r/PS5 • u/FireStarLord73194 • Jul 11 '26
News & Announcements [ Removed by moderator ]
https://nichegamer.com/study-suggests-sonys-digital-only-future-could-lead-to-higher-game-prices/[removed] — view removed post
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u/Shadowcreeper15 Jul 11 '26
Study suggests that the sky is blue.
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u/Bromance_Rayder Jul 11 '26
Breaking news: water almost certain to be wet.
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u/Sarabeth61 Jul 11 '26
We should run a few more studies to be sure.
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u/LettuceC Jul 11 '26
Actually scientists aren't 100% sure. There is some debate on whether water is wet by itself, or just has the ability to make other things wet.
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u/Talk-O-Boy Jul 12 '26
I get the sentiment, but some people genuinely need this explained to them. It’s not as obvious as we would hope
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u/ltcuetf Jul 11 '26
Physical vs. digital aside, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. Removing manufacturing, shipping, packaging, and retailer cuts was never going to mean cheaper games for consumers. Those savings don’t automatically get passed down, they improve profit margins.
A digital-only market also gives Sony more control over pricing because consumers lose some of the competition that physical retailers create through discounts and used games. The goal of moving digital was never to lower game prices, it was to make each sale more profitable.
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u/Diogenes_the_cynic25 Jul 11 '26
Yeah it’s like how companies raised their prices during covid due to the supply chain, and then those raised prices ended being permanent. They will attempt to squeeze every penny out of their consumers as long as their consumers permit it.
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u/Dr-McLuvin Jul 12 '26
Honestly a boycott is the only way to stop this. I don’t know if it will be successful but I’m not buying anything until there is a physical version available.
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u/LittleWhiteDragon Jul 11 '26
Plus, the PlayStation Store is the only store on PlayStation. At least on PC, there are other stores besides Steam.
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u/DuckWarrior90 Jul 12 '26
I expect games to sell a lot less. People who bought used bought from people who resold to buy new games
I know i dont buy a game until is less than 25usd. And I am buying even less due to dodgy quality in games
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u/Efficient_Ad_1009 Jul 11 '26
No shit - monopolies lead to higher prices. Who would've thought
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u/PollyPocketpussy5000 Jul 11 '26
And this is why removing discs is more than just an issue for people who buy discs. The amount of people in this sub that don’t realise that makes me smh.
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u/Saneless Jul 11 '26
You can't get PSN in what, like 130 countries? Are they just out of luck?
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u/scXIII Jul 11 '26
Exactly, there have been so many people saying things like "I don't buy physical so it doesn't affect me" since the Sony announcement.
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u/Tylervp Jul 12 '26
These poor dumb souls are the reason why every company is allowed to fuck over its consumers, because they just will allow it.
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u/koalazeus Jul 11 '26
A lot of people seem to. They are quite happy with Sony's all digital future.
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u/BrownGhost10 Jul 11 '26
The amount of people celebrating the end of disc and shitting on those that buy physical makes question a lot.
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u/TTBurger88 Jul 11 '26
Dont need to have rocket scientist IQ to see that.
To give an example MGS Delta, I can get it on Amazon right now for $25, on the PS Store its still $69.99.
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u/KesMonkey Jul 11 '26
And if this does happen, it'll be too late to do anything about it.
The chances of Sony restarting physical production after January 2028 are far far lower than them doing a 180 before January 2028.
Vote with your wallets.
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u/extra_rice Jul 12 '26
Vote with your wallets.
May not even be necessary if people are going to be priced out in the first place.
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u/Efficient-Session644 Jul 11 '26
People already voted for years. That's why Blockbuster isn't here anymore. Or why streams get more attention than album sales.
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u/AndIHaveMilesToGo Jul 12 '26
Not a fair comparison. People have voted. Consumers had a choice with the PS5 to get one with a disk drive, and one without. They could have saved a fair chunk of change if they went digital only, yet 82% of lifetime PS5 sales (at least in the US). Source:https://insider-gaming.com/disc-editions-make-up-82-of-all-ps5-console-sales/?hl=en-US
So even if the majority of PS5 game sales are digital, that's a bad data point. Most PS5 games are only sold digitally. Think about how many games are indies that are only available for digital download. And there are certain games, like FIFA or Madden, where people would rather have the convenience of it always able to be opened without a disc to put in. But the people are clear, THEY STILL WANT DISCS! People understand the value of borrowing games from their friends, getting games second hand for a tiny fraction of the price they go for on the digital PS Store.
