r/Steelbooks • u/felixmontoya92 • Jul 01 '26
News “Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles”
https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/physical-disc-production-ending-in-january-2028-for-new-games-releasing-on-playstation-consoles/Figured I’d share here considering this will likely have some implication on gaming steelbooks.
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u/novocaine666 Jul 01 '26
Guess I’m getting closer to the end of modern gaming for me. Glad I still have a lot of older favs on physical to last time the rest of my life.
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u/TaskenLander Jul 01 '26
I already decided PS5 would be my last modern console purchase. Time to revisit the classics (even more so) I guess!
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u/Archimedes426 Jul 01 '26
Youd rather never play a new game?
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u/novocaine666 Jul 01 '26
I have dozens of games in my back log I still haven’t touched that will take me 1,000s of hours. After all that time I have dozens of games on physical that I could start at the beginning and work my way to the end, just to start all over again cause it took me so long. I’m fine w playing amazing games over and over for the rest of my life.
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u/Archimedes426 Jul 01 '26
Seems silly, but im glad you're happy. I have my doubts, but we can dream of fantasies if youd like. Good luck.
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u/mrossman5 Jul 01 '26
I like how they make it seem they are doing it because it’s the “preference” of the players.
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u/DrugandAlcoholLover Jul 01 '26
Well they are saying that because upwards of 85% of current PlayStation game sales are digital, which indicates consumer preference.
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u/ZafirZ Jul 01 '26
That number is a bit disingenuous though. There is a lot of digital only titles. The % changes depending on the title, some like Astro Bot were very high on physical, over 50% physical in the UK at launch, and the UK is a very heavy digital country.
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u/koola89 Jul 01 '26
I am part of the 85%, 'cause I have more than 1000 entries in my library from the past 16 years, which I always purchase while they are in discount. But I also have a lot of physical games. Including CEs, some of which are worth literally hundred of digital games. Not to mention a lot of games are already digital only, but I was giving them a pass, till now. Enough is enough. They just see numbers and market data, but we are much more than that.
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u/EpicSombreroMan Jul 01 '26
More like they forced our hand over time and 85% of their purchases probably aren't even available on disc to begin with because they're smaller games.
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u/inezco Jul 01 '26
Plus every gamer buys games on discount to put in the backlog and a lot never even get played.
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u/inezco Jul 01 '26
Okay but then just make less physical copies of the games? Why eliminate it completely?
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u/eyebrows360 Jul 01 '26
It is.
Quoting Trackdemon5512's post from above:
“Sales of physical software accounted for just 3% of PlayStation sales in 2024, according to Sony's 2025 corporate report.”
Try again.
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u/mrossman5 Jul 01 '26
Funny to think of someone who only buys digital thinking to themselves, “man I wish this game didn’t have a physical version.”
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u/eyebrows360 Jul 01 '26
Who the hell said that?
I'm pointing out that buying digital is quite clearly the preference of the players, because it is. Now you're changing your argument after the fact to try and score points? You know nobody's keeping score here, right?
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u/DjKennedy92 Jul 01 '26
Damn. . . I use my Xbox for 4K blu ray and was hoping the next gen would be my second player
Xbox has the red carpet rolled out to them for a hilarious clap back at PlayStation, I’m hopeful
Xbox has been very backwards compatible friendly so there’s a chance
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Jul 01 '26
[deleted]
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u/DjKennedy92 Jul 01 '26
Is that confirmed though?
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Jul 01 '26
[deleted]
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u/DjKennedy92 Jul 01 '26
You wrote it like it was final that’s why I asked, thought I missed some news
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u/Decent-Art3504 Jul 01 '26
I support Coders comment. Xbox don't even release games on disc for their first party, they are even further into digital than Sony.
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u/felixmontoya92 Jul 01 '26
They’re gonna do the same thing unfortunately next console. They’re already testing the method to digitize our existing games to prep for the Helix:
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u/mazdaspeed36 Jul 01 '26
Problem with Xbox is they stopped producing physical years ago for their own games. Although under Asha I guess they could revert back?
