According to former Sony manager Gordon Thornton, the PlayStation Store already handles 80 to 85 percent of all game purchases on the platform digitally. The planned phase-out of discs from 2028 onwards is therefore the logical consequence of this development.
Digital dominance is disrupting physical trade
The traditional game store is losing ground. Gordon Thornton, who worked at Sony Interactive Entertainment for 18 years, reveals figures to Insider-Gaming that confirm the gradual demise of Blu-ray.
Physical retail, therefore, exists almost exclusively as a launch business for blockbusters during the first few weeks of sale. Older titles, the so-called back catalog, are now almost exclusively available as downloads via Sony's servers. For the majority of gamers, convenience outweighs the collector's item on their shelf. Discount promotions in the PlayStation Store further contribute to this trend. Physical media has been relegated to a niche product.
The EIA trick in the monopoly dispute
Critics have accused Sony for years of being able to dictate prices in the PlayStation Store through its closed ecosystem. Thornton counters this, pointing to the publishers. They, not the platform operator Sony, set the recommended retail price (RRP) for their games themselves.
The argument falls short, however. Thornton omits the crucial variables in the equation. The estimated 30 percent platform commission goes unmentioned. The enforced lack of genuine competitor stores on the console is also ignored. This is not what a free market looks like.
Revenue maximization prevents cheaper downloads
The elimination of pressing plants, logistics, and plastic packaging drastically reduces the distribution costs of digital games. However, this doesn't make downloads cheaper for the end customer. Publishers don't calculate prices based on production costs, but rather on the maximum willingness to pay of the market or the customer, as already discussed in our article on... Code-in-a-Box as a deceptive package The additional margin is used to refinance exploding development costs for AAA projects. Anyone hoping for lower entry prices due to the digital revolution will be disappointed. That's not happening.
Thornton's analysis is nevertheless not a neutral assessment, but rather the industry's perspective. As the current Chief Commercial Officer at the payment service provider ZBD, he directly benefits from digitalization. Important consumer issues such as the decline of the secondhand market, the lack of genuine ownership rights to downloads, and ongoing antitrust lawsuits against Sony's store monopoly are completely omitted from the interview.
For gamers, this development means a continuous erosion of their power. Without price competition from retailers, PlayStation users remain defenseless against publishers' pricing and Sony's store policies.
How much commission does Steam get, for example? Oh, 30% too? What a coincidence. Did anyone care about the used game market when Steam and Epic went online? No one? Hmmm.
The statement "Without competition from retailers" is simply a straight-up falsehood, as Sony's statement clearly states that retailers and third-party providers are also supplied.
Furthermore, for quite some time now, games on Steam have been the same price as on the PSN store. Silent Hill F is €80 on both. 007 First Light is €70 on both. But of course, that's conveniently omitted. Criticizing selective interviews while then using selective reporting and information sources yourself... brilliant.
I'm not in favor of digitizing video games, but one should at least state the truth.
The proportion of gamers on social media who are blindsided by the facts are, due to their understandable and relatable emotional attachment to a field that has accompanied them for decades as part of their favorite hobby, not yet capable of logical understanding and will initially continue to mouth off in front of their keyboards while reading these messages. A not insignificant number, whether large or small, will switch sides due to prevailing frustration, only to discover that elsewhere, entrepreneurial and economic thinking and action are also taking place, and the carousel starts spinning again.
Even though I don't entirely approve of this development, it represents the logical consequence of business administration and entrepreneurial thinking in times when politics and economics are so utterly out of touch with people that it's best not to think about it too much in order to remain mentally healthy in the long term; nevertheless, one should stand up for one's point of view, and please do so in a constructive and positive way.
In any case, I am curious to see what Sony's further arguments and approach to digital transformation will be.
If they're talking about 85%, I'd like to see a breakdown. Does that include DLCs, microtransactions, etc.? For a fair comparison, you'd only need to compare the games themselves, both digital and physical, because that's the only way to see how well physical media are still selling. Anything else skews the statistics. It should be obvious that purely digital games only sell digitally. I'm not even denying that digital sales still represent a larger share, but it's certainly nowhere near 85%. But we're not going to get a real comparison from Sony, because then their main argument to the public would vanish in an instant.
I see that as constructive! 💪
Personally, I don't need an exact breakdown, as I view this area holistically and I'm not interested in corporate accounting jargon. Of course, the figures include add-ons, DLCs, and microtransactions, since these are exclusively digital, or am I mistaken? When I say holistically, I also mean the spin and typical corporate whitewashing used to gaslight their position in front of a manipulated public. It's a familiar tactic, and I don't condone it. Sony are currently the ones who first dared to take the lead and will soon have to deal with (or rather, ignore) the inevitable shitstorm, which is undoubtedly justified, and ultimately negotiate it. I expect that an adequate solution will emerge in the future, because as a digital-only gamer, I naturally also have the option of switching to an open digital system like the PC in the future, should Sony not drastically deviate from their current thinking and management of their closed digital system, which they refuse to optimize and adapt.
They give you a breakdown because you're so important... or maybe not. Do you think Sony cares if you stop buying games? Absolutely not. Most people buy digitally, and if you don't want to from 2028 onwards, tough luck. It's that simple. GTA 6 is currently demonstrating this quite clearly: if people have no choice, they'll go for the digital version instead of going without. The incredible pre-order numbers prove that.
Revenue maximization prevents cheaper downloads, hahaha 🤣 An attractive monopoly business for Sony and its third-party providers. So, for me, PS is history; I can fool myself just fine, thank you. Anyone with enough money can go ahead and buy it starting in 2028. I'm switching to PC; it's better anyway. Yes, it's all digital, but at least there are transparent providers and therefore transparent prices 😜
I wanted to play Silent Hill F the other day; how much does it cost in all the stores?
I'm also interested in 007 First Light.
Silent Hill f currently costs €79.99 on PSN and €37,47 on Amazon.
Oh, I see. I switched from Playstation to PC and only created a Steam account. I don't have an Epic account yet.
007 First Light was available from some Steam key sellers for around 50 euros.