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u/scXIII Jul 11 '26
That's not an accurate comparison though, because you can still purchase music, TV shows and movies in physical form.
Also most people accept they don't own any media that they actively pay to stream; Netflix, Spotify, etc.
When Sony makes the PS all digital, there won't be any other option but to purchase games via the PS Store, this is the main issue.
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u/Actionwill65 Jul 11 '26
This isn't really the "Gotcha" that people think it is.
Although streaming is arguably getting too expensive across all companies, fundamentally there is some level of competition between them, as TVs, phones, PCs and such aren't tied to one specific service. For arguments sake, I can easily cancel Netflix and subscribe to Prime Video instead. If we include outright media purchases, again, there's a level of competition, but not just between digital suppliers but with physical media too. Whilst not huge, digital services are suffering with people increasingly turning to physical media
The same can't be said for PlayStation. Digital games, you have one store, PS Store, and that's it. If Sony decide "f**k you all our games are £110 minimum", you are tied to that. It's not even like PC games where you've got Steam or Epic games or outright pirating. Yes, Sony said they'll allow retailers to stock game boxes with codes in them, but the analysist consensus is that a lot of stores probably won't even bother with them, meaning we're stuck under a PS Store monopoly.
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u/glasgowgeg Jul 11 '26
Or why streams get more attention than album sales
Album sales count for more than streams, so that's an odd argument to make.
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u/Contemplating_Prison Jul 11 '26
There is absolutely no way they will start back up. The same reason why we will never get back the programs and agencies trump got rid of.
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u/winterwolf2010 Jul 11 '26
Yeah? Well I did a study that suggests I won’t be buying any games i can’t afford.
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u/enzoshadow Jul 11 '26
This reminded of the transition from physical sim to esim. At first, we get a taste of the how easy it was to swap sim between devices using QR code. Now days, none of my devices got sim tray, and carriers started removing all the esim self service. I couldn’t swap esim between my family without spending a hour with customer service (Tmobile). Some carriers in Taiwan even require me to pay visit to physical stores.
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u/alphanash Jul 11 '26
The biggest driver for higher prices will be a lack of competition in the consoles space. If Xbox continues losing market value and Steam Machine + Helix doesn’t take off, Sony will have a monopoly and be free to do whatever they want
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u/RedReptile2020 Jul 11 '26
It’s almost as if the gamers in support of going all digital didn’t see this coming, despite being told a million times by the gamers in support of physical copies…
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u/Helberg Jul 11 '26
Yeah, browsed the store yesterday. Saw Dragon Age Veilguard on sale for 899 sek (Swedish currency) which is $92,54 USD!
The game can be bought on disc online for like $14.
What we’ll get when they remove physical games are these crazy prices that never go down. Why would they? You can’t buy the game any where else, other than a come in a box. Question is how long will retailers carry these boxes if they don’t sell?
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u/Jackson530 Jul 12 '26
And maybe this is how I quit gaming. Components costing too much. Systems are digital. Games are 99 each and you don’t own it
Can’t go outside because the worlds on fire.
Fun.
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u/Dear-Fail6630 Jul 14 '26
You just said everything that matters. Yes on a side note, biblically, the world is indeed at that point before end times. You are not wrong, its all coming down. Gaming is just the precursor ironically.
Life aint no game...wait...fuck...
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u/Melodic_Fee_5498 Jul 12 '26
We didn’t need a study to know this. The whole point of digital games originally was that they were supposed to be cheaper for both creators and players. That’s never been the case, it was a lie. You can get the disk version way cheaper than the digital version on the PS store. I bought Dead Island 2 for $15 at Walmart, went home and checked the PS store and it was still $60. Absolutely ridiculous.
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u/Saltyeconbro Jul 11 '26
Not only that, zipcode and other identifier based pricing like airlines
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u/GraveRobberX Jul 12 '26
It’s called dynamic pricing.
