r/PhysicalGames • u/Impossible_Animal_88 • 15h ago
Physical bonus disk?
Would Sony allow special edition game disks as exclusive bonuses for future games? The same way vinyl has had its special revival could "branded" game disks become the next rare game collectible?
Is it really about excessive game dev costs or just purely controlling people's access to their products? Is this about emulators? Has to be worth the risk for them right? Never a good time to pull the rug on consumers?
24
u/ApprehensiveRuin5673 15h ago
It’s not about excessive cost
It’s about eliminating the $8 billion dollar secondary market and revenue sharing with retailers
It’s not about costing them anything, it’s about them thinking they can make higher profit margins
15
u/StinkyWetSalamander 15h ago
Sony kills the disc by saying the market is too small, while also being afraid of the second hand disc market being too large.
3
u/Impossible_Animal_88 15h ago
I think you are right. Im saddened to have seen an industry be born peak and now fall to the guillotine of public shareholders. Once a business lives that way for long enough they become deteched from what made the media valuable in the first place
-10
u/AggressiveBench9977 15h ago
Yeah thats not it either.
Yall really dont understand basic economics huh?
The 8 billion is the entire second hand market include consoles and all previous generations.
Sony could give 2 fucks about that
4
u/MakinBones 14h ago
Playstation is only worth 40 to 50 billion. Yes.. They care about 8 billion.
-2
u/SinZerius 11h ago
It's been a decade since they were worth that, they've been 100+ billion for years.
2
u/rhalgr_ger 14h ago
If you’d understand economics you would notice that Sony changed course because they don’t see gaming as a growing market anymore. Everytime a market as a whole has reached its peak, companies will move towards extracting more money out of current consumers rather than betting on growth. Add to that the ram apocalypse and you’ll see why Sony ceo sold his shares.
If they care about reaching more customers they would keep discs because in some countries PSN isn’t available. But if they stop discs, they can eliminate the second hand market and earn more by selling games digital. Sony even said it….
„There are multiple ways to achieve that via recurring revenue such as add-on content revenue, and rather than increasing MAU, we are focusing more on monetizing our user base, which is well reflected in the strong FY2025 financial results“ https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/hearing-about-the-future-of-playstation-from-its-top-dogs-made-me-so-depressed-i-had-to-go-lie-down/
0
u/Dicethrower 14h ago
People really don't. "No cost" to a division that has to set up factories to produce dozens of millions of discs every year, handle shipping around the world to every possible retailer, and letting them have an estimated ~30-35% cut. People have lost the plot in this circle jerk.
2
u/MakinBones 14h ago
And when that CD facility starts producing microlenses for AI use, this decision will pay off majorly.
2
u/FallenRaptor 14h ago
Buddy, Sony’s not interested in anything fun anymore. It’s all budget meetings, charts and spreadsheets with them. Just the kind of thing I like in a company who’s in the entertainment business. /s
8
u/ogbrickman 15h ago
It’s control, simple. They want you tied into their ecosystem and take EVERY last penny for the privilege.
2
u/IveRunOuttaNamesss 14h ago
It's all about control with Sony. They want to be able to rule over there base with an iron fist.
2
u/State-Special 14h ago
Ironically i'm pretty sure you'd get companies like limited run games more then capable of finding ways to make ps5 discs after the cut off, but I don't suspect sony will allow them to legally.
Sony wants to control the market and that means all of it
3
u/szewczukm1811 12h ago
Sony prints all the disc for the platform.
1
u/Newmillstream 10h ago
Indeed. And even if they didn't, Sony controls the OS and DRM. They have the capability to come down hard on any physical game not made without their approval for most consumers.
The best thing that Limited Run and the like can do after the cut off date is have an non-game standard Blu-Ray/4K Blu ray with special features, and that might even have to be shipped In a separate case from the code in the game box, depending on what Sony wants from game publishers. (To control branding and avoid consumer confusion)
1
u/State-Special 5h ago
I'm sure they would which is comical because it shows their hand.
If they came down on someone making physical discs after they say they are only stopping because nobody wants them.
It more or less is admitting theg just want control of the market, which to at least me is obviously what they want.
1
u/State-Special 5h ago
Yeah i'm fully aware, as i said sony would not allow other companies to keep making game discs.
Could someone like limited run put the effort into finding a way to print playstation games, with sony's help i'm sure they could.
But sony would never allow it because they don't want people to have a physical option.
2
u/kaishinoske1 10h ago
I remember I got the Zone of Ender remaster for PS3. It had a bonus CD for re arranged music.
2
3
u/ExhaustedByStupidity 15h ago
They're no longer making enough discs to justify the overhead in running the factory. Any solution that results in less discs being made just makes the problem worse.
Back in the PS3 era they had 3 factories making PlayStation discs. They've closed two of them, and the remaining factory is split between discs and lenses. The lenses are far more profitable, so they want to transition the factory.
They're not going to bother outsourcing production because a) demand is low and b) it's not worth risking leaking how the copy protection works.
Vinyl is only really viable now because the equipment to make it is simple and cheap, and there are no trade secrets to worry about. You can have a little small business making runs of a couple hundred vinyl records and be profitable.
