big banner ads and splash screens for non-gaming related products are inevitably coming to the psn store near you. won't surprise me if sony pushes an ad-free version of the store for premium sub users as well
@ShadowRJ agreed. from my standpoint, at the very, very least, sony should have continued disc support for the ps5 until its end of life... people purchased their ps5 console with the promise that it would play discs for its entire lifespan afterall. sony has conditioned its users for decades to assume this. cutting support only half way into the ps5's cycle is absolutely i'll advised and stupid and it won't surprise me if there is a major class action lawsuit on this subject alone for false advertising of the ps5 hardware which could potentially reverse course to some degree.
as for the ps6 and announcing no disc games. period. i think people would have dealt with this blow much better had the ps5 player base been given some level of respect. this is the only way sony could have made the announcement in such a way that it wasn't perceived as a villain by a significant group of its customers.
@TheSingularity i heard similar comments about sony's live service strategy 5 years ago — how the naysayers were wrong to boycott and have strong opinions againt it. turns out those of us who had some foresight were correct. sony failed on that front and it will fail once again here with its physical media decision.
nonsensical to value these PR statements at this point in time. we won't know the true result for years. we'll see how the company feels about its decison after it negatively impacts its revenue. even if it only amounts to 5% in losses, that will result in hundreds of millions of dollars, potentially. at the very least, i expect a sizable reduction in software unit sales over this and sony cannot afford to lose that in an industry that is about to crash in on itself.
...it's that 13 year old girl winking and smiling at the camera again. there is a certain demographic that can't get enough of that... the real concern isn't the AI slop (it sucks of course), but how young they made her look. if you are aiming for sex appeal, at least make her look old enough to be of legal age maybe? and the last bit in the video with the FAKE behind the scenes/making of video was cringey as hell haha.
if ps6 ends up being a cross gen machine for its entire lifespan, which is a real possibility, then it does not need to exist outside of the most hardcore enthusiast groups who are more concerned with specs than the act of playing the games. that group only makes up 5-10% of the total market and won't sustain the hardware line. if sony is foolish enough to cater to this small demographic, the ps6 will absolutely fail (relative to past expectations) and won't surpass 50m units sold.
it's really as simple as this scenario: is X game also on ps5? yes. i don't need a ps6 then, do i? nope.
the big question is whether or not sony is going to dedicate $300m to a ps6 exclusive title, knowing that the install base is so small in order to give people a reason to eventually upgrade their hardware. sony would have to be willing to take a major loss in software sales for YEARS with this strategy and it doesn't look like modern day sony wants to lose a dime so that's unlikely to happen until...the 2030s, if that? the writing is on the wall at this point: the ps6 is going to fail pretty hard by most metrics.
might have something to do with capcom purposely not printing enough physical copies to sustain the demand, in addition to the higher than normal pc sales on these titles. if people cannot find a physical copy, they will resort to digital and the publishers can then show their shareholders the data that favours digital. funny how that works.
also, that 6.7% figure works out to more than 20% of all sales (for console) being physical in this example. not a small number by any means. would have been much higher if capcom printed more discs too.
@Northern_munkey sony is currently going through its worst PR stint since the ps3 era. are you suggesting this turntable anouncement was GOOD timing for sony, all things considered? i think people are baffled by the timing more than anything, but good to know that you are numb to reality.
for the record (no pun intended), i was alive in the 80s during the whole beta/vhs war, not that it's relevent or anything
he was just being hyperbolic. if it ever gets a remake with multiple games, it will be a trilogy since 3 is the magic number. nobody is going to greenlight a 6 part remake that takes 15-20 years to release. that is obvious. i think i'd prefer it to be in full 3d rather than 2d-hd, though. if you are going to go through the trouble to reimagine something, might as well go all out with it.
possibly the most absurdly stupid thing sony has ever done? (outside of cancelling physical game media of course).
goes to show just how out of touch the playstation division is if other people at sony corp still believe in physical media... it's like playstation is operating out of a pit, far, far away from reality, where common sense simply does not exist.
@Dogbreath one of the more far reaching comparisons i have seen on here in a long time. as if you didn't realize that running massive server farms and data centers doesn't contribute to pollution, environmental degradation and wasted energy... yikes. digital distribution is not the environmental saviour you think it is and is arguably far worse than printing disc media.
what else are the major publishers going to say? most of them welcome this change since they can fix the prices of their games and charge more for them. complete and absolute control of the market. no competition. no choice. no second-hand market. this has been their dream for decades now. this is the stepping stone of video games becoming a steaming-only medium in 15 years. the digital shills can pat themselves on the back for that.
is this CEO laughing at 18% of its revenue generation, as if losing that 18% won't shutter hundreds of more gamestop locations around the globe? give me a break. we all know this is just PR talk to stop the bleeding and prevent people from selling their shares in the company. that said, this CEO is completely dellusional — his ebay takeover idea is clear evidence of that. the only reason gamestop didn't declare bankruptcy yet is because they closed 1000+ stores in the US alone over the past 2 years, making them more profitable in the process (of course). it is still a failing business on the verge of collapse if they are putting all their aspirations and bets on pokemon cards to carry them through another decade! they should have gone all in on the retro market years ago... the selling and trading of retro games/consoles going back to the ps1 era would be a good place to start. not even sony can take that away!
only the morons running sony would drop the ball like this. clueless as usual.
also, nobody cares about overpriced controllers. they might sell a couple hundred of these. might be better for sony PR to address the real concerns with the company instead of worrying about a terrible fight stick.
