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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

#411

Post by slg »

i1856511 wrote: post #370
mrandish wrote: post #298

Between DRM, DLC, mandatory connectivity and the end of physical media, the future will look back on this era as the 'dark age' of digital gaming history. Maintaining activation servers, cloud storage and digital delivery costs money. If it doesn't disappear when the title reaches EOL, it certainly does when the company is gone or shifts business models. And draconian copyright laws create legal jeopardy around orpha…

Yes, those things cost money, but the money that we want to make, we want to make it today. And this is how we make it. What economic incentive is there for preservation? (/takes off devil's advocate hat and puts on flame suit)

What economic incentive is there for art museums? Maybe society shouldn't be designed primarily around economic incentives.

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

#412

Post by pavon »

dice wrote: post #36
fredoralive wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Closing the online store for older systems simultaneously with announcing the dropping of physical media leaves an interesting question for the future. Even if you’ve never bought an online PS3 or Vita game, you’ll still be able to use the systems for physical games. Presumably once the PS6 store is gone, any console is just an ornament if you don’t have access to an account with games already purchased (and how long…

I was having this discussion with my 9 year old yesterday. He mentioned that a friend had Rocket League on their Switch 2 and "it didn't even need a game card". I told him that anything without a physical card can be taken away, the company that made it can decide to take it back or to stop letting it work. Compared that to my old DS which he found along with game cards for Lego Star Wars and Scribblenauts that still…

What is frustrating is that even when you buy physical games, often what you get is a buggy beta release of the software that isn't playable without GBs of day-one patches. I have little confidence that 20 years from now I will be able to play console games I bought today, without resorting to "pirating" and console mods or emulators. I'm pretty sure that the Switch will be my last console because of this.

At least with PC I have the actual files for the game I am playing, and can backup and mod them as I wish.

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

#413

Post by bigstrat2003 »

runarberg wrote: post #233
NathanielK wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My local library never made the jump to Blu-Ray and still only has DVDs. They have physical copies of video games too though.

I don’t know the stats but I would guess more people have DVD players then Blu-Ray, so it makes sense for libraries to rather offer DVDs. DVDs is also one of these things that is good enough. The jump in quality between DVD and Blu-Ray is very unnoticeable (when fully immersed) compared to e.g. between VHS and DVD (or even between vinyl and CD).

The jump in quality from DVD to Blu-ray is huge, as much as it was from VHS to DVD. Going to 4k from there isn't noticeable, but going to HD in the first place is massive.

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

#414

Post by [deleted] »

TFNA wrote: post #323
dylan604 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't imagine content owners wanting the physical media to continue any longer than they can get away with. The control they have from digital only must make them feel so powerful. At least as long as everyone continues to buy into their DRM systems. I've recently looked into purchasing a dedicated 4K Blu-ray player to start building a disc collection again. I'm assuming there's some pretty decent deals in the used…

Why not just get everything on the high seas for free, instead of paying for used-bin stuff which is cheap but still costs something? I’m a huge cinephile with a collection on my hard drives of ripped Blu-ray and DVD images, a number running now into the four figures, and I have almost never paid for a physical disc; I own something like 6 that are in a box somewhere.

[deleted]

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

#415

Post by bitmasher9 »

cjk wrote: post #358
mywittyname wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For now, it's still possible to crack consoles and extract the games from disk. However, we are probably approaching an era where encryption / trusted computing is so good that future systems will never be cracked. However, the flip side is that so many games are built using common game engines, and receive multi-platform releases. So there's a broader surface area for potential preservation. Maybe the PS6 version is…

Sony in particular is doubling down on platform exclusives again. I was waiting for Ghost of Yōtei to come out on PC, but Sony cancelled the port. We're well and truly fucked without physical media for exclusives like this.

Except Sony is notoriously bad at actually securing their consoles.

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

#416

Post by burningChrome »

mghackerlady wrote: post #120
miiiiiike wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw my first Dolby Vision Blu-ray and immediately started a Blu-Ray collection. The Blu-ray player on the PS5 is fine, but a nice dedicated player from Sony blows it away. I would pay for my favorite albums on Blu-ray too. I wish more artists released their entire discography on a really well produced Blu-ray. NIN would be perfect for this. So many Halos, so many videos, all in release order. A real release of Pure…

You can still buy CDs. They don't come with music videos usually but they sound greatr

Still have my 2014 Corolla which was the last year they included a CD player. My son is begging me to have it instead of trading it in when we get a new car this Fall. He's super into physical media which is crazy to see since he's a zoomer. I'm seeing a lot of kids in the zoomer generation coming back to physical media which is really cool. I play with two guys who are millennials and they're completely hooked on their Sony Minidisc players.

It gives me hope the future is not completely lost.

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

#417

Post by wtetzner »

buran77 wrote: post #8

Discs are less convenient so people have slowly moved to digital sales. This worked even better for console manufacturers, cheaper to drop that disc reader, and the second hand market is effectively dead which increases new game sales. The side-effect most people didn't consider is that you never really own a digital copy. And the most relevant part is that you cannot transfer/sell a digital copy. For everything else…

> The side-effect most people didn't consider is that you never really own a digital copy.

This is true for consoles, but on GoG for example you can download the DRM offline installer for the games you buy. So going purely digital doesn't have to be terrible on its own. But of course, for consoles it will be.

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

#418

Post by gambiting »

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

I cannot explain how offensive this is to work of people who work on these games. Years and years of my life working on some incredible AAA games and you call it garbage because it's always online. Like, you think all the effort, all the actual art, music, writing, lore, world building....all of it garbage, because the game is online only? Do you think WoW is garbage and "art" in quotes?

I mean, it's the internet, you can have whatever opinion you want. But imho this is a particularly nasty and unkind opinion.

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

#419

Post by madrox »

i1856511 wrote: post #370
mrandish wrote: post #298

Between DRM, DLC, mandatory connectivity and the end of physical media, the future will look back on this era as the 'dark age' of digital gaming history. Maintaining activation servers, cloud storage and digital delivery costs money. If it doesn't disappear when the title reaches EOL, it certainly does when the company is gone or shifts business models. And draconian copyright laws create legal jeopardy around orpha…

Yes, those things cost money, but the money that we want to make, we want to make it today. And this is how we make it. What economic incentive is there for preservation? (/takes off devil's advocate hat and puts on flame suit)

Especially when you have a passionate community willing to work for free to preserve things, am I right?
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