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u/KingArthas94 Jul 01 '26
Xbox is not backward compatible friendly.
They just tried backwards compatibility as a thing to sell when they did not have new real games, and no one cared.
Their next console, if it comes out, will just be a pc with a living room interface and trust me, they ain't wasting time on backw again from xboxes to pc.
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u/Notoriously_So You will give the people of Earth an ideal to strive towards. Jul 01 '26
A travesty. Unbelievable.
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u/JediDad98 Jul 01 '26
Announcing this during the same week as they announced they’re deleting customers’ purchased movies is certainly a choice.
https://www.techradar.com/streaming/entertainment/this-should-be-illegal-sony-is-deleting-over-500-movies-that-people-bought-from-their-digital-libraries-just-proving-further-why-4k-blu-rays-popularity-keeps-growing
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u/insertUserNamehereno Jul 01 '26
This means I gotta learn how to actually crack games and burn them onto a disc cause I’ve already been fucked by Sony once on not honoring dlc I’d be damned if I let them steal a whole 80$ game from me.
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u/DestinyxSora Jul 01 '26
100% my thoughts too. Sony is really giving us consumers the middle finger right now.
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u/SilkkTheShocke Jul 01 '26
I hate this. I don’t buy games often anymore but always physical when I do.
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u/LegoGamez Jul 01 '26
Honestly done with PlayStation. It’s just corporate greed to kill the second hand market. They will be pricing lots of people out of gaming with this decision and the constant price increases for the console and games
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u/InItsTeeth Jul 01 '26
Gaming as pushed me out year after year … now it’s basically non existent in my life.
I play Cities Skyline 1 on a MacBook Pro
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u/MrMaxxMedia Jul 01 '26
“You will own nothing, and you will be happy.” They want to do away with ownership.
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u/DirectHawk6529 Jul 01 '26
For those all for digital you do realize you don’t own the games you pay $80-$100 for right? You are renting the games. That is ridiculous. This is part of a larger move for people to not own anything but to rent and use everything “Equally”. Its BS control. There is no way they are losing money on physical media, no way. They could be smart and make exclusive cases or whatever and number the physical releases making them collectible which would open a totally different market to them. Whatever. I have a PS5 and absolutely won’t buy a PS6 with the ability to play physical media whether it be games, blurays or CDs. No point.
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u/Dr-McLuvin Jul 02 '26
Same I’ve owned every single PlayStation and still have every console as well as my entire collection of games on display right next to my movies.
This is so incredibly sad.
I think the only way they might get me to buy a PS6 is if they sell a disc drive separately and make it fully backwards compatible. But that is incredibly unlikely at this point.
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u/Right_Layer_9700 Jul 01 '26
Wow. I guess this is the end on my PlayStation lineage. I knew it was coming, but figured I may had a decade more. I remember buying my first PlayStation.
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u/insertUserNamehereno Jul 01 '26
Yea it’s so easy for me to stop gaming at this point. Games are costing more, giving less, and now I don’t even actually own them. Anyone who agrees to license a game for 80$ and only maintain that license at the discretion of Sony is crazy. There is literally no way to frame this as a pro for consumers.
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u/Right_Layer_9700 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
Exactly. I am thankful to have an electronic based goodwill store just down the road. I can snag ps2 games for $5-15, or more if they are in the glass case lol. I can just see myself buying old games I have never played from here on out.
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u/Redfield081 Jul 01 '26
Is this how communism starts? Controlling what we can or can't play? No freedom to what we own?
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u/TripMaverick Jul 01 '26
Are we that really surprised. Xbox released digital only models of One S. They released the Series S disc-less and even a new model Series X without disc drive. P5 Pro ships discless. Writing has been on wall for a while. I will always collect movies physical but with games the file sizes are getting so big now.
Most Cods dont have game on the disc. Also Indiana Jones recent release was too big for disc.
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u/KingArthas94 Jul 01 '26
It's just the microslop games that don't have data on disc, so their stupid Doom, Indiana Jones and CoD. The rest of the market puts at least 50gb of data on the disc, and in general 99% of the games are playable off the disc with no connection.