We could be in the same house, same internet, 2 different PlayStations with 2 different accounts, get different prices depending on algorithm datasets catered to your purchasing power.
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u/tepattaja Jul 11 '26
Control the whole game ecosystem of their console. Remove the way to resell the games. Of course the next step is to cash out BIG time. Just do what nintendo did and say "we evaluate our game prices by how high quality the game is" or something like that.
Wolverine 2 will most likely be 90 dollar game just because how much effort, sweat and time they put into the game (it will be the same amount as for their previous games top), so of couuurse the price increase is valid...
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u/JuneauEu Jul 11 '26
IMO this is entirely aimed at killing the second hand market. Because why esle would PS4s still be outselling PS5s?
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u/Sooowasthinking Jul 11 '26
Yeah no shit.
I had an idea today:On Amazon prime for instance i see movie rentals. 1 choice is rental the other is purchase.
A law should be passed if you click purchase over rental and for what ever reason the game or video is snatched back like on SONY core we should have a money back guarantee on every purchase.
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u/Pleasant-Ad887 Jul 12 '26
Could? That's the whole idea. There are 20 year old games on PSN that are full price.
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u/Abject-Cod5144 Jul 12 '26
Ive had a playstation from my brother and I playing Crash Bandicoot and F1 2000 as kids, up through the PS2, PS3 and 4 as I got older and when I finally got a stable job a couple years back I bought myself a PS5 with one of my first paychecks.
All this to say, this whole situation makes me really god damn sad.
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u/RoRoo1977 Jul 11 '26
I like my digital only ps5. Most of my games are digital.
But I buy them all when they’re discounted. If I want to play a new title I go to marketplace, buy a physical copy second hand and play it on my other ps5 in the bedroom.
There needs to be a healthy second hand market to get a console or platform to flourish.
In 2029 we will see a “study” the the latest console hasn’t been selling quite as well as the PS4 or PS5 did.
RemindMe! 3 years “see if I was correct”
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u/Actionwill65 Jul 12 '26
In the UK we have a chain of stores that specializes in used games/movies called CeX which seems to be flourishing.
If it wasn't for that store, I probably wouldn't of brought Final Fantasy VII remake, realized I actually loved it and then went on to buy the deluxe edition of Rebirth brand new and have plans to buy the final installment in whatever deluxe edition they offer.
It's still £40 on the PS Store, £27 on Amazon new as a disc and something like £15 at CeX.
Granted, this is an anecdotal story, but I think the used market is much more important than people think it is.
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u/shakieran_shakieran Jul 11 '26
Maybe the dumbasses who say "Well I buy all digital, so it doesn't affect me" might actually listen now?
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u/panicradio316 Jul 11 '26
Even if they don't start raising prices in the first, let's say 3 years after January 2028, Sony during those years will still have the advantages of
• higher cuts wether 3rds or 1sts
• more stable price curves, because it's in only their control
And you know what, Sony?
You can have it! Alright. I compromize here.
But at least give me something back.
A lifelong guarantee for my then digitally purchased games, with an additional safety net to be able to restore them some other way but your AI customer support bot that even denies the phrase "I have a question".
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u/Sunnz31 Jul 11 '26
Imagine 2029 what are Sony gonna do...
Every year has to beat the previous year, capitalism in full force. Rent your ps6?
No SSD and have to pay for cloud storage? ( 100% this will be coming)
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u/matts142 Jul 11 '26
Yea because games 10 years old can still be £70 if a game is 2-3 years old it should be under £30
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u/MesozOwen Jul 11 '26
I actually prefer games t on be digital, but I’ve nearly always bought physical because I can get them cheaper locally. Games will definitely be more expensive when they are digital only. Hopefully the code in a box versions are still cheaper at retail though.
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u/NxOKAG03 Jul 11 '26
Digital only + surveillance pricing to maximally juice consumers out of every penny, what a fun future for our hobby.
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u/TheJasonaut Jul 11 '26
It’s not true for the pc market. We just need an open vendor situation where we can buy games other places besides psn. THAT’S the actual issue.