great news! sue these suits into the ground. the argument is sound and it doesn't take a genius to know that the killing of physical media will end competition, monopolize the digital storefront and result in higher game prices across the board. don't let it happen! gamers have a responsibility too!
and it topped the ps store in sales over the weekend. the people buying this garbage are the real problem with the industry. no standards. no integrity. no will power. this enables publishers to treat customers at large like crap. nicely done! i'll be laughing in 10 or 15 years when this industry has regressed to a streaming-only dumpster fire where gamers are entirely at the mercy of the publishers in ways you cannot even comprehend.
that's IF you continue to go down this path and support the big industry with your wallet. plenty of other games to play from previous gens or options to support the smaller developers. seems like a no brainer at this point.
these analysts are no better informed or knowledgable than many of us here. the only difference is they get paid to throw their opinions around. yup, just another day and another opinion — there is very little in the way of hard facts being used to justify a bad decision.
nobody knows if this is the right decision, not even sony. there is no data to prove with 100% certainty that it won't backfire. i compare this to a very high risk experiment that will be very difficult if not impossible to revert back from after the plan goes into motion. why shut the door on physical games if you could have at least left the window open and cover all your bases? why alienate a passionate group of arguably your most important customers if you don't have to? nothing about this makes sense.
sony could have mandated small print runs if it was so concerned about the second-hand market... limit the total print run to 1m copies for big game releases and say 250,000 for smaller games releases etc. there were many other options that could have been explored leading to this decision.
really, what this comes down to is this: sony lost billions of dollars on its live service fiasco this entire console generation. its stock has plummeted. it needs to sequeeze its customers to regain that lost revenue back. it can do so by monopolizing its digital storefront and releasing absurdly expensive hardware and accessories up to certain point. but this model only works if you don't lose millions of customers in the process. sony thinks it is nintendo and apple sometimes which indicates how out of touch it is!
@Neuromancer it felt like keifer spent a day in the recording studio, phoned it in and collected his cheque. there was nothing of substance in the performance. this in part falls on kojima and konami for pulling the budget away, but keifer never should have been given the role in the first place. i agree that hayter is the one and only.
at this stage, sony has not confirmed if an (optional) optical drive will be available with the ps6. many people are assuming it won't be but i don't think it is beyond the realm of possibility.
sony will soften the blow somewhat by announcing the optical drive for backwards compatibility of ps4 and ps5 discs and it will gain back some customers on the fence. for me, that is merely manipulation and not a concession of any kind. the bare minimum. sure, it will create some confusion among the more casual customers since they will be looking around for ps6 discs to purchase which don't exist, but yea, they will get up to speed in no time
most people already need access to a pc anyways... so instead of buying a machine only capable of working with spreadsheets and sending emails, they may invest in a more powerful system that can also do moderate gaming (most people don't need cutting edge specs; medium graphics settings will suffice). the total pricetag for such a pc will be less than investing in a ps6 + underpowered laptop. might as well kill 2 birds with one stone and take the pc route.
at this point, i don't even want to support sony so it has become more than just finding financial reasons to justify my decision to jump ship. forget the physical media discussion for a moment... if sony no longer publishes games that i am interested in playing (there hasn't been a single 1st party game over the past 5 years in fact), the software exclusivity aspect of its ecosystem is no longer a selling point. what else is there to entice me other than nostalgia and tradition? absolutely nothing. i'll be gaming on my ps1, ps2, ps3, ps4, vita and psp until the very end... those are among the greatest consoles of all time and can keep me busy for the rest of my life. i saw no reason to invest in a ps5 and the ps6 will be no different. sony had already peaked with the ps4 and it will all be downhill from here on out.
this news is going to hit even harder for the core fps crowd on pc. there are countless die hard id fans who will never support games pass or xbox ever again over this.
@PuppetMaster absolutely. a pro digital gamer should at the very least be neutral or indifferent on the idea of physical media, not agressively against it, because what does it matter to them if multiple options exist? they are in fact benefiting via a more competitive marketplace (which lowers prices). a hostile digital-only gamer is indirectly asking sony to raise prices across the board which makes no logical sense. this is why i often question the person or entity i am engaging with online as well as their motives and who they might be working for.
@ShadowRJ Thanks for your contribution. I understand your feelings and frustrations.
For me personally, the biggest concern is that many people on the opposite side of the debate are being shortsighted, failing to look at the big picture and long term ramifications of this sweeping change (in the same way we do). This group is entitled to its preference for digital media, but a more grounded individual would at least acknowledge that the road potentially leads somewhere rotten and destructive. i.e. an all-digital future may in fact transition to an all-streaming future which would be several magnitudes even worse than the former and truly be the nail in the coffin for consumer rights and ownership. Then there is the monopolization of the storefront that further increase the barrier to entry for gamers in an already expensive hobby. Most importantly, this change will affect all gamers and not just this so called "niche" that prefers to support physical media. But, it appears that some in the pro digital camp simply don't want to budge and open up their minds to the potential pitfals that await. Instead of supporting a model that provides more options, they would rather have their options stripped away simply because they think this scenario doesn't and won't affect them. How wrong they are! It can feel like you are trying to get the point across to a brick wall!
That said, even if you get pushback from an individual you are engaging with directly, your words may connect with someone who frequents the site and only reads the comments. Without a doubt, your thoughts and comments will have resonated with more people than you know. Also, if I may put on my conspiracy cap for a moment... I truly believe that some of the individuals we are up against online are working for various entities/corporations with ulterior motives for the sake of damage control. We may not always be debating with genuine and reasonable gamers so that is something to keep in mind going forward.
