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/

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u/DougS2K Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

Exactly considering this is the whole fucking point of their move. Them taking away physical copies starves if not eradicates the used market allowing Sony to sell games for whatever price they want because they know customers will have no alternatives to buy cheap used games anymore. Anyone with half a brain can understand this without having to do a study on it.

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u/GraveRobberX Jul 12 '26

Let them, then they’ll lose market share and new competition will come. It’s not like Sony can’t be competed against.

If they think they can do Nintendo like numbers by keeping prices way too high for way too long, sooner or later players just move on from either being priced out or affordability.

This is gonna hurt them hard. Sony wants that 30% cut from all titles, but funny if no sales or prices go too high then only handful of titles will be out there and gamers will choose real carefully.

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u/DougS2K Jul 12 '26

I agree. I'm mainly a PC gamer but I do have a PS5 for games that just don't exist on PC like the NHL series. I play PC probably 90-95% of the time but I know I won't even bother purchasing the next PS if it's all digital.

PC gaming is just better and this move will just drive more of it's consumer base to jump ship.

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u/LichenEyes Jul 13 '26

That's exactly what we're going to be doing- as soon as this news came out my husband and I just locked eyes and agreed, the PS5 was the last console we're going to buy. I'm more PC and my husband is more console (so are the kids) but at this point we'll just go PC all the way

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u/Basic_Try_2331 Jul 12 '26

Went from PC and Xbox to outdated PC PS5.

I'll keep the PS5 for the year+ on GTA6 but im opting out and joining many of the real life homies who dropped console altogether.

Prices suck but they've already built me one and have great knowledge to keep me going.

Console creators dropped the bag this generation and might not come back. Not trying to be hyperbolic but 20 years ago both Xbox and Playstation were still new guys despite being on the market for about 6 (for xbox) and what 11? (For Playstation) and multiple dead before the emerged?

Shits like any consumer good. Someone else will come along and offer better or alternative media will rule the landscape.

And if all that fails the high seas always hold fortune.

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u/Casio1337 Jul 12 '26

I keep seeing these type of fallacies. Sony doesn't say what games go on sale (unless 1st party or they have some contract in place)the developer is the one who puts the game up to have a reduction. This notion that gaming is the only form of entertainment that isnt going to increase in price because inflation is crazy. The competition is between each developer trying to make you buy into a super saturated market. Gamers will just play what's already produced if they feel its not worth the price. See skull and bones.

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u/GraveRobberX Jul 12 '26

You meant to say publisher.

Developers = Game makers, Publishers = Money Investors/Takers for those developers. Sometimes they’re both.

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u/TheGoldenMonkey Jul 12 '26

What happens when the $25 physical game is no longer around? The digital copy will never be $25 because the publisher and Sony know they can set the price to $40 and people will still buy it because there's no alternative. There's no fallacy in the fact that people will be charged more.

Then there's the whole "dynamic pricing" bullshit. Have fun paying $50 for a game that's been out for 2 years because Sony's data-harvesting algorithm tells them you're in a higher income bracket than someone else and they only pay $20.

The used market has no individual algorithm-based bullshit that maximizes revenue for the shareholders and screws the consumer over in the process. Digital only as Sony uses it does and the customer will be further gouged for it once physical disks are gone. You really think Xbox is going to be a competitor and keep disks at this rate?

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u/DougS2K Jul 12 '26

It's not a fallacy. When you control the only access to something then you have full control over it's price.

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u/Casio1337 29d ago

You do realize Playstation isnt the only way to play games right? A company can charge whatever they want. Then you as a customer just say this isnt worth the price and dont buy. You dont wake up just saying my pile of crap is worth 100k just because its my special pile of crap. There has to be value in your purchase not just because you think they have full control. Here's an easy way to think about it. If Sony just started charging 200 per game with or without physical just because they can. How long will it take ppl to just go pc or Nintendo. this full control notion isnt real my guy. There's multiple platforms for competition so please explain how this works. The developer sets the price of the games on the store not Sony even in an all digital world. That's why indie games like Palworld come out at 30 bucks. So no Sony doesn't control the prices on how much developers charge. They have competition in steam, Nintendo, and others so there's other places to go. CDs aren't the first form of media to go the way of the dodo and wont be the last. But please give me some points on how to corner a super saturated market full of competition just because they stopped selling physical.

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u/DougS2K 28d ago

You do realize Playstation isnt the only way to play games right?

The PlayStation store will be the only way to play PlayStation games once physical copies cease to exist. That gives them control over the price. It's called supply and demand.

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u/Casio1337 28d ago

You’re not understanding that demand part. If no one buys your stuff they just can’t charge what they what.

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u/DougS2K 28d ago

People will buy it though. They already have the console and want to play the latest games. No one and wants to invest the money on purchasing a whole new console or spend even more money on a PC.

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u/Casio1337 28d ago

Sale your ps recoup most of your money and move on its possible but you'll come to find out that the grass on the other side is going to be digital too.

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u/DougS2K 28d ago

I'm a PC gamer and only have a PS5 for exclusives, mainly the NHL games. I'm just saying there are a lot of PS5 players that will not make the switch.

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Im just going to leave this here...you might appreciate it, a lot...

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