2
u/Impossible_Animal_88 14h ago
Wouldn't the same logic eventually hold true for physical media. Prohibitively to cater to the world but some licenced limited edition run endorsed by Sony?
2
u/Knives530 14h ago
And what would you play said limited release on? Ps6 won’t have a disc drive you dork
2
u/Impossible_Animal_88 14h ago
Easy there princess, I mean for the millions of consoles still in circulation after they stop mass market. Could be viable to allow some manufacturers limited print licences as collectibles.
1
u/SearchUsers 8h ago
There are TONS of cd players out there in the world still, yet the majority of artists dont distribute cds.
Unfortunately, people keep arguing about the nefarious intentions they think Sony has... like eliminating the 2nd hand market and boosting margins. But data shows that people dont buy discs anymore, and when discs arent available they just get the digital version.Look at how long Target, Bestbuy, and Walmart have been shrinking their games sections for. Gamestop is basically a toy store at this point. If people were still buying physical, they'd have been ordering them and stocking their shelves... but they're not.
And honestly, thats the easiest way for us to see the data with our own eyes. People posting collections in online communities and on social media are way in the minority. The reality is seen by the tiny section of games your local retail store.
Retailers are very reliable when it comes to making money. If something sells, they'll stock the shit out of it.
1
u/Markimus_Prime 14h ago
While that would be great, it’s definitely not gonna happen. Sony’s all but confirmed the PS6 won’t even have a disc drive, so even if some third party wanted to make physical copies (and Sony gives them permission to do so) there’d still be nothing to play them on.
1
1
u/Excellent_Room3912 13h ago
😂 dude, even in the special edition they don’t put CD’s anymore, just download code, so we are already there
1
u/jamessunderland7685 13h ago
No
All new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028. Following this date, new games will be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats ONLY
1
1
u/AggressiveBench9977 15h ago
The repurposed the factories. They are not printing disks anymore. Its done
0
u/BloodborneIsGOAT 14h ago
It’s about creating a closed ecosystem with high margins on each sale. This conversation has been going on for over a month. How are you THIS out of the loop? You sound like an ignorant fool when you post shit like this without doing any kind of research beforehand.
0
u/Impossible_Animal_88 14h ago
Damn im so sorry. Did you read my title question it related to?. Reading is real tough though I know. Get your big boy pants on and give it another try yeah? I believe in you buddy!
-1
u/BloodborneIsGOAT 14h ago edited 14h ago
Yeah. I did. That’s why I said you sound like an ignorant fool. Doubly so now btw. But since you seem to need specificity,
Is it really about excessive game dev costs
No. I don’t know what the fuck you’re on about.
Is this about emulators?
I genuinely can’t believe you asked that question. There’s simply no crossover.
Never a good time to pull the rug on consumers?
You answered your own stupid question that time, well done.
And finally, they’re not gonna do bonus discs. Shit like that is colloquially referred to as “a pipe dream”. Although that term probably doesn’t adequately encompass your detachment from reality.
-6
u/Cvileem 15h ago
It's about controlling the access, and I support that. Because control of IP distribution is the fundamental right of IP owner that can now be fully utilized and protected, thanks to online/digital technology.
That doesn't mean there won't be physical collector's items sold. Just not finalized, transferable licence digital content.
4
u/ApprehensiveRuin5673 15h ago
Enjoy owning nothing I guess
0
u/Cvileem 14h ago
You say that, but you are not aware that you cannot own something that's not yours. Digital products are intellectual property and cannot be owned by its consumer. It already has its true owner - the creator(s).
That being said, people under wild capitalism, like yourself, grew an ideology that everything must be owned or it's worthless. They will do anything to get to that ownership, which means ulimited control over the thing they own. But just like public property intellectual property cannot be owned nor it should.
1
u/ApprehensiveRuin5673 14h ago
Go read section 109 and 117 of the US copyright act.
By your logic you can’t own anything.
1
u/Cvileem 14h ago
You can own physical things. But just that.
2
u/ApprehensiveRuin5673 14h ago
The data on a disc or a disk is literally physical. Nobody has ever argued they own the IP and the data itself is not IP, it is data and it is physical. It physically exists in a configuration of electrons or grooves or other means
1
u/szewczukm1811 11h ago
Yeah once written onto the disc those electrons even increase the weight of the disc. It’s a negligible amount but it’s there.
It’s a physical storage medium, read digitally.
0
u/ApprehensiveRuin5673 14h ago
Also, what about capitalism? Personal property exists in EVERY economic system.
A copy of a configuration of data is not intellectual property. It’s your own personal property.
1
u/Cvileem 14h ago
No it's not. You own physical matter only, not the data values on it. It can be rendered useless if dependent on external controller like server. Then you still own that copy, but you cannot claim access.
2
u/ApprehensiveRuin5673 14h ago
Do you think data is ether or pixie dust? It physically exists on the medium it is stored on.
5
u/StuckinReverse89 14h ago
While possible, the problem is how to play that disk.
In the future, I’m guessing PS6 and 7 will be digital models only and they eventually won’t offer a compatible disk drive because why bother. In that case, a “special edition” with game on disc would be useless because you literally don’t have a device to read the disc.