Movies still come on Blu-ray, music is still pressed on vinyl and books still fill store shelves. But as Sony moves to phase out physical PlayStation releases, many gamers are asking why video games should be the first major entertainment medium to go all digital.
Posted by reaverlation
42 Comments
Because fuck you! That’s why!
Also money
Short answer because $$$
Mr. Krabs: because money! That’s why!
Well I’m definitely pro-options here but I can answer the question:
Movies play on many devices. Music plays on many devices. PlayStation games play on PlayStation.
So while each publisher can choose digital/physical for movies and music, game publishers are stuck adhering to the limits of the device. If Sony removes the disc drive, that’s pretty much that.
Control
Other forms of media is disappearing too. Not much places sell music cds anymore
Cause Sony can do whatever they want. You can’t have a monopoly on your own system lmfao
To be fair, dvds and blu ray became popular because of PlayStation. So you know….Music CDs and Film/TV could end up following suit. I think Vinyl will remain untouched and be the collectible physical media
https://i.redd.it/sliw3uefiuch1.gif
Platform holders don’t wanna give a cut to retailers, simple as that. They’ll lose a small percentage of physical users and gain it all back and more by selling strictly on their store
They already went mostly digital and you can thank PC gamers for that. Consoles were late to the party
It’s obviously about money, but another huge thing is companies want video games to be a service rather than a product
I so badly want Xbox to come back fighting next generation and serve up a PS3 level problem for Sony. Given the complete shitshow that Xbox is though I highly doubt it’s going to happen. We all deserve better man
I saw this online early and it got me thinking.
Those other forms of media have benefits that improve the quality of the experience.
4K blu rays are at a higher quality than streaming.
Vinyl offers a different sound that many people prefer.
Books have a tactile experience that many readers love and also allows them to avoid backlit screens.
With video games though, the actual experience of playing a game is completely the same between physical and digital. I wonder if there will ever be some kind of differentiation that makes physical a better/unique experience.
Those are not comparable and disc are getting outdated. Reddit is having an internal meltdown that unfortunately overshadow the real issue of digital ownership.
It’s obvious? All other physical media benefits the seller (creator) because they’ll make more money, with games digital sales make as much (if not more) than physical.
Games aren’t like movies, or books, in that these days most people still purchase their games, however the overwhelming amount of people stream movies or music. It’s totally different industries.
They already answered this question when PC discs died.
Because of profits. The greatest example is going to be GTA6. Consumers will still play it regardless of hoops to jump through to play it. The question is how to make it the most profitable? Digital only sales from their own store front.
Interessting.
Everyone hates Sony.
But Steam is ok for many years now?
Right….
Gotta make that Marathon money back.
No one would care if it was Xbox lol
Shorter answer: None of those are software
Are we going to talk about something else on this sub or is this it for the rest of eternity?
Video games are complicated because they require specialized hardware to play them. Any DVD player can play any DVD, and any vinyl can be played from any record player. But put a PS5 copy of God of War into your Xbox’s disc tray and it simply won’t work. And obviously a Switch cartridge will only fit inside a switch. The obvious solution is PC, which is the most open-gaming platform, but most modern games don’t have physical pc releases, and most PCs don’t include disc drives by default anymore. The problem is that all these platforms are closed ecosystems where the company who runs them basically has a pseudo monopoly.
Well, here’s some good news: we have the power to reverse this decision.
Boycott any and all things Playstation until it gets resolved. Sounds simple in practice.
The same reason NBC stuck this article behind a paywall, because some board of directors feel the pressure of shareholders to deliver year over year higher profits and the view of the general consumer means nothing so long as that profit goal is met.
People really underestimate how heavily compressed streaming is. A standard physical Blu-ray is usually pushing 50 to 90 gigs, which gives you high-bitrate video with dual-layer Dolby Vision P7 and uncompressed Atmos/TrueHD audio. If you stream that same movie, it gets choked down to about 25GB, and you definitely lose out on the overall AV quality.
Can’t say the same thing about digital vs. physical games.
Vinyl is a bad example
Because steam has a superior business model. PlayStation wants to adopt it.
It will effect more than just PS5, Sony owns the disc facilities and are ending production.
Becuse money. Because they see that going all digital has been working fine for PC gaming the last decade or so
Except gamers accepted no physical games on PC already. PC gaming set this precedent and no one blinked an idea. Sony knows they can get away with it, as someone else has already gotten away with it.
Games are only getting bigger and increasingly harder to fit onto Blu-ray game discs. Blu-ray movies are always the same max size and always contain the whole thing on disc. It’s a difference.
Movies and shows are being added, removed and moved around different streaming services constantly. Each of those cost money to subscribe to and have bitrate compression, so your “4K” streaming movie isn’t gonna be as lossless as your 4K Blu-ray disc
So they can raise prices.
Disney stopped releasing anything from its film & tv catalogue on disc in Australia years ago. Which is a real problem because they *own everything* and I keep butting up against discs I can’t buy here.
PS won the console wars. Now we get to fully enjoy the PS future and you will learn to love it.
One significant difference is that only in the case of games are you getting the exact same experience once the game is installed. Music and film are still better quality on disc and books are a whole different experience.
What I don’t understand is why Epic was able to go against Apple/Google because they wouldn’t allow other shops in theirs hardware and this is also not a discussion for PS5.
Because, right now they will own the full chain and get some money from every game bought in PS5. By doing this, shouldn’t they also need to allow other shops in Playstation too?
Video games have been the first medium to go all digital for over a decade. When was the last time you saw a physical release for a pc game? It just took consoles a little while to catch up.
As the size of games and their subsequent required downloads increase, the actual data on the disc only really acts as a glorified .exe.
Being able to deliver the whole file digitally and remove the middle men that are required to print discs, cases, cover art etc means Sony earn more per unit.
Games are the first to go because there are tangible differences between the mediums. My vinyls sound better, but I use Spotify more overall because of convenience; but on the days I get a quiet afternoon I like to make a coffee, have a spliff and sit back and listen an album in its entirety.
Films are different again. Not all films are available, and even if they are you’d need to have multiple services to get that kind of unlimited coverage. I have a substantial collection of films so I can watch films I love when I feel like, with better picture and sound usually which also a pro to having a blu ray or dvd.
Why are people still defending this decision? It’s fucking baffling
Sony has a monopoly on making Playstations. Most other media, any company can make the hardware to play the software.