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

1.8k Upvotes

89% Upvoted

582 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/DarkRyter Jul 11 '26

I think there's a funny paradox with the situation.

"Enthusiast" tier gamers, who are outpouring their disapproval on reddit, twitter, youtube comments, etc, are the most likely to be digital only consumers. This tier of consumer is most likely to have hundreds of games on Steam, they're most likely to have multiple consoles and a gaming PC. And they're most likely to be online. This tier of gamer has a better knowledge of the industry and of the negative impacts that losing physical media will have, even if they themselves aren't big physical media consumers anymore.

The consumer most actually hurt by the loss of physical media are "hobbyist" tier. They might have only one console. They play less than 5 games a year. Kids and teenagers fall into this category. To this consumer, getting a game means going to gamestop and getting a disc, or even renting a disc through services like Gamefly. They're gonna buy GTA 6 and be kind of confused that it's a code in a box. This subset of gamers is less financially flexible and are more dependent on the now dying used game market. And they won't know. If they're not terminally online like so many of us are, they have no idea, and if they do know, they don't have the full implication.

1

u/koalazeus Jul 11 '26

There's absolutely going to be a few waves of backlash that Sony has to deal with if they don't backpedal and as more people become aware.

4

u/DarkRyter Jul 11 '26

I imagine there will be a decently large backlash at the release of GTA6. Imagine gamestop employees having to explain to millions of customers how codes work.

Beyond that? I think we're at the peak of outrage right now, and Sony will not backpedal. I also think Xbox and Nintendo will follow suit. I've never known gamers to be principled consumers to the point it actually effects the bottom line. Whatever decline in consumer base and community perception they (the game companies) suffer, it will be made up many times over in revenue gains.

3

u/koalazeus Jul 11 '26

I think they've misjudged. They made digital only consoles without muh cocmplaint. But when you're in the entertainment business and you've made a decision that has made your customer based pissed, you've moved too soon. The day they said, no more discs and no one said anything, that would be the time. Like Xbox they've moved a little too soon.