Is Physical Soon to be dead?

Mark1989

Mark1989

Mark1989

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So I was wondering this myself today, for pc gamers physical media died yonks ago

Consol is however still holding on. I own a PS5 disc edition and a Series S

However I was looking at some physical games today last of us part 2, new prince of Persia and there was a few quid a difference between both.

Went into a few shops Astro Bot was nowhere but shelf prices was £5 less than buying it from PS

Anyway long story short it made me think do I need to say bye to media now and just get over it and accept this physical media life is gone like we did on PC long ago.

I also cannot shake the feeling when it comes to PlayStation 6 and Xbox whatever dumb name they give it will NOT give us a physical option. Am I the only one who thinks this?

I think PS5 Pro is testing the water on this even with its high price. New Series X will have a digital version too again I think this is Microsoft taking a punt to see who picks up what.

A guy I work with is very much physical only so much so he has said if new gen is a digital era he is done. He is a massive physical collector so maybe not best example but if many took this view doesn’t help the future of gaming imo
 
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I reckon both next gen consoles will see the drives as add-on before fully abandoning them in the ps7 generation.

If I was still buying 12 games plus a year like in my teens and twenties, I would prefer physical and resell.

These days I buy 2-3 games a year at full price and the rest are cheapo titles in sales that I usually never play till I'm bored. :p

So for the sake of losing 10-15 euros per game by going digital, 3 times a year, I can stomache it.


rp2000
 
It is a bigger topic than you think.

Physical media not being a thing for decades for PC gaming isn't a major issues as you have multiple store fronts with one in particular being the most trustworthy - Steam. Games are cheap no matter what.

Console has a singular storefront, I speak for Playstation/Sony really as I haven't got a modern Xblox. PSN has high prices on games because it primarily shows deluxe+ editions of the bigger games rather than standard. For example Dying Light 2 (Standard) physical at CeX is £21, but on PSN is available in Reloaded (£55) and 'Ultimate' for £74.99. Sony obviously want to price games high so yes they've been messing around towards digital only for sometime, if not then force the consumer onto PS+ and offer discounts on game purchases. PS+ went up in price at the start of the year too.

The PS5 Pro base console being without a drive easily tells us the direction we're heading in and its not good. I have just a few physical games on the console, but intend to buy more in future because the pricing on games like Spiderman 2 Digital is just OTT. Every day there is a PSN 'sale' but 90% of it is just junk games.

If Sony goes full on digital with absurd pricing then I'll just build a small PC and slap Linux on it (windows can do one) and use Proton/Steam.
 
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Kainz said:
For example Dying Light 2 (Standard) physical at CeX is £21, but on PSN is available in Reloaded (£55) and 'Ultimate' for £74.99.
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ps store said:
£21.99£54.99

Save 60%Offer ends 26/9/2024 00:59 CEST
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For 1st party titles like Spider-man 2, you're right. Its still £70 for standard edition when physical is easily £45


The pricing is harsh (I wouldn't say absurd) but it's been like that for what, a decade? I reckon, just like Steam, a lot of people buy their second choice games when in the PS Sales (January, Easter, Summer, Black Friday, 12 days of xmas). For day 1 games, as I mentioned in my post, its £10 difference, which I reckon a lot of older gamers can stomache.


rp2000
 
montymint said:
This is the start of slide into subscription only gaming on consoles I feel.
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Possibly which I think is Microsoft main goal with game pass.

Yes Sony has PS Plus but I don’t use it on my PS5 as I purely have it for the exclusives even then I don’t get them day one, I really want Stellar Blade but haven’t seen it drop much yet

Game Pass I do find however delivers more value than PS Plus imo so I have that.
 
It’s is an interesting topic. I agree with rp2000 above that I think we’ll see disc-less consoles but with a purchasable add-on drive as extra in the future - but ultimately that will eventually be dropped altogether. In my mind the PS5 Pro pretty much confirms this. I buy maybe 3-5 full price digital games per year and I’ve dropped physical completely now as the extra cost doesn’t bother me all that much whereas convenience and simplicity does. The answer is yes, it will die eventually and streaming will be where it’s at in the end.
 
rp2000 said:
The pricing is harsh (I wouldn't say absurd) but it's been like that for what, a decade?
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But there's literally no reason for digital games to cost more than physical copies.

There's no physical media to duplicate, no box art to design and print. So no physical production costs.
There's no physical distribution costs. There's no need for a distributor and their cut.
There's no end retail outlets wanting their cut.

Even assuming all of those things are tiny percentages in the scheme of things, they're still costs that don't apply to digital and should instantly make digital games cheaper.


Wanting entirely digital distribution is purely about the platform owner's greed - nothing else.
 
D
Armageus said:
But there's literally no reason for digital games to cost more than physical copies.

There's no physical media to duplicate, no box art to design and print. So no physical production costs.
There's no physical distribution costs. There's no need for a distributor and their cut.
There's no end retail outlets wanting their cut.

Even assuming all of those things are tiny percentages in the scheme of things, they're still costs that don't apply to digital and should instantly make digital games cheaper.


Wanting entirely digital distribution is purely about the platform owner's greed - nothing else.
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Don't get me wrong, I agree. It's not really fair, but the public already accepted this fact largely with most digital products over the last decade (maybe longer).

Streamed/downloadable movies are overpriced compared to physical, as is music (I think). Cartel pricing :D

In my younger years I cared more. Now I buy less media in general and have more disposable income, I become one of the millions of chumps who have allowed big companies to rip us off in this way :p


rp2000
 
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and we were all told that physical adds price to things.. what a load of BS.. there is no reason that digital game aren't a 1/3 of the price .. and they would sell more.. but no.. they'd rather keep and or increase the £70 full game price tag..

