Lol I fucking told you so! They’re doing this so they can add in-game ads and charge higher-priced subscriptions to skip them like Prime Video now does. All in an effort to squeeze more money out of people buying leases on their games that they can swipe from them at any time for any reason.

And even if they don’t (which I’d be surprised if they don’t do this or anything similarly-shady), jacking up the PS+ prices is already bad enough by itself which we tried to warn the all-digital crowd they would push on us with an all-digital future and they told us to “GeT wItH tHe TiMeZ!” Or “who cares? It doesn’t affect me, I don’t buy discs”. Well, now do you care?

It’s almost like companies having a marketshare monopoly is bad for consumers.

AI slop in games. Blowing over 3 billion on live service trash. Killing physical games. Jacking up PSN prices. In-Game ads. This is not the Sony I know anymore. It's just Microslop but blue. 

Lol I fucking told you so! They’re doing this so they can add in-game ads and charge higher-priced subscriptions to skip them like Prime Video now does. All in an effort to squeeze more money out of people buying leases on their games that they can swipe from them at any time for any reason.

And even if they don’t (which I’d be surprised if they don’t do this or anything similarly-shady), jacking up the PS+ prices is already bad enough by itself which we tried to warn the all-digital crowd they would push on us with an all-digital future and they told us to “GeT wItH tHe TiMeZ!” Or “who cares? It doesn’t affect me, I don’t buy discs”. Well, now do you care?

It’s almost like companies having a marketshare monopoly is bad for consumers.

I don't quite get the last post. I feel like there are two approaches Sony could take. It could go for accessibility and convenience by making a digital-only console that's so cheap and easy that consumers are willing to sacrifice the security/flexibility of physical. Or it could go for an enthusiast machine where physical games are sold at a premium, hoping collectors and diehard fans pay for the privilege.

A $1,000+ console that's digital only is the worst of both these worlds. Who would be lining up for that?

"digital-only console that's so cheap and easy that consumers are willing to sacrifice the security/flexibility of physical. "

There is no cheap next gen console in a world where the base Series X is $800.

"Or it could go for an enthusiast machine where physical games are sold at a premium"

By default it will be an enthusiast machine and even then physical game purchases will be the minority & a market they can't easily price control. In any case just there is a limit to console prices before users drop off like flies, the same applies to games prices. The most realistic way of increasing revenue is just to cut out the second hand market, reduce retail costs and reduce their cut, increase the average selling price of games (keeping them closer to RRP $70-80). 

The reality is a $1000 system is going to sell very poorly. There's not a lot Sony can do to make a system beyond the PS5 that is cheaper than $800 atm. This ecosystem of removing physical will impact sonys revenue across the whole PS ecosystem not just PS6 (i.e 100m PS5 users). Essentially PS6 is actually not important and will not bring them money. They are just to trying maximise revenue from their existing audience as the they will no longer grow or reach new consumers at current RAM prices. 

Essentially sony is taking a big gamble trying to increase average revenue per consumer at the risk of loosing the 10% of users might demand physical. In the market there isn't really alternatives. If you want to play GTA/COD etc you're not going to play it on Switch 2 realistically and if these games do come to S2 they're probably on GCK. Xbox will do the same, they're literally creating a PC. If you care about physical you're not going to get that on PC either.

I think Sony has calculated that besides a vocal annoyance at a preference being dropped, very few will actually ditch playstation. That is something we will have to wait to see. Or at least see how long the negativity lasts. Personally I do hope that they are pressured into making concessions amends but how and in what form, I'm open to seeing what that could look like.

Ultimately this is just a case of capitalism. PS could continue to be profitable with these crazy ram prices relying on their healthy PS5 audience but they won't grow and they are trying correct that to apeal to their share prices & shareholders. That's not unqiue to them but I hope that it comes back to bite them none the less. My only support of this, is if they genuinely use the higher potential revenue to offer systems at lower prices (take a bigger loss on physical). More important than physical vs digital is that people are actually able to afford and enter the game market through new console purchases.

People are so mad they fall for such obvious click-bait. 

The quote in question mentions nothing about a price increase. 

“We are using multiple levers to improve profitability, including pricing, tier mix”

They’re certainly not ruling it out with that quote.

Regardless, the fact that they’re even hinting at PS+ price hikes after killing physical media and controlling the market space is not a good look. Many already expect them to do this (again, I’d be surprised if they don’t try this or anything like this) and this did NOT help.

a pricing, tier mix is literally how PS+, and other subscription services, operate. That quoted sentence is just explaining that PS+ has multiple tiers which are all priced differently. 

Whether price hikes will hit PS+, which they undoubtedly will, is a different question entirely. 

And this quote comes an entire month before the announcement of dropping physical media. Perhaps we shouldn't just accept sensationalist outlets like Insider Gaming at face value.