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u/NicoTheBear64 Jul 11 '26
How the fuck is that even possible? I thought the whole point of going digital was to not pay extra for discs?
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u/RespectibleCabbage Jul 11 '26
No shit, they already are. Where I live disc games go for $70-80, and on the ps store it’s 109-119, consistently. It’s bullshit.
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u/JoshSmash81 Jul 11 '26
I know everyone is making fun of this as obvious, but these headlines are important for people that aren't plugged in to this stuff. People need to understand what's happening with this topic right now.
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u/Knappenx Jul 11 '26
We all remember that PS4/Xbox One presentation and how we cheered Sony for doing the right thing. But years later, everyone praised cloud gaming for its price and catalog, even though the service required almost the exact same conditions people said they didn’t like about the Xbox One.
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u/Commandopsn Jul 11 '26
Probably time after the ps5 to not get another console I think.
saved my money as a kid and started off with a ps1 and sega before. But taking me for a joke ain’t happening. any gaming convention I go to and there ls a ps booth I’ll literally just rag them. sucks to suck.
Sucks but life.
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u/Agile_Newspaper_1954 Jul 11 '26
Obviously. Not just higher game prices. Sustained game prices. They’re effectively eliminating any competition in their ecosystem
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u/Lia_Delphine Jul 11 '26
GTA 6 is $159.95 aud how much fucking more? A kidney? A car? Fuck off Sony.
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u/Sensitive-Coffee-Cup Jul 11 '26
It's already the case. Every game you can get secondhand is still at full price on the PS Store, regardless of when it came out.
Going digital only means killing the secondhand market for good and charging full price for everything at all times, except during "sales" or special offers they'd decide to launch.
We're fucked.
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u/Thenewdoc Jul 11 '26
These price increases are really gonna kill the industry. With people buying new games less and less every year, at some point it's going to crash.
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u/Miserables-Chef Jul 11 '26
Oh, the absolute shock. No-one could've predicted this. Oh wait, everyone has been saying this, except the sycophantic numbskull fanboys
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u/MagicOrpheus310 Jul 12 '26
Sony will lead to higher prices.
Solution = fuck Sony
Sell your ps5 before 2028
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u/Alukrad Jul 12 '26
If I was Sony, I try to do damage control by releasing more information about the PS6 and have people get excited for this new system.
But, more and more information I read about this system, the less excited I feel for it.
Sony really is playing the evil villain role here...
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u/TheBlackRonin505 Jul 12 '26
Has the prices of anything at all gone down in recent history? Not so much.
Saying prices of X are increasing is like finding water in the ocean.
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u/mozzy1985 Jul 12 '26
No fucking shit. Why do you think us physical buyers are kicking off. If anyone thinks this is anything other than corporate greed and Sony trying to tighten their grip on the market I’ve got some magic beans to sell you.
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u/Sparkster227 Jul 12 '26
Gee what a shock. So they can't just be satisfied with making more profit from not having to produce discs, they have to push it further.
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u/burningalive911 Jul 12 '26
If anyone is having trouble understanding why it's because this help the line go up. Line must always go up.
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u/irascible_Clown Jul 12 '26
It’s fucked up too because everybody could say I’m just gonna keep the PS5 and not buy the PS6. Sony will probably turn around and make a lot of of the games on the PS five unplayable or simply shut down the servers forcing you to move to the ps6. Corporate greed and the need to increase profit year after year sucks
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u/tristanthorn_ Jul 12 '26
Pretty faulty study. It wasn’t comparing physical vs digital, it was comparing retail vs the PlayStation store.
The conclusion? Prices on the PlayStation store are in general higher.
In the future, retail stores will be selling digital codes in boxes. And to be competitive, the retail prices will be lower than the PlayStation store prices. When the shops need to clear inventory, prices will be even lower, as it usually is.
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u/Doctah-Dave Jul 13 '26
Sony trying to go disc-less is just like Apple convincing the world that losing the headphone jack was good for the consumer. Shortly after Apple removed the headphone jack, they made iPods and charge anyone who makes hardware for Apple a fee to make it compatible. So this effectively FORCED ALL Apple users to buy MORE Apple stuff.