Regardless of whether things continue to regress or improve in the gaming space, you can say that you did your part to bring awareness to the issues at hand and will be on the right side of history. Cheers!
yea, ***** you sony. we aren't buying your ***** fight stick! your passive agressiveness on the subject is only going to get you in hotter water. keep at it. you have billions to lose in this charade, whereas we as gamers have nothing to lose — this console generation already stripped everything away that mattered, including a decent lineup of games that are worth a damn.
it's dumbfounding that there are some people from the pushsquare community (we all know who they are) who are so out of touch that they think this issue isn't a big deal! that we are all overracting and nobody should be concerned about the future of the industry! this is the biggest shakeup that we have ever seen in this space and many people will not move on from it for years. sony is going to destroy itself in the long run and it all started with the ps5. good luck selling us a ps6, sony. GOOD LUCK.
you sound like a corporate apologist that doesn't understand the forces at play here since you are too busy worshipping sony to see clearly. people care because this move will only make the industry worse for everyone, not just physical collectors.
what other gaming event comes even remotely close to this in terms of market impact? i'll wait...
p.s. why are you replying to me in the first place? my comment was directed at someone else. that's odd to say the least.
@Northern_munkey sony's end game is to monpolize the playstation store — sales will be less frequent and price drops more conservative. some games will be delisted from time to time with no avenue to purchase them again. sounds like you happy to pay more and have options stripped away from customers. weird take.
i'm curious if sony will continue to have a prsence at retail by releasing codes in a box as well? some people might still want to display a box on their shelf, even if it is empty — it still acts as a physical record of what is in their collection so why not?
now we know why gta 6 was delayed as long as it was. sony and rockstar have been colluding to push the digital future down our throats... the timing of sony's 2028 death to physical media announcement is suspect — it was a mere week after rockstar announced there would be no physical release of gta 6 (for no apparent reason). rockstar and sony know the appetite is so great for gta 6, that they can get away with this, regardless of the backlash amongst fans of physical games and preservation. in addition to that, sony would prefer to get this dire news out as ealy as possible so that they don't have to deal with a PR nightmare leading into the launch of the ps6... sony might be underestimating the magnitude of this subject though. the vocal minority isn't going to sleep on it and forget... even days from the ps6 launching. sony and rockstar are at the top of the list of scumbag companies at the moment. microsoft is no better but they are just praying the xbox division can survive at this point. nintendo has a slight edge since it continues to release some physical games, but we all know their endgame will be no different.
shawn is severely underestimating the used games market... that is the primary reason sony is going ahead for the all digital future, in addition to wanting complete control of ecosystem pricing, void of any competition. what other reason is there??? clearly, poor internet access/infrasture is also prevelent around the world and even in spots of the US! so how does going all in on digital make any sense? sorry, but "majority" of customers is not good enough if we are talking about access. shawn usually has good takes, but this isn't one of them.
@Llamageddon from what i gather, the "digital" sales numbers are inflated and arbitary in how the data is collected. digital sales include: digital-only games (without a physical option), dlc, mtx, streaming and ps+ offerings apparently... so it is not a valid, 1:1 comparison of game titles purchased. if it was, my hunch is that digital vs physical games purchased would be more like 60% vs 40% (in favour of digital) or something along those lines. even as things stand, a game like astro bot (and presumably many others) sold its majority of copies physically which tells me that this situation is not as black and white as sony makes it out to be.
let them have their fun. they will be crying and selling their sony stock in the years ahead. sony as a company is in a very uncertain place as 40% of its revenue is attributed to the playstation division and we all know that the platform is on its way to diminishing returns due to complete mismanagement and what people have come to expect from the brand.
sony appears to be content in forfeiting its mainstream audience in exchange for a smaller but waelthier demographic. perhaps the alienation of its core users is all by design? for the ps6, maybe sony is going after an install base of 50m users instead of 100m users? remains to be seen but everything is pointing in that direction. seems like a broken strategy by people who haven't got a clue on what they are doing. keep in mind that the playstation division makes close to 40% of sony's totoal revenue. it is critical to its success as a company. this is a very high risk game they are playing right now considering the potential for devastating consequences.
how about people make their own educated guesses instead of relying on the new analyst of the week haha... next week there will be another no credibility analyst that predicts it is coming in 2027 again and people will parrot the same nonsense. yeesh. this is getting real pathetic.
@KawakiisaFraud not all of us are spineless idiots. i can promise you that. people like me exist... i put my foot down with sony 5 years ago and refused to purchase a ps5. i haven't played any of their "exclusive" games this entire console generation. i don't feel like i missed out on anything worthwhile and won't need or miss the ps6 either.
i agree that many hypocrites exist who are all talk and no action, but if even 5% of the fans stand for something, it will hurt sony's revenue substantially... like in the hundreds of millions, if not billions. a smaller install base for the ps6 is inevitable at this point and sony may need to change its tune if it doesn't want to regress further.
first, let's acknowledge that the ps5 was sony's worst console in its history. that is only too obvious at this point. i suppose i was earlier than most in accepting this sad reality, but here we are. the ps6 was going to be a very difficult sell, even outside of the absurd price point and lack of physical media...
where do we go from here? easy. to pc.
sony's handful of cookie-cutter 1st party games simply aren't enough to safeguard its demise. sony overvalues its exclusives and thinks it's nintendo. sony's exclusives have been a real disappointment since the ps5 launched outside of a few exceptions so it has already been going in a downward trajectory for years now. there are no new ideas coming out of sony and it's output has become stale. sony took no lessons from its string of mismanaged, live service trash and is full steam ahead with more to come. if sony thinks a god of war laufey sequel is going to keep people on its future $1000 platform, they are in for a rude awakening.
