Rui Dias

Geek and Videogames Enthusiast / Collector, Photography as a hobby.

[Mighty @MightyGazelle1]

Playstation got the community note removed, so people created a new one 😂😭😭👌👌👌

[Rui Dias @RuiMDias]

Paid in full. Owned in theory. 👏👏👏

[Rock Solid @ShitpostRock]

>If you don't use your PS5 for 3 years your games are getting fuckin deleted

All digital already sounds FUCKING AMAZING

[Academia dos Gamers Oficial @academiadgamers]

Playstation já está 72 horas sem postar nada.

[MBG @xMBGx]

Buy Wolverine PHYSICALLY. Cancel you're digital pre-order and buy it physically.

Imagine how dumb these Sony execs would look if they had to show their investors a higher physical split for THEIR OWN BIG HOLIDAY TITLE after announcing they're killing physical PS games.

[Loot Box Gaming @LootBoxGamingUS]

EVERYONE should be signing and resharing this!

LBG isn’t throwing in the towel yet, nor are the countless publishers, retailers, developers & distributors that are unifying behind the scenes right now. https://t.co/964EkMOzUC

[Rui Dias @RuiMDias]

👇

[John Linneman @dark1x]

@rotirotifr @Miketrub23 Exactly. I was happy to stick with a console, even though PC provides a better technical experience, if it meant getting a real copy of the game. Now, the console will provide a worse experience all around. No point in investing in it.

[Julien des jeux Vidéo ⚪Ⓜ️⭐ @JulienMestreJV]

Je suis vendeur de jeux vidéo

Depuis longtemps

Et depuis hier je pense surtout à certains de mes clients, les plus modestes. Ceux qui entrent dans les boutiques, se dirigent toujours vers les bacs d’occasion , prennent des jeux à 10€, dépassant rarement les 20€

Ces gens ne sont pas comptabilités comme achetant des jeux physiques. Pourtant ils existent. Ils aiment jouer. Ils aiment les jeux vidéo. Ils discutent des nouveauté avec envie et attendent que ça arrive en occasion, ramènent un jeu pour en prendre un autre

Le dematerialisé c’est ça aussi. Priver les plus vulnérables du divertissement

Nous on vendra autre chose. Pour nous c’est pas grave

Pour eux, pensez y

#playstation

[🖤 Buy Physical Media 🖤 @VHSDVDBLURAY4K]

Physical Media Rant…

[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.

[Pyo 5️⃣ @mrpyo1]

Keep spreading the word and don't let SONY get away with this!

If you want to make sure your voice gets heard for real for playstation, unsubscribe to Playstation plus!

How to do it:
1. Web Browser:
Account Management → Subscription → Cancel Subscription

2. PS5 Console
Settings → Users and Accounts → Account → Payment and Subscriptions → Subscriptions.
Select PlayStation Plus → Cancel Subscription or turn off auto-renew

Speak up today or lose ownership forever!

[Rui Dias @RuiMDias]

👀

[NIB @nib95_]

Seen several quote #PlayStation's 78% digital full game sales, thus omitting important context.

That figure includes countless digital only releases, from back catalogue to indie games etc. Even Capcom revealed 84% of its sales were "older catalog titles", many of which are only available digitally.

So using such data is somewhat misleading.

To gauge REAL physical demand you need to look at splits of games that released both physical AND digital only. Thanks to the Insomniac leaks, we have such data on PS first party games.

Playstation Physical / Digital splits

Sackboy - 77% / 23%
R&C Rift Apart - 76% / 24%
Ghost of Tsushima DC - 71% / 29%
Demon's Souls - 70% / 30%
Miles Morales - 66% / 34%
Spider-Man - 66% / 34%
Returnal - 61% / 39%
The Last of Us 2 - 61% / 39%
Ghost of Tsushima - 51% / 49%
MLB The Show 21 - 39% / 61%

So per Sony's own internal data, 31/33 first party games from their chart sold more PHYSICAL than they did digital.

Uncharted 4 actually has an insane 83% physical split.

Granted it only covers through to a few months into 2022, but we can see from other more recent data, things haven't drastically changed. For example GSD data shows ~60% of Astro Bot sales across Europe were physical.

So what skews revenue and data more digital, beyond digital only releases and platforms? The answer is games with LIVE SERVICE components, especially multiplatform ones.

As you can see from Sony's internal data, MLB has the highest digital split, and it's a live service game.

Generally the highly popular live service or annualised games such as Call of Duty, NBA 2K, FIFA etc, have higher digital splits, as gamers are constantly launching them (often daily) and don't want to be constantly switching discs, thus skewing digital/physical splits.

It's very different to single player games which are shorter and have different play and consumer trends. So again, context matters.

Then there's a MASSIVE audience of gamers that aren't even accounted for in any of this data; the countless consumers that buy and sell used physical games, because they simply can't afford as many new games, but still buy/own consoles, accessories, games, services etc. Everything from poor parents, kids etc.

Ultimately, the data rejects the notion physical is dead or meaningless, even if digital accounts for the overall lionshare of revenue/sales, especially when you look at things with the proper context and/or focus on single player tentpole games, which is PlayStation's bread and butter.

Keep in mind platforms make a 15% licensing fee from third parties on physical games, while they get a 30% cut on digital.

Likewise first party lose a 30% cut to retailers on physical, while they keep all of the revenue on digital.

As I said before, this move to kill physical is more about PlayStation trying to make far more profit and squeeze away the last remnants of consumer ownership, control, flexibility and resale, and could have greater negative market ramifications.

[Digital Foundry @digitalfoundry]

"PS5 Will Be My Last Console": After 45K Votes, 86% of DF Viewers Say Sony Should Reconsider Killing Physical Games. https://t.co/TUUoaaejNM

[Rui Dias @RuiMDias]

#NOTBUYINGPS6

[MBG @xMBGx]

Don't worry, I'm sure now that Sony is going to force you to buy digital games from the PS Store with no other options, they will match Steams refund policy.

Of course they will.

[Rui Dias @RuiMDias]

#NOTBUYINGPS6

[Domino's Pizza UK @Dominos_UK]

@PlayStation makes about as much sense as us changing to digital pizzas

[Loot Box Gaming @LootBoxGamingUS]

Will you be purchasing a PlayStation 6, if it is revealed to be a digital only console?

[Rui Dias @RuiMDias]

@Sony

[Loot Box Gaming @LootBoxGamingUS]

We received this reply from one our industry contacts, whose word we trust VERY MUCH.