Colin

I only know for certainty what I do and do not like, and why. 90% of the time.

[Colin @Rarefoil]

Big thank you to @Kirbopher for making my profile pic as part of the Super Sonic Super Stream & Knuckles Follow Up!

[Del @TheCartelDel]

I own Cyberpunk 2077 on Steam. I can delete Steam at any time, copy the entire Cyberpunk game folder to another PC or drive, launch the executable directly, and it will play. I truly own it. PlayStation digital games cannot make the same promise.

[Legendary Drops @ALegendaryDrops]

A decade ago it was all about creating value and trust to gain customers.

Today, it's about fucking you as hard as they can.

[Nekaishi ✟ Kitsune VTuber 🦊🦋 @nekaishi]

For the record, I think this is worth destroying Playstation over

Don't buy their console. Don't buy their games. Abandon their ecosystem and force them to earn you back

[VGP Video Games Plus @VideoGamesPlus_]

Thank you for sharing this. Your story is exactly why this discussion matters.

For us, this has never been just about whether games come on a disc or as a download. Physical games represent consumer choice, affordability, game preservation, ownership, lending, gifting, collecting, and access for people who can't always afford to buy new digital titles at full price.

Many players have memories like yours—finding used games, trading with friends, borrowing from family, or saving up for a special collector's edition. Those experiences have been part of gaming for decades.

We'll continue speaking up because we believe players should have the option to choose how they buy and enjoy their games. Supporting digital distribution and preserving physical releases don't have to be mutually exclusive. We believe there's room for both.

Thank you for adding your voice to the conversation. Every respectful message helps demonstrate that this issue matters to many players, and we'll continue advocating for that choice alongside the community.

[Does it play? @DoesItPlay1]

Everyone is talking about the digital-physical-split percentages. So we will too!

The TL;DR: Most of what has been parroted about consumer preference is wildly exaggerated at best, or a mix of a bad faith campaign and severe negligence at worst.

Sony has announced the death of physical media because of "changing consumer trends". Most of us can already smell the bullshit it in this fake excuse. It is when we take a closer look that we discover just how much of a lie that statement really is.

Let's start by scrutinizing the most repeated number lately: 85 % of sales are digital.

This number exists. But in what context?

It comes from the Fiscal Year Q4 report for 2025. ONLY IN THIS QUARTER did we get this number. The overall percentage for the entire year 2025 is "only" 78 %.

Still sounds bad. Where is the lie, then?

It comes with what both sides include. The digital part also accounts for digital-only games. AKA products which didn't give a choice to the customer. You could either add to the digital tally or not play these games at all. This alone should show you how they use statistics to deceive the public.

But we are not done.

If you look at honest comparisons, like those we got through the infamous Insomniac leaks in 2022, or certain market reports from the UK more recently, you will find games that even sell predominantly physical. Many of which are Sony's own first party titles. So their games sell more physical copies, but they still dare to use consumer preference as the excuse.

Not convinced?

Let's look at the even broader picture. Researching online we can find an infographic illustrating the development of the physical-digital split over the years. Admittedly, there is a constant decline for the physical share. Abysmal even in the years up to 2020. HOWEVER, in recent years the year on year decline has slowed down and has almost reached a stable plateau.

Oh, and have we mentioned that the vaaaaaaast majority of all players own a console that can read discs? 82 % is the number floating around online. We take a page out of Sony's book and just run with it for now. Only, let's add that even the other 18 % might not be digital-only die-hards. After all, there were times when both the disc console and the detachable disc drive were sold out at some point.

What would you say does that show about consumer preference?

Less than 18 % actually prefer digital.

Just with a little research we have come from "85 % prefer digital" to "less than a fifth of the customer base actually does".

So why does Sony push for a change? You know by now. Money!

Multiple areas they benefit in in an all-digital future:

1) Margins for digital games are simply better. The save the entire overhead for physical production, logistics, customer service/returns, retailer cuts, etc.

2) This is the big one: The death of the second hand market. Or at least they think that's beneficial, if they ignore the facts that second hand buyers can also contribute to digital revenue, and they help with discoverability/word of mouth advertising. We wouldn't be surprised if this comes back to haunt Sony.

3) Pricing monopoly: They set the prices. They decide discounts. They decide the number of sales that happen, if any.