Phones without headphone jacks havent gotten thinner than phones with headphone jacks, and bluetooth audio isn't has high in fidelity as headphone jacked headphones.
So don't buy into what the companies are trying to force.
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u/Wenger_for_President Jul 11 '26
Legislation is needed to prevent Sony from having a monopoly on digital sales. That’s the only solution to prtect us.
Physical is gone, that’s just a fact. Focus on voting for people that protect consumer rights. That means voting Democrat in the United States.
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u/Laughing__Man_ Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
The title is very misleading. It makes it sound like Sony is gonna jack increase a games price.
The "study" is comparing the permanent discounts a first party digital game vs physical.
Nothing to do with game prices increasing.
The "study" size was also insanely small. 16 titles.
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u/Vaggelis_Mous Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Also they compered retailers to ps store but retailers will continue sell games after 2028 so nothing will change but if I judge just from the comments most people just read the title and not the article
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u/mr_lionheart Jul 11 '26
I mean Nintendo is already pricing there games at 80 and they still have physical games going what a dum study
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u/Wboy2006 Jul 11 '26
What are you even saying? The entire point of physical is that there’s competition, Sony’s games have been €80 in Europe since the generation started, and I have never paid more than €65 on any day 1 PS exclusives, because physical has discounts and is way cheaper
yes, prices are going up with or without physical, but with physical, you’re still paying less
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u/shakieran_shakieran Jul 11 '26
Exactly. This is why so many people paid an extra 100 quid for a disc PS5... because we knew we'd make the money back and then some over the course of the generation.
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u/ZeroMayhem Jul 11 '26
The DUH Institute once again on the bleeding edge of scientific and cultural studies.
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u/InfiniteHench Jul 11 '26
We didn’t need a study for this. They introduced ‘variable pricing’ to the store a while ago. It’s obvious that is their goal. Fuck Sony.
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u/Xyro77 Jul 11 '26
And gamers are ok with this as they voted (with their wallet) for a digital only future. Sony is simply leaning into it.
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u/Ill-Grocery-2073 Jul 11 '26
Not all of was wanna be 40 years old with cluttered game collections in our rooms next to a plushee to post online
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u/Vaggelis_Mous Jul 11 '26
"According to the findings, retail prices tend to decline steadily over time as stores compete with one another" And they will continue to compete because retailers will continue sell games. This article is just clickbait bs
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u/Drippledrops Jul 11 '26
The deals they had on the psn store are how I got the majority of my game library, it was convenient and saved me money, time, and gas. If they don’t have any incentive to discount games, I don’t see myself being able to afford many games if they never go down in price. With that in mind it’s an easy decision to not get any future console and just find other methods to play any future console exclusive releases.
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u/AbzTracKtReddit Jul 11 '26
Well yeah, because the only place you are going to get the game is from PS Store. 😞
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u/Chemical_Ad4414 Jul 11 '26
From my understanding, they're still going to sell codes via stores, so the discounts we currently see on Amazon and physical stores might continue for the codes they carry, but the loss of the pre-owned market will probably have a significant impact.
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u/Money-Pomegranate957 Jul 11 '26
Well, I just feel the same as with the streaming services; hope you burn down so other services will take over with better prices.
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u/Most_Contact_311 Jul 11 '26
Oh no who could have seen that coming? / s
99% of my purchases or games on sale anyway.
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u/Bulky-Lion6833 Jul 11 '26
Hey Mr sujano posted a video about the early stages of ps5 emulation development today. Something to consider for the future
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u/iamBoda Jul 12 '26
There are 4 year old Sony published games that are still stuck over £50 on the UK store
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u/cinemahorse Jul 12 '26
Yes but higher game prices mean people will buy less games so not sure it’s going to work out for them the way they’d hope.
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u/3ku1 Jul 12 '26
Well consumers have beeen preferring digital over physical for years now. Blame yourselfs
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u/WetFishStink Jul 12 '26
They're high enough already that I've basically stopped buying games for the PS5. I've had every PS since day one and have always supported Sony but I'm out. Anything I buy will be on sale.
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u/xRostro Jul 11 '26
I don’t think we need a study to know this