twintail said:
I mean, if someone still buys a a digital game in the absence of physical, they're still choosing digital over nothing. This shows that the lack of a physical release is not enough to deter them buying and playing a game. |
Sony wording in the announcement to end physical games feels carefully choosen to paint the picture the way they want.
"general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs" is what they wrote in their blog post.
Preference does not exist when digital is the only option available, even as it's not a lie, as yes, digital sells better even when there is a physical version for most game as we know from third party data and projections, it is still very misleading. The data we have that leaked for the matter actually shows their own games sold physically better than digitally in a direct comparison, as in the Insomniac leak and also for example the report Astro Bot sold better physically than digitally in the UK during its launch.
I'm positive this changed since the data in the leak is 3 years old, and digital makes more money, but I'm also positive it's not the 85 vs 15 case the overall data that heavily favours digital shows, exactly because it lacks proper actual comparison on a case by case level, like we have for the Insomniac leak, so the choice factor, needed to claim preference, doesn't actually exist for such claims, and paints the picture the color they want it to be.
Digital is the stronger format for some time now, but that's it.
I would love for Sony to share with us the last 5 years of sales split for every single one of their games. But Sony can't even bother to reply to people over the biggest movement I've ever seen in gaming flooded them with nearly infinite possibilites to address it and not shove their decisions over people's throats either they like it or not.
