Has Sony Opened The Possibility For An Xbox Comeback?

[zorg1000]

KLXVER said:

zorg1000 said:

Who cares how much the disc based consoles sell if people aren’t buying physical games for them? Digital sales are ~85% of PS software revenue and ~90% of XB software revenue and that’s likely going to keep going up.

Also, digital edition sales have been going up throughout the generation. Mat from Circana said digital editions made up 49% of PS5 sales and 66% of Xbox sales in 2025.

This decision is not going to have a major impact because most people already prefer digital and it’s not like 100% of the people that prefer physical are going to boycott. Some will move to digital with no fuss, some will complain but go along with it and some will boycott and jump shit but that’s going to be a small percent of the their audience.

It matter because people buy them for the options. Like buying cheaper physical games and watch blu-ray/4K movies on it in addition to digital games. Whats the point of a digital only console? To play the four Sony exclusives for the gen? A PC or even the Steam Machine has so many more options and games that its not even comparable. Why would you buy a box with only one storefront when you can buy another one with several? I dont think people understand this. They just see the 85% number and think "Thats a big number. Sony will be fine." Not realizing that includes microtransactions, DLC, old PS1-PS3 games and literally thousands of more games. Look at every individual game sale and you will see that they are closer to 50/50 in many cases. Some even sell more on physical. Thats also probably not including all the limited game site sales and the 7.2 Billion dollar used market. Sure Sony doesnt see any profit from that, but its a big part of console gaming. 

But physical media for shows & movies has also declined significantly and the vast majority of people just stream.

https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1772040307

2025 US spending

DVD/Bluray/UHD-$870 million

digital rent/own-$3.8 billion

streaming services-$57.5 billion

 https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2026/03/16/us-music-industry-revenue/

And this shows that physical made up 11% of revenue for the US music industry in 2025

Like it or not, physical media for shows/movies/games/music has become niche, revenue for physical media makes up a very small portion for each of the categories and that trend is not going to reverse by any notable degree.

I’m not sure how your arguments about PC/Steam/storefronts are relevant in any way so I’ve got nothing to say about those.

For the record, I’m not in favor of physical media going extinct, I wish it would remain an option for the people who want it but my argument isn’t about my personal preferences, it’s about whether or not this decision will have a major impact on PS sales and I just don’t see that happening.