That's true, but that's just part of it, what they are doing now Xbox started itself years ago, it's not like Sony is inventing a new way to screw people because they lack competition, they are doing the same Xbox did while Xbox was being buried alive by the very direct competition from Sony.

This is what the market wants to shift consumers to, Sony is just going all in and has way more weight than Xbox ever did to try to actually make it stick.

Xbox killed physical media in Brazil in 2023, that's 3 years ago, and Brazil was once Xbox third biggest market only after the US and the UK.

All those companies want the same thing, Xbox tried to go all in with in the digital, full control and always online future as early as 2013 when they felt they could do it as well, as they had massive competition from Sony as well.

So yes, lack of competition leads to worse outcomes, but it is not remotely close why Sony is doing it, as proved by Xbox more than once.

No discs don't solve that.

Discs aren't new or different. Discs and drives are big n bulky. Discs are slow. Discs are cheaper.

SNY wants people to move to digital but they also want minimal customer loss. Carts speed up that process with minimal losses. More expensive game carts, without being outrageously expensive would push more people to resort to cheaper digital vs offering them cheap discs.

Can't disagree here, but if SNY somehow thinks right now that PS3 would've worked and PS4 could've been just like XB1, if only MS and XB (360) didn't exist back then as competition, well then they've absolutely lost their minds that it'll work for PS6.

PS6 will suffer considerably in this case, even if it ends up reasonably priced, somehow. They've gone too far already and we've got 18 months to go yet if not longer. Who knows what other terrible decisions they've got planned.

You're right on discs not solving "all of that", excuse my poor wording. But the slow speeds and size problems are too minor to matter, they hardly register as "problems" imo. With rising NAND prices, discs are the best solution economically.

As things stand now, the PS6 launch might be the biggest disaster Playstation has even faced, even more than the PS3, even lacking the kind of competition from the 360 the PS3 had.

The thing is, if they keep pushing it, and it still succeeds, then it's over, if they fail they can try to pivot back, if they succeed it's only keep getting worse because they control everything, and there is no return from it.

Either they fail now and they work it out again, or they succeed now but eventually the unsustainable renevue/profit growth will result in at least Sony being out of business, and at most at the whole industry collapsing.

They're minor in general, yes, but a next gen console launch typically comes with new changes and advancements. SNY would want that for PS6, especially if the cost is going to be very high in a very weak economy, that they can't control. How else are they going to convince consumers to buy in to the next gen?

SNY is a mega corp. They care about their profits and long term goals, way, way, above what's best for the consumer overall.

Discarding discs will affect PS5 which will remain their primary plarform for many many years to come, possibly 10+ years. If the economy doesn't improve significantly, Sony won't be able to do anything that makes the PS6 a big success, and expensive cartridges would make matters worse (than discs), not better.

It's clear to me that the main purpose of removing disc support is higher profitability per game sold (cartridges can't come close to matching disc profitability, let alone digital where no money is wasted on retailers). They're deleting disc support for all their consoles, not just the PS6. Cartridges contradict what I think their aim is.

That's true, but that's just part of it, what they are doing now Xbox started itself years ago, it's not like Sony is inventing a new way to screw people because they lack competition, they are doing the same Xbox did while Xbox was being buried alive by the very direct competition from Sony.

This is what the market wants to shift consumers to, Sony is just going all in and has way more weight than Xbox ever did to try to actually make it stick.

Xbox killed physical media in Brazil in 2023, that's 3 years ago, and Brazil was once Xbox third biggest market only after the US and the UK.

All those companies want the same thing, Xbox tried to go all in with in the digital, full control and always online future as early as 2013 when they felt they could do it as well, as they had massive competition from Sony as well.

So yes, lack of competition leads to worse outcomes, but it is not remotely close why Sony is doing it, as proved by Xbox more than once.

Agree. They are in a very very bad position.

Looking back, they never should've launched PS5 Pro (which I called back then), and they should've designed PS5 to be $399 (which I believe was their original design plan at around 8TF). Their PS5 sales would be very similar and they'd have plenty of room to maneuver with PS6. Hindsight. 20/20.