there are no real solutions for sony simply because it has caused too much damage and ruffled too many feathers already. playstation won't die anytime soon, but i have no doubt that the ps6 will have a much smaller install base than the ps5 (which was already in decline vs the ps4). don't be surprised if sony sells only 50m ps6's putting the ps7 in jeopardy.
you do realize that putting an end to physical media means sony will monopolize the psn storefront in a way that has never happened before... if there is only one single source to purchase games from, expect sales to be less frequent and far less steep in discounts due to ZERO competition in the space. retailers would frequently offer sales on physical games and that resulted in publishers matching or doing something similar with the digital version. that will be GONE now. even in the pc space, there is some competition due to there being multiple storefronts etc... there will be none of that on psn going forward. some publishers are notorious for rarely if ever dropping their prices... the optics are BAD here.
the point is, supporters of digital media will be negatively impacted by this move as well. also, many people will jump ship to pc now, meaning sony loses revenue, has a smaller install base and invests less in software. that means less games to enjoy across the board. it's really that simple.
you do realize that criticizing a company when it does something bad and anti-consumer is a means to hold them accountable and is entirely just...in the hope they will self correct... yes? loyal customers are NOT corporate apologists and shills who enjoy being taken for a ride and exploited. why would someone who no longer appreciates a company, likes their products or the direction they are headed SUPPORT them financially? haha. you are out of touch. a few cookie cutter, shallow sequels are not going to save playstation from its own demise. the problems here are so much bigger than that.
the last thing sony can do... the final "f**k you" if you will, is not release an (optional) optical drive for the ps6, esssentially removing backwards compatibility with your ps4 and ps5 discs. that would be something to see... if that happens, i think it is all but confirmed that sony doesn't care about its most loyal customers and is purposely throwing millions of people under the bus. wait, no, they have already done that. correction, sony no longer cares about its most loyal customers... the demographic that put playstation on the map and those primarily responsible for its long term success!
the odds of the ps6 doing well for sony get worse by each passing day. the ridiculous cost to entry, the lack of endearing software, the novelty and desire for physical media which was the last thing keeping certain demographics in the ecosystem instead of pc... all gone. the ps6 was already an IMPOSSIBLE sell before this latest news broke! how is sony going to sell people on the ps6? announcing god of war laufey 2??? haha .... yea, i dare you sony. someone get these people some support. they might do themselves in at this rate!
@Propaperpusher without a doubt. this gen was already the worst ever for sony, but this latest news is just the icing on the cake! the ps6 has potential to be even worse which is a funny thing to even think about
Comments 2,898
Re: Sony's Looking to Bring More Ads to PlayStation, and Fans Won't Like It
big banner ads and splash screens for non-gaming related products are inevitably coming to the psn store near you. won't surprise me if sony pushes an ad-free version of the store for premium sub users as well
Re: Disc-Based PS5s Now Warn Buyers About the Impending Death of Physical Games
@ShadowRJ agreed. from my standpoint, at the very, very least, sony should have continued disc support for the ps5 until its end of life... people purchased their ps5 console with the promise that it would play discs for its entire lifespan afterall. sony has conditioned its users for decades to assume this. cutting support only half way into the ps5's cycle is absolutely i'll advised and stupid and it won't surprise me if there is a major class action lawsuit on this subject alone for false advertising of the ps5 hardware which could potentially reverse course to some degree.
as for the ps6 and announcing no disc games. period. i think people would have dealt with this blow much better had the ps5 player base been given some level of respect. this is the only way sony could have made the announcement in such a way that it wasn't perceived as a villain by a significant group of its customers.
Re: 'We're Entering This Next Chapter from a Position of Strength': EA Completes $55 Billion Buyout
after EA shuts down bioware and dice, they will be a sports-only publisher. seems like that is the only path left to them.
Re: Sony Knows How You Feel About No More Discs, But It's Not Going to Reverse Course
@TheSingularity i heard similar comments about sony's live service strategy 5 years ago — how the naysayers were wrong to boycott and have strong opinions againt it. turns out those of us who had some foresight were correct. sony failed on that front and it will fail once again here with its physical media decision.
Re: Sony Knows How You Feel About No More Discs, But It's Not Going to Reverse Course
nonsensical to value these PR statements at this point in time. we won't know the true result for years. we'll see how the company feels about its decison after it negatively impacts its revenue. even if it only amounts to 5% in losses, that will result in hundreds of millions of dollars, potentially. at the very least, i expect a sizable reduction in software unit sales over this and sony cannot afford to lose that in an industry that is about to crash in on itself.
Re: 'I Feel Profoundly Disappointed': Stellar Blade Dev Destroyed for 'AI Slop' Music Video
...it's that 13 year old girl winking and smiling at the camera again. there is a certain demographic that can't get enough of that... the real concern isn't the AI slop (it sucks of course), but how young they made her look. if you are aiming for sex appeal, at least make her look old enough to be of legal age maybe? and the last bit in the video with the FAKE behind the scenes/making of video was cringey as hell haha.
