To paraphrase Bane, it seems victory has defeated Sony. As a result of Xbox repeatedly shooting itself in the foot and Nintendo not even trying to compete in the power game, Sony’s PlayStation has become the de facto choice for console gaming. Which would be fine if Sony weren’t repeatedly using its position as the market leader to undermine consumers. On Wednesday, PlayStation announced that it would no longer produce physical copies of games after January 2028.
“As consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continue to shift away from physical discs to digital, physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028,” PlayStation’s statement read.
“Following this date, new games will be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only. This transition has no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format.”
It’s safe to say that no one was happy with that decision, with countless people taking to social media to voice their displeasure and warn of the inevitable consequences.
Do you know how bad a business decision you’ve made when Domino’s is roasting you?
Now I know there’s a contingent of y’all who are like, “I buy my games digitally already; that makes no difference to me.” I buy a good chunk of my games digitally, too, but for games I truly love, I always grab a physical copy. I’m a big JRPG fan, and I always buy physical versions of the latest Final Fantasy games.
The idea that Final Fantasy VII: Revelation may very well be the last Final Fantasy released physically makes me incredibly sad. The fact that I won’t be able to let my friends borrow games that I want to put them on really sucks, y’all. It’s much easier to convince someone to play something new when they don’t have to come out of pocket for it.
If the rise of digital media has proved anything, it’s that you don’t actually own the things you buy. The timing of PlayStation’s announcement couldn’t be worse, given that only a week ago, it announced that 500-plus movies would not only be removed from its digital storefront, but from the virtual libraries of the people who bought them.
What’s to stop the same thing from happening to licensed games? We’ve already seen licensed games get delisted once a publisher loses the rights to the property. What’s to stop them from removing those games from your library?
That lack of ownership and steaming fatigue is why sales for physical media have actually been growing over the last year. I’m a lifelong collector of physical media, particularly movies. 4K Blu-ray has become my favorite format because it provides a level of visual fidelity you simply can’t get through streaming. A good 4K remaster can make a 40-year-old movie look like it was shot yesterday. I’m concerned about what Sony’s decision will do to that market.
The reason 4K Blu-ray has survived, even if it hasn’t gained the widespread adoption DVDs had, is that every PS5 doubles as a 4K Blu-ray player. While I was already planning on buying a dedicated 4K Blu-ray because I’m nothing if not a freak, Sony’s decision has made that purchase a necessity for me as opposed to a luxury (I own hundreds of movies, and I’m not gonna not watch them because Sony hates consumer ownership).
I’m also concerned about how this move will impact used game stores. I’m lucky enough to live in an area with several locally owned gaming stores that specialize in retro and used games. One of the upsides of these businesses is that I can often find newer games at lower prices than I otherwise would on the PlayStation Store or a big-box retailer. With those stores now unable to sell new games, I’m worried about how they’ll survive in the coming years.
Sony’s decision to kill physical games also begs the question: What is the point of buying a console anymore? The chances of the PS6 being under $1000 are slim to none. The PlayStation Store’s discounts and game selection aren’t remotely competitive with Steam or GOG. So if Sony is going to be selling a digital-only box that’s not even competitively priced, why wouldn’t someone just buy a PC instead?
“But Joe, what about the PlayStation exclusives?” To which I respond, “What PlayStation exclusives?”
The running joke of this console generation is that the PS5 doesn’t have games. The PS5 is six years old, and its exclusives are God of War: Ragnarok, Spider-Man 2, Ghost of Yotei, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (an absolute masterpiece you’re sleeping on), Horizon: Forbidden West, Demon’s Souls, Returnal, and Saros.
That’s it.
Sony has only published eight first-party exclusive games for the PS5 this generation. Compare that to Nintendo, which has published nearly that many exclusives for the Switch 2 in its first year alone. Once I clear my backlog of PS5 games, it will likely just become a Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls machine for me as I pivot to PC gaming. Yes, PC gaming has long been digital-only, but you have access to several digital storefronts, unlike just the one on PlayStation.
You’d hope that one upside of ending production of physical games means lower prices, because companies no longer have to manufacture discs and game cases, but we all know that ain’t gonna happen. Rockstar announced last week that GTA VI will not have physical editions made, but that didn’t stop them from charging between $80 for the standard edition of the game.
No matter how you look at it, this decision is terrible for consumers. Console gaming was supposed to be the most affordable entry point into gaming. It really made gaming something everyone can do. I grew up with a single mother working her way through college. We didn’t have a lot, but I was able to play console games thanks to used games and those $20 greatest-hits collections.
With constant console price hikes and now the death of physical games, Sony is effectively turning console gaming into a luxury and limiting the next generation’s ability to get into the hobby. In pursuing shareholder value, Sony may have done irreversible damage to the health of the gaming industry.
So if you have physical PS5 games, you might wanna start taking steps to preserve them as long as possible, because you clearly won’t be able to play them on the PlayStation 6.
SEE ALSO:
Everything We Currently Know About Rockstar Games ‘GTA VI’
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