PS5's New Commercial Goes All-In on Marvel

I am off to buy some pop corn and afterwards I will join YouTube to read the comments. I guess that with great power comes great physical media.

In all seriousness the first Insomniac Spiderman is one of my favourite superhero games of all time. I also started Cosmic Invasion and like it so far.

If I was Sony, I would simply announce the ability to transfer licenses (not the games, the license) onto physical discs. That would at least solve most of the problems people have with this, and will stop their trailers from being bombarded on a daily basis.

@ShadowRJ Can you clarify? I don't understand how transferring a digital license onto a disc solves any problems.

I do wanna get Wolverine but I'm also sick of Superhero stuff. When I was a kid heroes and comics were for geeky nerdy kids like me, then they went mainstream and it's got oversaturated and boring.

@wildcat_kickz Problem solved number 1: Physical collectors will still be able to collect.

Problem solved number 2: If for some reason, a licensed game gets delisted from the PS store, storing the license onto a disc will provide some way to be able to obtain the games (not perfect, it’d work like a more restrictive second hand market, but it’s better than nothing).

Problem solved number 3: It would actually allow physical discs for games that would normally not get physical editions without the need for boutique publishers.

I agree it’s not perfect, but it’s at least a middle ground.

@ShadowRJ Gotcha. It's an interesting idea, but not sure if it would work.

The license itself isn't the game code, so if a game was completely removed from the store and couldn't be downloaded anymore, having the license on a disc wouldn't help. If the game was delisted, but those already having the license could redownload, then the disc would be redundant - you could just use your digital license to redownload.

If the primary worry for collectors is game preservation, having a license on a disc wouldn't solve that. If the primary worry is ownership, then again the license on a disc wouldn't help - they need to amend the EULA to provide actual ownership. If the primary concern is just collecting the box for the shelf, then I don't know why this would be preferable to a code in a box. It's just creating extra waste for no tangible gains.

For my money, they need to do the opposite: figure out how to transfer disc licenses into digital ones, so their discless PS6 can play games you previously bought physically.

Totally possible I'm misunderstanding what your idea is, though.

@ShadowRJ Disk scratched or stolen equals to buy buy licence. PlayStation is not an open platform like PC. The opposite makes more sense.

@belmont @wildcat_kickz The idea I’m trying to come up with is a way to keep a way for users to make their own versions of Doom the Dark Ages basically. You’ll still need the disc to be able to run it, which can be ran via external USB drive, but it helps physical collectors keep their hobby alive.

In my scenario, delisted games would still be re-downloadable, as the disc would essentially re-download it the way a pre purchased digital game work.

I’m aware that you want to convert physical to digital, but I’m trying to come up with ways to keep physical alive. And honestly, I don’t see how you can have true digital ownership unless you’re given the freedom transfer the game onto a physical platform in some way.

@ShadowRJ how does this article have anything to do with physical media?? Can we stay on topic please.

@ShadowRJ I think I get what you're saying, but don't actually believe that's what physical collectors are looking for. They don't want bootleg burned copies, they want official, licensed releases. It would be more practical to download all your games to an external SSD and keep them that way. Appreciate the thought, though!

@Oneluckyfarmer Last three sentences of the article were the jumping off points.

All the replies are about physical media and discs and nothing else. I'm sure Marvel is thrilled about this.

Hi I'm Playstation. Im going to jump on the Marvel train so maybe some people will buy my crappy system with no games but wolverine and spider man.

@wildcat_kickz they will be crying when they pay 90 pounds for a digital game from sony store thats been out over a year, or even worse discounted

@wildcat_kickz yea I know. I just so badly want to get back to talking about playing the actual games. I missed those days.

Midnight Suns is incredible too

They should stick this Marvel stuff up their ass & give us a new Ratchet & Clank. Sony first party is a snorefest these days.

Since when superhero games used to suck?
Rocksteady Arkham series? Still a masterpiece and way ahead of even Spiderman with its world building and atmosphere. And mature story.

They managed to make 3 equally fantastic games with huge evolution between each.
Meanwhile we already have 3 Spiderman games that play like one and the same game, with little difference… and since milking never ends, there will be 4th game soon or later. Which will play exactly the same like those three..

I've been playing superhero games, DC and Marvel, since NES era and i never get bored of them especially if they're good games.

Some of my favorites on retro consoles:

• Batman 1989 and Revenge of the Joker for NES and Batman 1989 for Sega MD
• The Adventure of Batman and Robin for Sega MD
• Spiderman: Maximum Carnage for Sega MD
• Spiderman 1 for PS1
• X-Men 2: Clone Wars for Sega MD
• X-Men Legends 2 for PS2

Sony is right to invest on superhero games. People loves it and the trend rarely dip for video games despite DC or Marvel made some stink on box office.

@Platinumpaul1974 Stop fearing mongering that's not going to happen. You know retail will sell games right? It just won't be discs but if Amazon or whoever wants to offer a discount on Bloodborne 2 and Uncharted 5 they very much can. The only thing changing is the removal of discs, shops will still sell the games. Read what Sony actually said.