The key word is REVENUE!

Because that is another great opportunity to play with alarming numbers. The revenue percentage split between digital and physical makes the gap look even wider, of course. Despite selling almost 70 million physical copies, that area generated relatively low revenue. It accounts for only a little over 10 % of the revenue generated by game sales.

That's the moment when "reliable" analysts and "quality" media could formulate headlines like "Physical media is dying - Makes up only 10 %". But that's not alarmist enough. They can do one "better".

You might ask, "But DoesItPlay?, why do I see people claim that the gaming space is over 95 % digital?"

Let's reveal the most evil trick of them all, shall we?

Let's take a look at that FY 2025 report again. The overall category is called "Game Software". In here (and subsequently in the blogs of the anti-physical crowd) the biggest lie materializes. "Game Software" does not only include digital and physical game sales. It also accounts for ANY TYPE OF ADDITIONAL CONTENT (expansions, in-game currency, microtransactions of all sorts) and "Other Software", which is not even specified as to what that could be exactly. If we now lump all of this together and check the percentage of physical game revenue, we land at roughly 4,7 %.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the single biggest gaslighting this industry has pulled on you when it comes to lying about consumer preference.

It was never about consumer preference. It was about maximizing profits and control over what should be rightfully yours after a purchase.

[Does it play? @DoesItPlay1]

Sony summed up by @AdamKoralik: They established they are very willing to take down content you own. They are very willing to take down the only network by which you can acquire games. And they are very willing to cut off any sort of alternative.

Alarm bells couldn't be louder.

[yakusou @yakusou8]

Because I can download a game DRM free from a site like GOG and do whatever I want with it. I could even put it on a flash drive and carry it around like a cartridge if I wanted to.

Owning vs licensing is what's important, not physical vs digital.

[Nintendo 3DS Central @3DSCentral]

2016 was 50 years ago

[Specter📼 @SpecterM91]

People learn about disc rot and start acting like a fourth grader who learned the sun is gonna burn out someday.

[Nose @NoseOfDeath]

Every time something worse comes along, this "I treated you too harshly" bullshit follows not too far behind.

Game Key Cards are just reusable "code in a box" in physical form that stop working as soon as the servers die out. JUST LIKE DIGITAL GAMES.

They're STILL shit.

[lowkeymatt @lowkeymattyt]

Call me crazy but I believe Sony ending Physical Games is all part of a industry wide plan to move all computing into the cloud and hoard all production capacity to AI chips

[God Empress of Mankind @nuhre_]

"Well, actually, if you adjust for inflation—"

Shut the fuck up about fucking inflation for five seconds.

Housing costs exploded. Food costs exploded. Healthcare costs exploded. Wages sure as shit didn't. People have way less disposable income than they used to, so pretending a $100 game is the same because your little calculator says so is the dumbest argument imaginable.

[Davidvinc @TheDavidVinc]

I hope y'all realize that the next step is a subscription service. Back in the day you just bought Microsoft Office and you had it forever. Now you rent it monthly. Have fun renting each and every game by the month.

[BlackSageD : The Titanfall Evangelist 🤖 @Black_D_Gamer1]

This is why PC gaming is the de-facto superior form of gaming there is. You literally OWN your platform & are not at the mercy of a corporation. Any game you buy, can either be cracked, or come DRM free. You also have the option to buy games from where ever. Freedom.

[PC Gamer @pcgamer]

Consoles continue their trend of just becoming worst PCs https://t.co/CaFPE2Rk1t

[Peter @PeterP_1985]

The best place for game ownership and preservation is PC

[Does it play? @DoesItPlay1]

@PlayStation You are killing ownership. You are killing legal preservation. You are killing discoverability. You are killing publishers. You are killing developers. This is a move that might slightly improve bottom lines, but tear down every other aspect of this medium. Well done! You f*d up!

[Knoebel @Knoebelbroet]

Sony at the PS6 launch:

"Fortunately, we have a product for people who still want to play games on disc. It's called PS5."

[NeoGameSpark @NeoGameSpark]

At least with PC gaming,

You’ve got access to many different storefronts to buy and own your games.

Being locked to a single console ecosystem is going to be catastrophic if you’ve trying to save money.

Especially w/ $80 games on the horizon