... That people should have the option to have a physical copy if they want it. The risk is that the physical games get damaged or broken entirely. Both methods have their issues, but entirely eliminating one or the other is not smart. Sony WILL regret this eventually
The only #PlayStation I own are the PS2 and PS3. And they are all I've ever wanted to own. This new policy doesn't affect me, but I believe it sets a bad precedent for gaming as a whole. While I've been a, primarily, digital only customer on Steam and Nintendo, I believe...
Did more digging.
It gets worse.
I decided to compare, isolating the PS5 Platform as a comparison. How many more digital exclusive games are there? and does it correlate with the 85% number?
There are, at this point in time, about 1,120 PRINTED PS5 games (give or take). We are going to assume, that all 1,120 of those games also have a digital counterpart.
I went to the PSN store and simply clicked PS5 Platform and games. So this does not include DLC, MTX, etc. The total? 7,590 games.
But what about free to play?
Lets exclude those, this brings the total down to 7,451 games on the PSN store sorted specifically for the PS5. I want to note, this would be a COMPLETE PS5 library (thus far).
So, simple Math
7,451 - 1,120 = 6,331.
There are 6,331 MORE games on the PSN store than what's PHYSICALLY PRINTED For the PS5. That is 5.65x MORE games. These are all games that sell for 1 dollar, all the way up to your 100$+ digital special editions. If you Buy Final Fantasy Rebirth for 69.99 physically, go home, and buy "Quack McStuffins" for a dollar on PSN, those quantity of numbers are treated as equal.
and it gets even funnier.
Lets take that digital catalogue of 6,331 games and divide it by that complete library number (7,451) and turn it into a percentage.
6,331 divided by 7,451 = 84.96%
Meaning? almost 85% of the PS5's available library is DIGITAL ONLY. Ironic how 85% of Playstation's sales are digital eh?
So, what's happening here?
"All digital" defenders are using False Equivalency, and an Availability bias to gaslight users into thinking that no one plays physical anymore and to "get with the times" in the digital era.
Playstation themselves stated "This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs." But this logic is ONLY sound if you apply a False Equivalency.
ALL OF THIS- Before we even take into account of the insomniac leaks back in 2022, which showed that 31 out of the 33 first party games sold MORE in Physical than Digital. And in recent memory, Astrobot selling around 55% physical vs Digital.
So, why are they doing this?
Because MONEY!
Playstation makes WAY more money if you buy the game digitally vs Physically. So playstation is using the backing of convenience, Digital Incentives, indie/AA teams, Mini-Games, and yes, AI Slop, to validate jamming gamers who prefer Physical games with a hot poker into a 100% digital era.
For those who defend Sony’s all-digital future, this is the real reason they want an all-digital future, not the lack of sales for physical games🚀
Sony engineered the narrative that physical games don’t sell, by calculating free to play, digital only slop, DLC, MTX and subscription games as “digital sales” to create this fake image.
So enjoy your future!😅