@PuppetMaster Wolverine's Revenge, Hulk Ultimate Destruction, Spider-Man 2, Spidey PS1 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance were my jam growing up. Really wish they could sort out licencing issues and have them on modern consoles even if its just PS1 and PS2 classics.

@DennisReynolds Nice. I played all of them except Hulk Ultimate Destruction and i heard good things about it as the peak Hulk games.

And yeah, Marvel games has a long history of licensing issues and they also charged a lot of royalty for a limited time. It's no wonder why no company bother to remaster Punisher PS2, Ultimate Spider-Man, X-Men Legends 1 & 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1 & 2, etc etc.

@ShadowRJ

If I was Sony, I would simply announce the ability to transfer licenses (not the games, the license) onto physical discs. That would at least solve most of the problems people have with this, and will stop their trailers from being bombarded on a daily basis.

I'm sorry to say, but that idea isn't feasible for a few major technical and logistical reasons:

1. Recordable Discs: Standard PS5 Blu-ray discs are factory-pressed and read-only, meaning you cannot write new data or licenses onto them. Writing a license would require blank, recordable discs (like BD-R). If Sony is moving away from physical media, it's unlikely they—or a third party—would set up new manufacturing lines just to produce recordable game discs.

2. Disc Recorders: Writing data requires a disc burner, and no PlayStation console has ever included a drive capable of writing to discs. Sony (or a licensed third party) would have to design, manufacture, and sell a new external disc writer. Given Sony's shift toward digital, producing or licensing this hardware goes entirely against their strategy.

3. Security Concerns: If a third-party burner's firmware were hacked, people could potentially clone valid license keys onto blank discs, creating a massive piracy risk. Furthermore, unless PlayStation discs already use unique per-disc hardware identifiers, Sony would need a server-side verification system to check disc uniqueness. That would still require an online check, completely defeating the purpose of an offline disc license.

4. Data vs. License Limits: Like others already explained, transferring only a text-based license key to a disc leaves out the actual game files (often 50–100+ GB). Since you would still need to download the actual game data from PlayStation Network, this doesn't solve game preservation or true offline play—if Sony's servers ever go offline, a license-only disc becomes useless.

5. Cheaper Alternatives Exist: If Sony actually wanted to support offline digital license backups, they wouldn't need optical discs at all—they could easily let users store license keys on standard USB flash drives. The fact that Sony doesn't allow USB license backups proves this is an intentional business and DRM policy, not a technical hurdle.

@TrollOfWar Thanks for informing me, I wasn't aware of any of this. Still, I believe that Sony will need to let us transfer our licences onto some sort of physical object in order for the backlash to die down. If GOG can do it, PlayStation can too.

@ShadowRJ Glad the info was helpful! I completely understand where you're coming from—wanting true, lasting ownership of games you paid for is a completely reasonable expectation as a consumer.
​The main catch with comparing Sony to GOG comes down to platform architecture and DRM:

• ​GOG is DRM-Free on an Open Platform: GOG doesn't actually transfer licenses to physical items—they sell DRM-free PC games. They let you download standalone installer files directly to a hard drive or USB stick because PC is an open system without hardware-level locking.
• ​PlayStation is a Closed Console Ecosystem: Major publishers agree to put their $70 AAA games on PlayStation precisely because Sony guarantees strict anti-piracy protection. If Sony allowed users to extract DRM-free offline licenses or installer files to external media like GOG does, those files would immediately be copied and distributed online.

​So while GOG’s approach is fantastic for game preservation, console manufacturers and third-party publishers rely entirely on locked-down DRM. As much as consumers hate it, Sony likely considers enduring the PR backlash a safer business risk than altering their platform's security model.

@TrollOfWar If that is the case, then I implore Sony to come up with a solution that at the very least is better than a code in a box, even if that is just a memory stick in a box. I agree that they're probably trying to tank the PR backlash, but I don't think it's going to go away as quietly as Sony hopes.

@ShadowRJ Unfortunately Sony will not do that, for the same reason why PC games on Steam or Epic Games are not released on physical media.

Any physical alternatives to a disc are actually more expensive to manufacture and would require additional costs to enable those options on a PlayStation console, including something like a game on a USB drive (not to mention all the security issues it opens up). It costs pennies for Sony to print a game on Blu-ray discs. A "code in the box" sadly is the only "physical" option left if Sony stops manufacturing discs.

As long as the vast majority of consumers keep buying digitally, Sony and third-party publishers view the online backlash as a vocal minority rather than a threat to their bottom line. Until consumer buying habits actually change, they unfortunately have very little incentive to offer a better physical alternative.

@TrollOfWar Exactly, all future "physical" copies will simply be a code in a box and the consumer will get a complimentary plastic box with artwork on it.

@PuppetMaster Have you ever played the Prototype games? They're basically Ultimate Destruction but just more violent. Same dev and engine and even same movement system.