ITS OVER Sony Interactive Entertainment to end physical game disc production in January 2028

[BraLoD]

KLXVER said:

G2ThaUNiT said:

You……completely missed the point lol. It had 0 to do with the percentage drop itself and everything to do with how much money is actually being spent on physical games. That’s where the ultimate truth lies.

Physical games now cost upwards of $70 physically. Back in the day it was upwards of $60. For the entirety of 2025, only $1.5 billion was spent on physical games in the US. That figure is across all 3 console makers COMBINED! That’s not good regardless of how anyone tries to spin it. The $11.6 billion figure spent on physical games from 2008 is most likely a lot higher when adjusted for inflation.

I get the argument of percentages being skewed, but let’s not be willfully ignorant on the actual financials. It’s the same trajectory in every major gaming market outside of Japan.

Ultimately, Sony could’ve still done several different things to keep physical games going. From charging an extra $20 premium to just drastically scaling down production, but they chose to do nothing.

Well if Sony doesnt care about approximately 500 million dollars a year, then thats fair enough I guess.

Pretty sure any company in the world you ask "would do like to do a $700M extra a year in the US alone?" (I would not divide that 1.5B in a perfect 3 way as Xbox is likely a much lower contributor).

Every single one would answer "yes, obviously" and the fact Sony is going for a "no" 100% means its not about the physical games at all, it's about the fact that if they succeed on getting rid of it while still keeping the vast majority of customers they expect to make a whole lot more than they'll lose with it and the people leaving.

And that's just the US, it surely makes so much more worldwide. Europe must have a decently better ratio for physical too for example.

Physical games is still huge multi billion dollars business, that also involves more than simply selling those games, as they bring people to subscribe to their services, to buy accessories (the disc drive accessory sells very well despite the vast majority of PS5 sales already being the ones that come with it), controllers, expansions, dlc, engage with multiplayer, etc, but getting rid of it is such a control wet dream and a big % increase that shareholders salivate over, that they are willing to even potentially fuck up their entire brand image over it.

Those same shareholders will be the first to leave in a blink if the ship starts to flood, tho, all they care is the biggest short term profits possibly, regardless of what happens with the company or even the industry long term, and appeasing to them against your customer base interest is shooting your own foot hard, but we'll see, Sony clearly thinks it can do whatever and not even bother to address the feedback, so they are either about to be proven right or oh boy, that foot is going to have a hole much bigger than any curative than cover.