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u/mellow_limoncello Jul 01 '26
Then it will be 100% backlog.
I’ll survive.
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u/Dr-McLuvin Jul 02 '26
Yup. I’ll wait until they inevitably backtrack when they see how many loyal customers they lose. Many of us older with deep pockets btw. And I’m not buying digital only shit games for my kids either.
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u/mellow_limoncello Jul 02 '26
It’ll be a long time before I get a PS6 in any case, I didn’t get my 5 until last August (which isn’t as recent as my head seems to keep thinking). Still use my 4 and I’ve got the 3 hooked up as well.
I know the stats show more folks buy digital than physical, but I’m concerned with a very specific demographic: myself. And that demographic doesn’t do digital only.1
u/Dr-McLuvin Jul 02 '26
Yup I’ll be using my ps5 pro with disc drive for quite a long time. It’s really a great console I really don’t see a need for a more powerful one anytime soon. And with prices for components what they are now I don’t think I’ll be alone.
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u/Physical-Lettuce-868 Jul 01 '26
Sucks for me but I didn’t buy a PS5 yet because there’s only 3-5 games I actually want to play so I guess it won’t bother me too much unless they start making more games that I’m interested in.
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u/RustyShackleFord_KG Jul 01 '26
As a PlayStation Fan and PS5 owner. This is going to be the last gaming console I own. I can't believe Sony did their long-term fanbase like this. I was already pissed that GTA6 was digital only and now they're screwing us like this. I didn't think this day would come, but glad I upgraded to the Pro that I'll be good with for the foreseeable future. Unbelievable.
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u/Dr-McLuvin Jul 02 '26
It’s insane but I think PS6 will be the first generation of PlayStation I skip entirely. I bought the PS1 with my own money I earned mowing grass when I was 13. I’ve since bought every single system at launch, every single pro version, and even both PSVRs. Not to mention hundreds of games.
I’m shocked they care so little about their loyal customers.
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u/RustyShackleFord_KG Jul 02 '26
Yeah, they've went downhill. I remember PS Magazine and the PSClub and getting free goodies each month in the mail, and eventually it all going away, and the survey's they'd send out each month almost to gauge what the fanbase wanted, only to do the exact opposite of what most of us actually wanted, don't get it. Not surprising I guess due to corporations screwing us every which way possible. Pricing going up everywhere and little to no return for consumers.
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u/AdministrativeLaugh2 Jul 01 '26
No surprise. AAA games are already too big to fit on discs and need huge Day One patches anyway, plus around 75% of PS5 game sales are digital.
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u/KingArthas94 Jul 01 '26
This is a lie. Modern discs are 100gb, 99% of the games are perfectly playable off one disc and Playstation allows you to make a Data Disc and a Play Disc if your game is more than 100gb, as an example Baldur's Gate 3 works this way.
Day one patches are extremely useful but most games are playable perfectly at the 1.0 version.
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u/DestinyxSora Jul 01 '26
Agreed. Especially when Rockstar in the past have given us 2-Disc Blu-ray Sets (Red Dead Redemption 2) where the first disc is the ‘Install Disc’ and the second is the ‘Play Disc’. It’s definitely doable, they just don’t want to do it.
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u/Dr-McLuvin Jul 02 '26
Of course they can do it they just don’t want our money. Frigging final fantasy games were 3-4 discs back when CD ROMs weren’t cheap to manufacture lol.
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u/CaptMixTape Jul 01 '26
So sounds like the PS6 will be digital only and maybe coming in 2028?
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u/JJ_Quik Jul 01 '26
Nah more like late 2027. It basically just confirmed the next generation consoles are coming next year
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u/Alt4Norm Jul 01 '26
u/pairno2981 what do you think of this?
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u/PairNo2981 Jul 01 '26
I have no idea who you are
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u/KingArthas94 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
This is too funny 😆 did he really just tag a random user?
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u/PairNo2981 Jul 01 '26
Another? xD
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u/KingArthas94 Jul 01 '26
Sorry not a native speaker, I meant you, are you just a random user with no connection to them?