Re: This Revelation Should Terrify All Console Fans, Particularly Those Looking Forward to PS6
if ps6 ends up being a cross gen machine for its entire lifespan, which is a real possibility, then it does not need to exist outside of the most hardcore enthusiast groups who are more concerned with specs than the act of playing the games. that group only makes up 5-10% of the total market and won't sustain the hardware line. if sony is foolish enough to cater to this small demographic, the ps6 will absolutely fail (relative to past expectations) and won't surpass 50m units sold.
it's really as simple as this scenario: is X game also on ps5? yes. i don't need a ps6 then, do i? nope.
the big question is whether or not sony is going to dedicate $300m to a ps6 exclusive title, knowing that the install base is so small in order to give people a reason to eventually upgrade their hardware. sony would have to be willing to take a major loss in software sales for YEARS with this strategy and it doesn't look like modern day sony wants to lose a dime so that's unlikely to happen until...the 2030s, if that? the writing is on the wall at this point: the ps6 is going to fail pretty hard by most metrics.
Re: Amidst Sony's Disc Debacle, Capcom Sales Data Is a Brutal Reality Check for Fans of Physical Media
might have something to do with capcom purposely not printing enough physical copies to sustain the demand, in addition to the higher than normal pc sales on these titles. if people cannot find a physical copy, they will resort to digital and the publishers can then show their shareholders the data that favours digital. funny how that works.
also, that 6.7% figure works out to more than 20% of all sales (for console) being physical in this example. not a small number by any means. would have been much higher if capcom printed more discs too.
Re: 'The Way It Was Meant to Be Heard': Tone-Deaf Sony Pushes Vinyl Turntable After Killing Physical Games
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Re: 'The Way It Was Meant to Be Heard': Tone-Deaf Sony Pushes Vinyl Turntable After Killing Physical Games
@Northern_munkey sony is currently going through its worst PR stint since the ps3 era. are you suggesting this turntable anouncement was GOOD timing for sony, all things considered? i think people are baffled by the timing more than anything, but good to know that you are numb to reality.
for the record (no pun intended), i was alive in the 80s during the whole beta/vhs war, not that it's relevent or anything
Re: Newly Independent Double Fine Has to Lay Off 23 Devs to Ensure Survival of the Studio
for context, the studio originally had 90 staff members — the 23 devs let go amounts to nearly 25% of the studio which is a lot.
Re: Final Fantasy 6 Remake Would Have to Be '4 or 5' Games, Suggests Series Producer
he was just being hyperbolic. if it ever gets a remake with multiple games, it will be a trilogy since 3 is the magic number. nobody is going to greenlight a 6 part remake that takes 15-20 years to release. that is obvious. i think i'd prefer it to be in full 3d rather than 2d-hd, though. if you are going to go through the trouble to reimagine something, might as well go all out with it.
Re: 'The Way It Was Meant to Be Heard': Tone-Deaf Sony Pushes Vinyl Turntable After Killing Physical Games
possibly the most absurdly stupid thing sony has ever done? (outside of cancelling physical game media of course).
goes to show just how out of touch the playstation division is if other people at sony corp still believe in physical media... it's like playstation is operating out of a pit, far, far away from reality, where common sense simply does not exist.
Re: 'If People Want It, Companies Should Provide It': Rockstar Co-Founder Dan Houser Joins PS5 Disc Debate
@Dogbreath one of the more far reaching comparisons i have seen on here in a long time. as if you didn't realize that running massive server farms and data centers doesn't contribute to pollution, environmental degradation and wasted energy... yikes. digital distribution is not the environmental saviour you think it is and is arguably far worse than printing disc media.
Re: 'It Will Not Disturb the Industry Much': Major Publisher Doesn't Believe PS5's Disc Debacle Will Change Anything
what else are the major publishers going to say? most of them welcome this change since they can fix the prices of their games and charge more for them. complete and absolute control of the market. no competition. no choice. no second-hand market. this has been their dream for decades now. this is the stepping stone of video games becoming a steaming-only medium in 15 years. the digital shills can pat themselves on the back for that.
Re: PSN Was Down for 6+ Hours, But All Services Now Up and Running
get used to it. this is the digital future some of your guys want. and don't think sony will ever truly be safe from hackers.
Re: 'It's Totally, Totally Irrelevant': GameStop Boss Unfazed by Sony's Physical Discs Decision
is this CEO laughing at 18% of its revenue generation, as if losing that 18% won't shutter hundreds of more gamestop locations around the globe? give me a break. we all know this is just PR talk to stop the bleeding and prevent people from selling their shares in the company. that said, this CEO is completely dellusional — his ebay takeover idea is clear evidence of that. the only reason gamestop didn't declare bankruptcy yet is because they closed 1000+ stores in the US alone over the past 2 years, making them more profitable in the process (of course). it is still a failing business on the verge of collapse if they are putting all their aspirations and bets on pokemon cards to carry them through another decade! they should have gone all in on the retro market years ago... the selling and trading of retro games/consoles going back to the ps1 era would be a good place to start. not even sony can take that away!
Re: Sony's FlexStrike PS5 Fight Stick Delayed Indefinitely, Now Launches After Marvel Tokon
only the morons running sony would drop the ball like this. clueless as usual.
also, nobody cares about overpriced controllers. they might sell a couple hundred of these. might be better for sony PR to address the real concerns with the company instead of worrying about a terrible fight stick.
Re: Here Come the Lawsuits! Sony's Physical Disc Debacle Likely to Keep Its Lawyers Busy
great news! sue these suits into the ground. the argument is sound and it doesn't take a genius to know that the killing of physical media will end competition, monopolize the digital storefront and result in higher game prices across the board. don't let it happen! gamers have a responsibility too!
Re: Mini Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (PS5) - Overcharged for a Multiplayer Classic
and it topped the ps store in sales over the weekend. the people buying this garbage are the real problem with the industry. no standards. no integrity. no will power. this enables publishers to treat customers at large like crap. nicely done! i'll be laughing in 10 or 15 years when this industry has regressed to a streaming-only dumpster fire where gamers are entirely at the mercy of the publishers in ways you cannot even comprehend.
that's IF you continue to go down this path and support the big industry with your wallet. plenty of other games to play from previous gens or options to support the smaller developers. seems like a no brainer at this point.
