by 
A brilliant post from Niko Partners director Daniel Ahmad has delved deeply into Sony’s decision to stop manufacturing physical discs.
Amid the emotional backlash, the analyst sticks purely to the facts, outlining the thinking behind the Japanese giant’s approach – without sugar coating it or offering excuses.
Ahmad likens the situation to Apple removing the CD drive from its laptops in 2008.
He notes:
“There were definitely a high number of complaints at the time, but not a single person is complaining about it today. You couldn't find many people complaining in the early 2010s either.”
Subscribe to Push Square on YouTube171k
Ahmad explains that, for all the anger, this situation was going to unfold eventually. While he expresses surprise at the company’s decision to do it so early, he points out that “full game digital sales on PlayStation have gone from less than 10% prior to the release of the PS4 to around 80% today”.
He says on Xbox that number is as high as 90%.
Ahmad also countered data from an Insomniac Games leak, which has been floating around on social media showing more favourable splits towards physical on first-party games, circa 2023.
He replies:
“Not only is it out of date, people are looking at the sell-in number rather than the sell-through number, and one of the reasons retail is high for certain games is because Sony counts bundles as retail sales, even if it's a digital code with the console.”
Ahmad does acknowledge that, even accounting for all this, 70 million PS5 game discs were sold in the last year, which is a substantial number.
He says that an undeniable factor in this decision is Sony looking to maximise revenue, as it earns significantly less from physical games due to the way the money is divided up between all involved parties.
Ahmad insinuates this is all part of the company’s plan to maximise revenue per user, as it wrestles with a challenging economic environment which means the PS6 may cost as much as $1,000 at launch.
He says:
“Sony knows the PS6 is entering a market where consoles will cost over $1,000 and the average console player will think twice about upgrading on day one. While part of it is cutting costs, it's also a realisation that consoles are no longer going to be $199 mass market devices and they will need to focus on hardcore gamers who are willing to spend more than ever.”
While Ahmad’s analysis is very level-headed and reasonable, he does stress that he thinks Sony’s decision not to explain further was a mistake. Specifically, he cites the firm’s reluctance to detail how existing discs will be supported on future systems as an error.
As for whether he thinks the company will reverse course, he says it’s unlikely, but does believe the company may “end up clarifying certain aspects”.
For me, I think the dreadful communication has been a big part of the backlash here.
Fans were always going to criticise the company’s decision, but if it had announced its plans along with a roadmap of future PS Store improvements and a broader commitment to digital game preservation, I think it could have cooled tempers ever so slightly.