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@themightyant I do recall GAME in the UK crying foul of potential cheaper digital pricing back in the day, they were a significant player in the physical realm back then.

Though I also think the scenario was mostly used as a convenient excuse to pad the coffers of digital stores.

@JustBusiness I'd love to see some breakdowns of the cash involved. Like total in, total out, percentages that go to the development, marketing, distribution and finally shareholders and other parasitic entities.

Only 3 hit games and DLCs in 10 years? They really should have pulled their weight.

@Gryffin I was late to PS4 so I've played many PS5 versions of it's library, Tsushima being half on each. So from my perspective it's been worth it as there's been a lot to play, though it's baffling how little first party stuff has been released and all the cancellations too.

I'm envious of the Pocket! Though I do have the 3D, which is incredible. Got my fingers crossed for a re-release of the SNES one but with 4K CRT filters.

Edit: I think it's too early for PS6 too.

@Gryffin I think overall I prefer Yotei. But both are incredibly good. Did you have a favourite?

@Oram77 I've still got that to look forward to on this playthrough. There's lots of jank but I love this era of 3D platformers.

@AhmadSumadi The problem is it effects game design. For example, increasing the grind to entice booster purchases.

Ghost Of Yotei and Donkey Kong 64

@LogicStrikesAgain If physical is off the table, why wouldn't people want a more robust and competetive digital market?

The poll seems to have touched a few nerves.

@Boxmonkey "they like to spend years programming individual blades of grass and other crap"

You really sound like you know what you're talking about. Ok, I'm sold.

Some of the commenters on this site are truly depressing.

No matter the subject, the same people show up to advertise with pride their complete lack of empathy.

@NerdyPaul Interesting, do you have a link to your quote?

@IllusiveMan I'm a big PC and console gamer, though I really don't wanna be lumped in with that dogbreath guy's points of view, I find his attempts at communication immensely childish.

The digital PC market is not really comparable to the relatively closed digital console markets.

Generally I find "fanboys" of any platform extremely off-putting.

I've greatly enjoyed my years spent with PlayStation, giving physical games to friends and family is a big part of the experience for me, this doesn't exist in the same way with PC.

One of my nephews or nieces opening a wrapped disc on their birthday that they can immedietly play is far more memorable than them receiving an email from Steam followed by a lengthy download, that's immensely forgettable.

Sad times.

@3Above How would that show people prefer digital?

@JaxxDuffer I've been loving my Analogue 3D, the perfect way to relive my all time favourite console.

@Nakatomi_Uk GOG is a wholesome experience. Fingers crossed they stay the path for a long time to come!

@RoomWithaMoose "aren't PC games licenses just as closed?"
Licenses are almost always specific to the store you bought them through, other than a small number of cases e.g. when a game is later re-launched on a store like Steam and they send out codes to previous owners.

"But if you buy a game on Steam, aren't you beholden to playing it through Steam?"
Much of the time yes, but even Steam has DRM free games that don't need Steam to launch after downloading.

"There is GOG, which from my understanding is open."
GOG is a DRM free store where you can download the game with or without the GOG launcher and back up your games in case of GOG's unlikely disappearance (or the apocalypse if you're a prepper).

"I'm also not sure how good GOG's library is."
I personally think it's excellent, they initially took ownership of the retro market, providing working versions of games that no longer worked easily on newer operating systems. They now cater to new games too.

What makes PC open in terms of purchasing is that bar a very small number of games, you can buy them at multiple digital stores, in the case of Steam and a few others you can also buy the keys from key resellers, often at steep discounts where the store that provided the key (often Steam) doesn't even take a cut.

@RoomWithaMoose "But PC is also all digital."

I very much doubt that you're not aware of the difference between an open and closed system.

Wouldn't digital revenue also include DLC? Which may have been purchased for a physical version. Also F2P really skews things, we know that Fortnite and Roblox account for a massive portion of the games market.

I'd love to see a really honest and granular itemised breakdown of these revenue streams.

@naruball PC isn't a closed system though. There are many stores, barely any exclusives and lots of key seller markets too. It's a pretty healthy market overall.

@AhmadSumadi PC digital is open though.

I wonder if F2P and PS+ downloads are included in the overall physical to digital figures, cause that'd be one way to skew the numbers in Sony's favour, not that I doubt digital is more prevalent overall.

I recall an article somewhere in recent years about an experimental way of storing data on diamonds I think, it got me hoping that future video games could possibly come on cartridges with a carbon faux diamond substitute inside (or whatever is cheap and least harmful to the environment) as a way to cut down on plastics.

Anyway, this is regrettable news, I was enjoying my return to PlayStation since late PS4 and PS5 but I can't justify the investment in a PS6 for a maybe a potential Last Of Us 3 and maybe a 3rd Ghosts game in digital rental form that Sony have shown they're willing to take back.

Probably go full PC again as that's pretty open. Maybe Switch 2 and Xbox if they keep physical.

@Ainu20 Could be on the cards, that's essentially what Epic were aiming for with their Google and Apple lawsuits.

@smoreon I'll spend some time diving into this. I must have just presumed based on what I knew about the N64 and beyond that most things prior were in the same ballpark.

@RoomWithaMoose Yeah, it always strikes me as a bit odd when people cheer this stuff on. I know quite a few people working in creative industries, including game development and not a single one has expressed excitement about generative "AI", each to their own I guess.