Re: 'Sony Knows a $1,000 PS6 Won't Sell as Much': Analyst on Manufacturer's Plan to Maximise Revenue
these analysts are no better informed or knowledgable than many of us here. the only difference is they get paid to throw their opinions around. yup, just another day and another opinion — there is very little in the way of hard facts being used to justify a bad decision.
nobody knows if this is the right decision, not even sony. there is no data to prove with 100% certainty that it won't backfire. i compare this to a very high risk experiment that will be very difficult if not impossible to revert back from after the plan goes into motion. why shut the door on physical games if you could have at least left the window open and cover all your bases? why alienate a passionate group of arguably your most important customers if you don't have to? nothing about this makes sense.
sony could have mandated small print runs if it was so concerned about the second-hand market... limit the total print run to 1m copies for big game releases and say 250,000 for smaller games releases etc. there were many other options that could have been explored leading to this decision.
really, what this comes down to is this: sony lost billions of dollars on its live service fiasco this entire console generation. its stock has plummeted. it needs to sequeeze its customers to regain that lost revenue back. it can do so by monopolizing its digital storefront and releasing absurdly expensive hardware and accessories up to certain point. but this model only works if you don't lose millions of customers in the process. sony thinks it is nintendo and apple sometimes which indicates how out of touch it is!
Re: 'No Disc, No Buy': Even Metal Gear Solid's Snake Is Mad at Sony's Physical Games Decision
@Neuromancer it felt like keifer spent a day in the recording studio, phoned it in and collected his cheque. there was nothing of substance in the performance. this in part falls on kojima and konami for pulling the budget away, but keifer never should have been given the role in the first place. i agree that hayter is the one and only.
Re: 'No Disc, No Buy': Even Metal Gear Solid's Snake Is Mad at Sony's Physical Games Decision
david hayter is a geuine dude and can see through the BS. fight the fight.
Re: 'They Wait for This Storm to Pass': No Chance of Sony Walking Back Its Decision to Kill Discs, Warns Analyst
at this stage, sony has not confirmed if an (optional) optical drive will be available with the ps6. many people are assuming it won't be but i don't think it is beyond the realm of possibility.
sony will soften the blow somewhat by announcing the optical drive for backwards compatibility of ps4 and ps5 discs and it will gain back some customers on the fence. for me, that is merely manipulation and not a concession of any kind. the bare minimum. sure, it will create some confusion among the more casual customers since they will be looking around for ps6 discs to purchase which don't exist, but yea, they will get up to speed in no time
Re: Poll: Are You Considering Leaving PlayStation for PC?
most people already need access to a pc anyways... so instead of buying a machine only capable of working with spreadsheets and sending emails, they may invest in a more powerful system that can also do moderate gaming (most people don't need cutting edge specs; medium graphics settings will suffice). the total pricetag for such a pc will be less than investing in a ps6 + underpowered laptop. might as well kill 2 birds with one stone and take the pc route.
at this point, i don't even want to support sony so it has become more than just finding financial reasons to justify my decision to jump ship. forget the physical media discussion for a moment... if sony no longer publishes games that i am interested in playing (there hasn't been a single 1st party game over the past 5 years in fact), the software exclusivity aspect of its ecosystem is no longer a selling point. what else is there to entice me other than nostalgia and tradition? absolutely nothing. i'll be gaming on my ps1, ps2, ps3, ps4, vita and psp until the very end... those are among the greatest consoles of all time and can keep me busy for the rest of my life. i saw no reason to invest in a ps5 and the ps6 will be no different. sony had already peaked with the ps4 and it will all be downhill from here on out.
Re: 136 Jobs Lost at Legendary Dev id Software After Xbox Layoffs
this news is going to hit even harder for the core fps crowd on pc. there are countless die hard id fans who will never support games pass or xbox ever again over this.
Re: PlayStation's First Post Since Physical Games Debacle Draws Over 65k Replies
@PuppetMaster absolutely. a pro digital gamer should at the very least be neutral or indifferent on the idea of physical media, not agressively against it, because what does it matter to them if multiple options exist? they are in fact benefiting via a more competitive marketplace (which lowers prices). a hostile digital-only gamer is indirectly asking sony to raise prices across the board which makes no logical sense. this is why i often question the person or entity i am engaging with online as well as their motives and who they might be working for.
Re: PlayStation's First Post Since Physical Games Debacle Draws Over 65k Replies
@ShadowRJ Thanks for your contribution. I understand your feelings and frustrations.
For me personally, the biggest concern is that many people on the opposite side of the debate are being shortsighted, failing to look at the big picture and long term ramifications of this sweeping change (in the same way we do). This group is entitled to its preference for digital media, but a more grounded individual would at least acknowledge that the road potentially leads somewhere rotten and destructive. i.e. an all-digital future may in fact transition to an all-streaming future which would be several magnitudes even worse than the former and truly be the nail in the coffin for consumer rights and ownership. Then there is the monopolization of the storefront that further increase the barrier to entry for gamers in an already expensive hobby. Most importantly, this change will affect all gamers and not just this so called "niche" that prefers to support physical media. But, it appears that some in the pro digital camp simply don't want to budge and open up their minds to the potential pitfals that await. Instead of supporting a model that provides more options, they would rather have their options stripped away simply because they think this scenario doesn't and won't affect them. How wrong they are! It can feel like you are trying to get the point across to a brick wall!
