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.

That was the case for a bunch of titles even in the NS1, many games have just some of the content in the cart and requires other to be downloaded, like the NS1 version of Megaman X Legacy Collection, where only Collection 1 is in the card and it comes with a code to download Collection 2. Or simply a code in the box as it was the case for the Mario + Rabids Dual Pack box release.

Generally NS1 is very consistent with games fully in the cart, as it was the case for PS5 discs too, both great platforms to own physical games, but both platforms also had its fair share of this sad stuff going on too, not remotely in the same level as XBS or NS2 too, yes.

DoesItPlay? is a great site to look info on that. It shows NS2 quite low in the download required %, but it still only has 45 entries and they refuse to check GKC because it's pointless as there is no physical game inside, so the actual % of NS2 box releases that require download are much, much higher than what they show there, which is only for actual supposedly physical games.

Yeah, here in Norway there are many code in a box releases. We still get a lot of physical, but I can just import copies from the states or Japan or whatever, so its not really an issue. They seem to always be among the lowest selling Switch games. I would never buy one.

Alannah Pearce put out a video today and broke down some additional information about PlayStation's current situation. None of it is particularly good:

-Sony has imposed one of the strictest policies on its employees regarding social media use.  
-The company was aware that its decision would generate a strong negative reaction, so it asked the employees in charge of its social media to maintain the greatest possible silence.  
-Sony has no intention of backtracking or reversing its decision regarding the physical format.  
-Its disc manufacturing plant in Austria is already being converted into a microlens factory, intended to support AI research and development.

That last part we already knew but it's mainly due to investors not seeing much more growth in Sony's position in the console market due to things like chip shortages leading to multiple price hikes which has led to dramatically lower console sales, leading to investors losing faith in Sony, so abandoning physical production with a plant that churns out 600,000 discs per day into an AI product plant also works as a means to appease investors they believed was the best bet. Sony has supposedly already invested 30 million Euros in transitioning the factory.

And that's what this seems to be all about. Sony does not want to lose investors and show they have skin in the AI game, and be able to profit from the AI race.

And in a time where gaming is competing for your attention with the likes of TikTok, Instagram, Netflix, YouTube, etc, Sony wants to keep their playerbase within the ecosystem as long as possible. Going to a store to buy your game or waiting for your online order to get to your house gets in the way of that.

Brother. It doesnt matter.

The idea that consumers are willing to buy digitally that large of quantity is good enough. "If I can have a digital version that sales 10mill, what do I care that if I hade a physical copy it would be split 5mill digital5mill physical?". Your thinking local(In a box),think about it on a global scale.  

That is as much as idiotic as it is disrespectful, both for the people involved as it is for its customers.

"You are forbidden to talk with people, ignore them all, ust make sure to get as much money as possible from them."

Even if you don't care about physical games at all, you are due to be disrespected too, and nobody will give a shit when its your turn too (not talking about the poster).

Even funnier if you have to deal with people defending the big corp that is screwing you for no reason at all.

Sadly people can only understand things when it happens personally to them.

Gross.

Killing physical media to go all in on the cancer of AI slop. Go fuck yourself Sony.

You're right, that when given the choice there will be some people who choose physical. But that doesn't really matter if the same people will still buy a digital game when there's no physical. 

If someone's preference is to have and play a game more so than only wanting a physical version of said game, then the argument of wanting physical over digital is somewhat moot. 

This comes from a financial report for the greater Sony company. The split between a game that is both physical and digital is incredibly irrelevant to the purpose of the report. All that matters is how healthy physical sales and revenue are, and how healthy digital sales and revenue are. This is what the report shows. The report also shows that physical revenue only represents 10.5% of total game sales. 

Hence why, at the end of the day, what matters is not whether someone chooses physical over digital, because this is only significant if said person doesn't buy digital at all. If given the option to buy GTA6, how many people who prefer physical are going to decide not to buy the game just because it's digital? 

Let's be honest, not many. 

But Sony isn't saying the ratio is 85:15. That's a single quarter worth of data and their Q4 is usually their highest digital ratio over the last 5 or so years. It is their highest quarter for a digital to physical ratio, sure. As evident by previous ratios, it'll most likely increase (ok with GTA6, it definitely will).

From FY20, ratio has gone 65% > 66% > 67% > 70% > 76% > 78%. 

And even if we had the physical to digital comparison for their own games, this doesn't tell us how many of those buying the physical will only buy physical vs. those who will buy the digital in the absence of physical. You yourself accept that digital sells better, and digital makes more money. So in that sense, I don't think the ratio is overall meaningful if overall trends highlight that digital sales continue to increase in ratio even if physical sales increase for a particular year (such as FY25?). But it would be nice to have just in case.

By 2028 what will the digital physical ratio divide look like? At minimum it could be 80% (with only 1% increase each year). At maximum it could be 90% (at 6% increase).

Yeah, one thing we have learned about a good amount of gamers over the years is that they have a "every man for himself" kinda mindset. The only time we can actually make a difference is if gamers wishes just happen to line up with each others. Like with the whole Microsoft fiasco of 2013. It is happening here as well, but not enough to convince Sony atm. 

I fully understand that,but this is i suspect and hope gonne hurt the playstation brand a LOT,and that does matter(to sony)

If not then yea, fine have fun with their digital only world.