This is an incredibly bizarre theory haha

I don't know anyone who thought the 3DS has better graphics than the Vita yet the 3DS outsold it 5 to 1. Plasmas were simply not as popular as LCDs which is why the industry shifted from them. The industry didn't shift from it ahead of the people, there was direct competition and the general public did not majorly care about plasma colour benefits and instead preferred cheaper/lighter screens and that's where the market moved. Especially as TV manufacturing is complex, whole infrastructure has to be built around the individual technologies which means plasma isn't going to live on as niche. We've got oled now which makes that obsolete though ;)

Going back to the core most point - My intention isn't to champion digital or negate the future risk but to understand that even without the "evil plan" to take everything a way from us, people (the masses) would always develop in the direction of a strong digital preference. If we really want to guard against the concerns of the future, that to me is very important and means a significant amount of work needs to actually go into fighting for good digital rights, not just hoping physical never goes away or remain popular. 

Ironically I actually think Sony announcing this prematurely and dropping disks probably a generation too soon is actually going to be the biggest boost to physical media as people react to the very same fear you're suggesting.

Personally I'm open to the reality that discs specifically are over for the next decade especially if Sony has already started shifting their factories purposes. I do think PS5 should end the decade with disc accessibility.

...but I don't think this necessarily means an absolute end to physical media. Objectively speaking we only know that Discs will no longer be manufactured but that doesn't mean there can't be alternatives particular with the PS6 or future revisions of the PS5.

Sony is the last manufacturers of BRD if im not mistaken but something like cartridges/nand have a much bigger industry & players involved.

An intentional part of what has happened is that Sony hasn't at all elaborated on what their actual plan is.

"We’ll continue to prioritize our resources to drive innovation in how players can access games and provide choices as to where players prefer to purchase new games, whether that’s at retailers or PlayStation Store."

Retail wise it can everything from code in a box to (worse & probably most realistic), storage carts (ideal but unrealistic), to game card keys or interesting NFC products. They also haven't elaborate on whether they'll be evolving what digital ownership looks like. There's a lot we need to know.

Agreed. I mean, the worst case scenario might be the most likeliest, but until they announce these plans in more detail, we simply do not know.

I think the big disaster is pulling the rug on PS5 physicals they could of said future hardware won't have discs but we will continue physical PS5 games until January 2031/32 and then current owners who bought the hardware and expected it to be supported could finish up a PS5 library along with the cross-gen period and whilst it would still suck I think many more would of accepted it because deep down (still waiting for this Capcom!) most people knew next gen would be digital only with a few hoping on a slim chance with some sort of expensive external disc drive as the best case scenario.

7500 replies in the US PS Blog, seems like the last big round number for a good while.
It had more than 50000 on Twitter after a few hours.

Sony doesn't even bother to address it, the cowardly move expected from a company that doesn't care about anything else than paint a bigger $ as a target on customers.

Have any big news outlets reached to Sony to ask about it? Ask about their first party games physical sales ratio, the total amounts in the millions games like God of War and Spider Man have sold physical but now get the middle finger? I have seem articles, but where is the direct confrontation about how the actual number of customers are simply deleted from their spreadsheets? Where is actual, in the face, journalism when there is a need for it?

Rent your clothing? 😂 in what would does your brain inhabit?

I'd be wary of using the Insomniac leaks as hard & complete numbers. The last official split we got was Astrobot being 55% physical in 2024 (UK), which makes me think most of their games are 70% digital since Platformers/family games are disproportionately physical sales. Bundled games with codes also count towards physical tally and I know Astro had a few of those. I suspect physical purchases are more front loaded and digital tends to make up a bigger portion later in a games life.



Ultimately I don't think it makes sense to expect an immediate responses to anything, especially as they didn't really announce how they expect to move forward. That is clearly coming at a later point. I do think we may underestimate their intention to actual provide a meaningful alternative to physical discs.

I'm feeling deja vu with this. 

I think the big thing is that it feels forced. 

Most people are going to streaming for movies and shows. But even the biggest things on Netflix are still getting disc releases. And even if it stopped, it would feel like a result of consumer choice. 

Steam just became a great option, and a lot of PC releases were still getting released for a while. 

Sony is promising to shut down on 15-20%% of consumers.  

What response from them would actually satisfy you? I'm curious to know. 

Besides, it's not Playstation's job to respond to what amounts to threats. The factory that produces discs is pivoting away to microlenses. There's nothing Playstation can do about that, except use this opportunity to get ahead of this being part of their PS6 announcement. 

With so many sectors using physical media less (games and movies for example), the production of discs is obviously stalling. I imagine it's not a business that makes sense to remain in if they're going to start losing money running it.