@Exerion76 It appears you're correct. It's been a couple years since I last set mine up, I was convinced it ran slower, could be due to playing Starwing a lot, which definitely felt choppy if I recall accurately. I wonder how fast the DK Country trilogy ran, my other most played games on SNES.

@Exerion76 Are you thinking of 60hz? I'm not aware of any 16bit (SNES/Mega Drive) that ran at 60fps.

I can't imagine them not having a performance mode that runs at 60fps, otherwise it'd feel a bit of a poorly optimised game.

I say this as I can't off the top of my head recall a big budget PS5 game that doesn't have such a mode, but this is the end of my work day so brain full power not.

I'd sort of presumed AAA console games had moved beyond the old maximum of 30fps (other than quality modes).

When I heard about the high quality ray-tracing in the screen shots I just presumed it was likely just a photo mode where frame timing was not important.

@For-Kier I haven't got time to talk about this too much, nor do I feel qualified to speak too in depth on the subject. However I'm interested in what you think, how do you perceive that the technology has already done the inverse? By that obviously I mean how has it positively impacted the majority of people's lives?

@NerdyPaul You seem offended that I didn't praise the technology.

I've no issue with it's uses in the field of medicine, as far as I'm concerned that's one of the good uses of the tech.

Though it's not a stretch to say that the vast majority of people are very unlikely to have experienced any benefit from that yet, though it can easily be said pretty much everyone (bar predominately those running commercial AI projects, speculative investors and computer hardware manufacturers) are experiencing a negative financial impact from the current situation we find ourselves in.

If you feel more confident saying the majority of people are likely to be more affluent right now as a result of the push for AI then I'm all ears as to why.

@Oram77 I would presume that to be hyperbolic and move on with my day. They're a million miles from being in a weak position.

@Oram77 It hasn't really shown any signs of improving the vast majority of peoples lives, if anything the AI industry is making most peoples lives more difficult. I'm not sure why you'd expect a different response.

People need to stop using AI for superfluous things. Maybe that'd slow it down. We need more AI ventures to collapse and disincentivise further investment.

I'd take RDR2 60fps over GTA6. I'll be skipping GTA until I see what the base PS5 performs and looks like, if it's poor I'll hold out for PC.

I wonder if this means in a year or two R* will lay claim to an extra 1-200GB of our storage.

Bit of a funky comparison, £160 difference in the doubling isn't what I'd call "almost".

It's a shame the launch has been marred by the AI bubble but thems the breaks.

At least those that do get one will have access to very reasonable game prices to hopefully offset the initial purchase.

Looks promising. From what I've seen of similar projects in the past, injecting networking into single player games is not easy.

I think R* are more concerned with onboarding people for their online mode money printer than the short term.

@ShowUp2ShutDown Why all the blanket statements?

I doubt everyone on here has used and/or still uses AI. It's possible they've used a search engine with "AI" synopsise served up, that doesn't necessarily mean they sought or wanted it.

I don't recall people back in the 90s and 00s voicing concern about mass layoffs, large scale theft and environmental concerns regarding a potential future vision of AI. I personally think a lot of people back then thought that maybe I can get a robot to clean my house and cook dinner, that or THE ROBOTS ARE GOING TO KILL US!

This is not THE day I knew was coming, likely wasn't for a lot of people.

It's likely that lots of people would have complained about the discontinuation of dial-up, as there still parts of the world that can't get broadband, mobile coverage isn't everywhere and it's only recently that services like Starlink came about.

That's great news!

@Dalamar Care to elaborate?

Hypothetically, I wonder what it would do in the minds of the various major tech parts and materials manufacturers if companies of Sony's clout were to signal intentions of somehow bringing it all in house going forwards (I realise this would probably not be possible as hundreds/thousands of companies contribute just to chip manufacturing). Would they care about life after the bubble? Are they hoping to burn bright now and cash out? Or do they presume they can return to their pre-AI positions of dominance down the line?

Yeah these reminders from Sony are beyond irritating. My personal information, privacy and security is worth far more to me than the ordeal of hearing random people screaming into microphones. I'm more than happy to stop using Sony's products and services if they won't take no for an answer.

@Ajbr8687 I hate arguing semantics, but I didn't say they had less overhead (as in total) I said overheads (alluding to the reduction of the physical market and the many costs associated with it), so my claim wasn't 100% false, you misread it. Anyway... I'm already over 2 weeks late replying, let's nip this one in the bud or we'll be going round in circles for many more months. Have a goodun!

@Ajbr8687 You've removed my point from it's context and ignored the acknowledgement of them costing more to make.

@Topov81 Indeed, it looks awesome but I'd rather not be burned by Ubisoft.

@themightyant I don't disagree with any of that.

I'd personally like them to bring their development costs down, make smaller games and spread the risk out a bit. It's insane how long the credits are on major releases.

I'm not someone who's particularly convinced of the value of marketing, it often appears to me a bit of a black hole, certainly for established brands/series, I imagine the amount they'll spend on GTA marketing will be immense, when really everyone and their gran will know when it's out.

@themightyant You're correct that it's true that they've gotten cheaper, but they have far less overheads given that it's a mainly digitial market and the number of gamers has increased many fold.