although it's just anecdata, after spending $600 on the console, I certainly was dismayed to find 10-year old games only being sold at their original prices. Surely they should at least track inflation? Honestly, Sony should just retroactively bill consumers for inflation. Since $60 in 2016 is worth almost $89 today, they should charge all the people who bought the game back then a $29 price adjustment. It's the th…

> If consumers don't like that option, an alternative can be a perpetual $5/year subscription that additional provides in-game stickers.

Another alternative is to just buy the used games and play them on the old consoles.

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

#396

Post by metrognome »

To play devil's advocate here, imagine a world where the exact opposite has occurred: physical media (CDs specifically) is the norm, and there's no DRM, so the raw data can be copied right off of it. In this world, scalpers scoop up all available inventory of physical media from local retailers, consumers pay a premium to them for the original product, the scalpers sell cheaper copies where the game binary has been modified to insert advertisements or mine cryptocurrency, out of the woodwork appears a cottage industry of companies offering services to modify game binaries and connect them to the ad networks and crypto exchanges. The scalper gets a cut, the gamer gets a cheaper game, everyone is happy.

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

#397

Post by nemomarx »

angoragoats wrote: post #335
somenameforme wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. Mo…

I feel this in my bones and it's a great way to frame it. My last Playstation console was a PS2 and I've also opted out of recent generations. Historically, for me, one of the benefits of a console was that you could just pop the game in, and it would always work, simply and easily. DRM, online checks, DLC that should have been part of the base game, digital-only games, etc have ruined all that, and if that's going t…

You can resell game key cards, at least? They seem better than digital copies to me. And first party games are still on cartridge for the most part.

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

#398

Post by Blackthorn »

canthonytucci wrote: post #388
downrightmike wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Game companies should have to submit full copies of everything to run the game , servers and clients to the Library of Congress or Smithsonian for preservation

Why? Is there a lower form of “art” than always online AAA garbage? Im not going to lose any sleep over _COD 75: More of the Same Bullshit_ becoming lost media

Most art is garbage, doesn't mean it's okay to make it inaccessible by fiat.

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

#399

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

kouteiheika wrote: post #261
Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #188

That will put them in direct competition with Steam, though. Suddenly their cheaper console will result in way higher cost for the lifetime of the console. Killing the used market is a very bad idea. Remember what happened with xbox?

> That will put them in direct competition with Steam, though. Suddenly their cheaper console will result in way higher cost for the lifetime of the console. ...funny that so many people were complaining about the recent Steam Machine not being worth it compared to just getting a PS5; maybe now it's not that bad of a deal after all, huh?

It still costs double a PlayStation, but yeah, I just bought one. I have kids and a big Steam library, so I am actually saving money with that over a console

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

#400

Post by mikepurvis »

theK wrote: post #366
mikepurvis wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hopefully emulation and piracy will continue to provide a reasonable check valve on this getting too far out of control. I don't personally engage in either at present outside of an old homebrewed Wii U, but I feel like the existence of those is important to remind the digital storefront/platform owners that at the end of the day they aren't actually the only game in town. Either that or eventually we'll have to get…

Don't requirements like online server based verification and advancing crypto make it almost impossible to pirate these games?

Yes, for play-online titles for sure, but I think everything up to Xbox 360 / PS3 era has robust emulation and wide distribution of the whole library.

Obviously it's gotten harder over the years, but PS4 and PS5 jailbreaks do exist so that means there's a vector for dumping games that were only ever distributed digitally (at least ones released up to the point where the jailbreaks got patched, as the stores will refused to serve new content until you update your system).

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