It's been a long time since i've purchased a "new" game, as in within the first 6-18 months of release.. the pay off is just not worth it anymore..

Even when I have I find the story, pacing and gameplay way below what I would have expected 15 years ago.. (it could be i've changed.. who knows!! i've just not been grabbed by any of the recent games i've purchased.)

So for me £70 is too much of a risk, especially with no sell on ability if digital only..

I'm out... unless tripple AAA games become £9.99 on release.. then I could take a punt.. and I reckon if the game was any good the publisher would make more money.!!!

edit:sp
 
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Armageus said:
But there's literally no reason for digital games to cost more than physical copies.

There's no physical media to duplicate, no box art to design and print. So no physical production costs.
There's no physical distribution costs. There's no need for a distributor and their cut.
There's no end retail outlets wanting their cut.
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Those are factors that actually contribute to physical games being cheaper. Suppliers and retailers will negotiate a lower unit fee by buying in bulk, promising a certain sales target and running in-store/website promotions to drive it. Each unit being a printed disc with a box means each unit has a value associated, so once produced retailers and suppliers don't want those copies lingering in warehouses so they'll cut the price to clear stock.

Digital games are priced at what the publisher ideally wants each copy to sell at, that's never going to go down. It's the same as how it tends to be more expensive to buy something from the manufacturer's website than it is from another retailer.

I've largely stopped buying physical games these days, partly due to convenience and partly because the price differences were getting less significant. As games retailers dry up and the supermarkets reduce or withdraw from selling physical media, and I can certainly envision that fairly soon the price difference between physical and digital will be negligible.
 
If I can buy a game on physical media for the same or cheaper than digital then it's a no brainer for me, physical it is. :) but I just recently got Unravel 2 from the Nintendo store for £5.40 or something, which is cheaper than new at £22 and second hand at around £15 or so.

The only thing with digital only is when the store or the manufacturer goes busy and you're stuck with a ton of games you bought but can't play.
 
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I know that physical discs nowadays seem to only hold the 'license' to initiate a download, rather than actually holding the install files on it, but I think that a lot of people (myself included) still gravitate to physical media due to the ability to sell them on afterwards; not to mention that physical games often can be had for a lot less than on PSN.

If the PS6 goes to digital only, then I'll be going back to PC gaming
 
I’ve never wanted digital only and I never did when pc went that way but it happened of course as noted there is more options for buying games on a pc to reduce the cost.

Sony and Microsoft unless have a sale on well your stuck with there store front and high cost.
 
rp2000 said:
but the public already accepted this fact largely with most digital products over the last decade (maybe longer).
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This ultimately is it. Lure people in with value and convenience (netflix, gamepass), then pull the rug out from under them. Most have dumped their collections and bought into it, only to find lack of availability with shows or increased costs for what was previous commonly owned by all. They also have used this to bolster interest in remakes and reimaging of various media.

OP has a Series S, so unfortunately that's an example of voting with the wallet not working. As younger people have their eco systems normalised for always online, corporations that hold all the cards will continue to increase charges and remove access to previously purchased content.

The market will ultimately decide, but with a decrease in quality i feel, things might turnaround for better in the vastly long term with media. The portable market was dead, now it's thriving, so who knows.

I have little interest in online consoles with the current backwards compatibility libraries. The PS5 Pro opinions just echo the fact that consoles just aren't delivering anything better than PC, even convenience isn't there now.

The Switch every day looks to be a much better console than anything else out there imo.
 
What it boils down to is that publishers and the console manufacturers *want* physical media to go away. That way they get to control all of the pricing of games with absolutely no competition and no way for people to trade games in. That way they just get all of the money. As pointed out above it's just pure greed.
 
The_Arbiter said:
This ultimately is it. Lure people in with value and convenience (netflix, gamepass), then pull the rug out from under them. Most have dumped their collections and bought into it, only to find lack of availability with shows or increased costs for what was previous commonly owned by all. They also have used this to bolster interest in remakes and reimaging of various media.

OP has a Series S, so unfortunately that's an example of voting with the wallet not working. As younger people have their eco systems normalised for always online, corporations that hold all the cards will continue to increase charges and remove access to previously purchased content.

The market will ultimately decide, but with a decrease in quality i feel, things might turnaround for better in the vastly long term with media. The portable market was dead, now it's thriving, so who knows.

I have little interest in online consoles with the current backwards compatibility libraries. The PS5 Pro opinions just echo the fact that consoles just aren't delivering anything better than PC, even convenience isn't there now.

The Switch every day looks to be a much better console than anything else out there imo.
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I have a Series S as there is zero need for an X when I have a PS5 and PC.

My PC is good that has no disc drive either like the S.

The whole vote with your wallet logic is flawed, didn’t work when I kept buying disc drives for my PC until it was pointless to carry on.

Disc based PC games still vanished for anything new. Steam was the start and nail in the coffin for that.

That and various PC cases removing disc bays under fake claims to fit better cooling in, could cool more than good enough with them.

Consoles are doing similar antics, disc drive optional oh but it’s £100.

There is not a chance the PS5 disc drive costs even half that to make, so they will price the average joe out

If a parent buys there kids a discless consol there more likely due to convenience buy a digital game or gift card than a disc drive then a game.

These little things ensure us few who vote with a wallet will lose to the many many who don’t
 
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Mark1989 said:
The whole vote with your wallet logic is flawed, didn’t work when I kept buying disc drives for my PC until it was pointless to carry on.
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This is it, the market decides, not the individual. If everyone preferred physical it will stay, but obviously they don't. If people are happy with it then that's cool, but for me, discless and streaming are out. Steam i like, but it's certainly an outlier. Though i can't say i've ever bought a full price game on there.


Gaming is in a funny place right now it seems. Maybe it's even a generational thing, the next younger audience might just not want to game.
 
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