That said, even if you get pushback from an individual you are engaging with directly, your words may connect with someone who frequents the site and only reads the comments. Without a doubt, your thoughts and comments will have resonated with more people than you know. Also, if I may put on my conspiracy cap for a moment... I truly believe that some of the individuals we are up against online are working for various entities/corporations with ulterior motives for the sake of damage control. We may not always be debating with genuine and reasonable gamers so that is something to keep in mind going forward.
Regardless of whether things continue to regress or improve in the gaming space, you can say that you did your part to bring awareness to the issues at hand and will be on the right side of history. Cheers!
Re: PlayStation's First Post Since Physical Games Debacle Draws 57k Replies
sony has not only failed its fans, but it failed the gaming industry at large. they won't get off the hook from this.
Re: Sony Ignores the Backlash and Returns to Social Media Almost a Week After Killing Physical Games
@dwayne91 you are so out of touch and lack the most basic understanding of the gaming industry. go educate yourself.
Re: Sony Ignores the Backlash and Returns to Social Media Almost a Week After Killing Physical Games
yea, ***** you sony. we aren't buying your ***** fight stick! your passive agressiveness on the subject is only going to get you in hotter water. keep at it. you have billions to lose in this charade, whereas we as gamers have nothing to lose — this console generation already stripped everything away that mattered, including a decent lineup of games that are worth a damn.
Re: Practically Every Comment on PlayStation's YouTube Is Now About Physical Discs
it's dumbfounding that there are some people from the pushsquare community (we all know who they are) who are so out of touch that they think this issue isn't a big deal! that we are all overracting and nobody should be concerned about the future of the industry! this is the biggest shakeup that we have ever seen in this space and many people will not move on from it for years. sony is going to destroy itself in the long run and it all started with the ps5. good luck selling us a ps6, sony. GOOD LUCK.
Re: Reaction: Travelling the World Made Me Realise What PlayStation Is About to Lose
@TheSingularity how much are they paying you?
you sound like a corporate apologist that doesn't understand the forces at play here since you are too busy worshipping sony to see clearly. people care because this move will only make the industry worse for everyone, not just physical collectors.
what other gaming event comes even remotely close to this in terms of market impact? i'll wait...
p.s. why are you replying to me in the first place? my comment was directed at someone else. that's odd to say the least.
Re: Reaction: Travelling the World Made Me Realise What PlayStation Is About to Lose
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Re: Reaction: Travelling the World Made Me Realise What PlayStation Is About to Lose
@Northern_munkey sony's end game is to monpolize the playstation store — sales will be less frequent and price drops more conservative. some games will be delisted from time to time with no avenue to purchase them again. sounds like you happy to pay more and have options stripped away from customers. weird take.
Re: Reaction: Travelling the World Made Me Realise What PlayStation Is About to Lose
i'm curious if sony will continue to have a prsence at retail by releasing codes in a box as well? some people might still want to display a box on their shelf, even if it is empty — it still acts as a physical record of what is in their collection so why not?
Re: Now Even Rockstar Says GTA 6 Plays Best on PS5
@SmokeEmAll enjoy sony monopolizing the store and paying higher prices for your games! what's it to you if there were more options?
Re: Now Even Rockstar Says GTA 6 Plays Best on PS5
now we know why gta 6 was delayed as long as it was. sony and rockstar have been colluding to push the digital future down our throats... the timing of sony's 2028 death to physical media announcement is suspect — it was a mere week after rockstar announced there would be no physical release of gta 6 (for no apparent reason). rockstar and sony know the appetite is so great for gta 6, that they can get away with this, regardless of the backlash amongst fans of physical games and preservation. in addition to that, sony would prefer to get this dire news out as ealy as possible so that they don't have to deal with a PR nightmare leading into the launch of the ps6... sony might be underestimating the magnitude of this subject though. the vocal minority isn't going to sleep on it and forget... even days from the ps6 launching. sony and rockstar are at the top of the list of scumbag companies at the moment. microsoft is no better but they are just praying the xbox division can survive at this point. nintendo has a slight edge since it continues to release some physical games, but we all know their endgame will be no different.
Re: 'It's a Fairly Dramatic Decision': Shawn Layden Reacts to PlayStation's All-Digital Plan
shawn is severely underestimating the used games market... that is the primary reason sony is going ahead for the all digital future, in addition to wanting complete control of ecosystem pricing, void of any competition. what other reason is there??? clearly, poor internet access/infrasture is also prevelent around the world and even in spots of the US! so how does going all in on digital make any sense? sorry, but "majority" of customers is not good enough if we are talking about access. shawn usually has good takes, but this isn't one of them.
Re: Sony Rewarded with Soaring Stocks After Revealing All-Digital Future
@Llamageddon from what i gather, the "digital" sales numbers are inflated and arbitary in how the data is collected. digital sales include: digital-only games (without a physical option), dlc, mtx, streaming and ps+ offerings apparently... so it is not a valid, 1:1 comparison of game titles purchased. if it was, my hunch is that digital vs physical games purchased would be more like 60% vs 40% (in favour of digital) or something along those lines. even as things stand, a game like astro bot (and presumably many others) sold its majority of copies physically which tells me that this situation is not as black and white as sony makes it out to be.
Re: Sony Rewarded with Soaring Stocks After Revealing All-Digital Future
let them have their fun. they will be crying and selling their sony stock in the years ahead. sony as a company is in a very uncertain place as 40% of its revenue is attributed to the playstation division and we all know that the platform is on its way to diminishing returns due to complete mismanagement and what people have come to expect from the brand.
Re: Poll: $1,000 and No Disc Drive - Is PS6 Dead on Arrival?
sony appears to be content in forfeiting its mainstream audience in exchange for a smaller but waelthier demographic. perhaps the alienation of its core users is all by design? for the ps6, maybe sony is going after an install base of 50m users instead of 100m users? remains to be seen but everything is pointing in that direction. seems like a broken strategy by people who haven't got a clue on what they are doing. keep in mind that the playstation division makes close to 40% of sony's totoal revenue. it is critical to its success as a company. this is a very high risk game they are playing right now considering the potential for devastating consequences.
Re: PS6 Release Now Expected End of 2028, According to Analyst
how about people make their own educated guesses instead of relying on the new analyst of the week haha... next week there will be another no credibility analyst that predicts it is coming in 2027 again and people will parrot the same nonsense. yeesh. this is getting real pathetic.
Re: Reaction: PlayStation's Reputation Is at Rock Bottom - Where Do We Go from Here?
@KawakiisaFraud not all of us are spineless idiots. i can promise you that. people like me exist... i put my foot down with sony 5 years ago and refused to purchase a ps5. i haven't played any of their "exclusive" games this entire console generation. i don't feel like i missed out on anything worthwhile and won't need or miss the ps6 either.
i agree that many hypocrites exist who are all talk and no action, but if even 5% of the fans stand for something, it will hurt sony's revenue substantially... like in the hundreds of millions, if not billions. a smaller install base for the ps6 is inevitable at this point and sony may need to change its tune if it doesn't want to regress further.
Re: Reaction: PlayStation's Reputation Is at Rock Bottom - Where Do We Go from Here?
first, let's acknowledge that the ps5 was sony's worst console in its history. that is only too obvious at this point. i suppose i was earlier than most in accepting this sad reality, but here we are. the ps6 was going to be a very difficult sell, even outside of the absurd price point and lack of physical media...
where do we go from here? easy. to pc.
sony's handful of cookie-cutter 1st party games simply aren't enough to safeguard its demise. sony overvalues its exclusives and thinks it's nintendo. sony's exclusives have been a real disappointment since the ps5 launched outside of a few exceptions so it has already been going in a downward trajectory for years now. there are no new ideas coming out of sony and it's output has become stale. sony took no lessons from its string of mismanaged, live service trash and is full steam ahead with more to come. if sony thinks a god of war laufey sequel is going to keep people on its future $1000 platform, they are in for a rude awakening.
there are no real solutions for sony simply because it has caused too much damage and ruffled too many feathers already. playstation won't die anytime soon, but i have no doubt that the ps6 will have a much smaller install base than the ps5 (which was already in decline vs the ps4). don't be surprised if sony sells only 50m ps6's putting the ps7 in jeopardy.
Re: Everyone's Clowning on Sony's Decision to Go All-Digital, and Rightly So
to the supporters of digital media...
you do realize that putting an end to physical media means sony will monopolize the psn storefront in a way that has never happened before... if there is only one single source to purchase games from, expect sales to be less frequent and far less steep in discounts due to ZERO competition in the space. retailers would frequently offer sales on physical games and that resulted in publishers matching or doing something similar with the digital version. that will be GONE now. even in the pc space, there is some competition due to there being multiple storefronts etc... there will be none of that on psn going forward. some publishers are notorious for rarely if ever dropping their prices... the optics are BAD here.
the point is, supporters of digital media will be negatively impacted by this move as well. also, many people will jump ship to pc now, meaning sony loses revenue, has a smaller install base and invests less in software. that means less games to enjoy across the board. it's really that simple.
Re: Sony's Been Planning All-Digital Future for 'Some Time', Unlikely to Reverse Decision on Game Discs
@themightyant or perhaps sony should charge $10 LESS for digital games. that always made more sense to me.
Re: Everyone's Clowning on Sony's Decision to Go All-Digital, and Rightly So
@JoeNobody
you do realize that criticizing a company when it does something bad and anti-consumer is a means to hold them accountable and is entirely just...in the hope they will self correct... yes? loyal customers are NOT corporate apologists and shills who enjoy being taken for a ride and exploited. why would someone who no longer appreciates a company, likes their products or the direction they are headed SUPPORT them financially? haha. you are out of touch. a few cookie cutter, shallow sequels are not going to save playstation from its own demise. the problems here are so much bigger than that.
Re: Everyone's Clowning on Sony's Decision to Go All-Digital, and Rightly So
the last thing sony can do... the final "f**k you" if you will, is not release an (optional) optical drive for the ps6, esssentially removing backwards compatibility with your ps4 and ps5 discs. that would be something to see... if that happens, i think it is all but confirmed that sony doesn't care about its most loyal customers and is purposely throwing millions of people under the bus. wait, no, they have already done that. correction, sony no longer cares about its most loyal customers... the demographic that put playstation on the map and those primarily responsible for its long term success!
the odds of the ps6 doing well for sony get worse by each passing day. the ridiculous cost to entry, the lack of endearing software, the novelty and desire for physical media which was the last thing keeping certain demographics in the ecosystem instead of pc... all gone. the ps6 was already an IMPOSSIBLE sell before this latest news broke! how is sony going to sell people on the ps6? announcing god of war laufey 2??? haha .... yea, i dare you sony. someone get these people some support. they might do themselves in at this rate!
Re: Reaction: PlayStation's Burned Through the Last Remaining Goodwill of Its Fans
@Propaperpusher without a doubt. this gen was already the worst ever for sony, but this latest news is just the icing on the cake! the ps6 has potential to be even worse which is a funny thing to even think about