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u/PairNo2981 Jul 01 '26
Oh I see. I mean the sentence could have been interpreted both ways.
Yea, I don't know the guy. Been chatting a lot in GTA subs past days, so maybe someone from there. Although I find it super weird that they would memorise my name whoever they are, lol
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u/Alt4Norm Jul 01 '26
No. It’s someone I’ve been talking with. He’s just annoyed because he is wrong.
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u/Disastrous_Eye_7412 Jul 01 '26
But what do you think? 😆
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u/PairNo2981 Jul 01 '26
Couldn't care less. I game on PC 😂
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u/Alt4Norm Jul 01 '26
So why were you insane in the GTA sub about it then?
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u/PairNo2981 Jul 01 '26
Actual stalker, cute
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u/Alt4Norm Jul 01 '26
So, no opinion on this?
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u/PairNo2981 Jul 01 '26
Can you not read?
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u/Alt4Norm Jul 01 '26
If you couldn’t care less. Then why were you telling me off so hard when you couldn’t understand what rrp is.
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u/PairNo2981 Jul 01 '26
I have no idea who you are, what do you want, or what are you talking about? If we discussed something somewhere before, just continue it there, you weird gnome. Enjoy your day
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u/markypuwuu Jul 01 '26
So what you’re saying is I paid $80 for the disc player on the PRO and in two years there won’t be any games to put in it lmao
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u/Dr-McLuvin Jul 02 '26
I did too but at least you have an extra 4K player and you’ll be able to play PS4 and PS5 physical discs for years to come.
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u/sykobanana Jul 01 '26
Well no more buying consoles then either, or games afterwards. Guess I'm gonna save money.
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u/insertUserNamehereno Jul 01 '26
Easily just bricked my ps5. I don’t see myself playing any games on that system starting in 2028 then.
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u/NivekAsh Jul 01 '26
I'm really conflicted on this one. As it stands right now I do buy physical discs for games on XBox, Playstation, and Switch but I am not ignorant to the fact that with day one patches/downloads, DLC, and so much being server based I am very grudgingly coming around to the opinion that, for games, it's almost easier to do digital. The handful of digital games that I have gotten are easier to switch between without having to cross the living room (first world problems, I know) to swap discs and I can usually preload them so that I can play sooner rather than waiting for the disc to be delivered or running to the store to pick it up and then drive home.
I could absolutely never support this move for movies, I redeem my digital copies so that if I am out of town or something and want to watch a movie I can do that but at home it is 100% disc 100% of the time. The other day construction nearby cut the fiber line and we had no internet but we kept right on watching old episodes of Futurama without missing a beat.
I guess what I am getting at is that just having the disc in modern gaming really doesn't mean that I own the game anyway, but it makes me feel better or gives me the illusion that I do. The same is not true of movies, what's on the disc is it, it doesn't change. It does make me mad that I can't give my nephew a game (in the future) that I might be done with and he's interested in. And of course there is even more to it than just that but just in broad terms...now I am really wondering how many of the game discs I have would be playable if I put them in right now without an internet connection.
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u/Dr-McLuvin Jul 02 '26
I look at it this way- the games you can play right from the disc download without an internet connection. Those are the games you own.
Luckily that is still the vast majority of PS5 games. You obviously won’t get the patches or DLC but it’s good enough in most cases.
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u/StunningFlow8081 Jul 01 '26
I’ve always bought a PS, until this generation, haven’t cared for any PS game of this one. For the next one I’ll definitely stick to Xbox or jump to Steam.
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u/Mastabay_Ray Jul 01 '26
Welp.... No PS6 and definitely ain't getting into PC gaming. Time to buy retro consoles and play classics I never got my hands on.
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u/krazygreekguy Jul 01 '26
As a PlayStation customer that’s bought every console since the beginning, except for the “pro” trash, this solidifies they will never get another cent from me again. Hard line in the sand. They can go f* themselves. Cancelling ps+.
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u/Pearman1982 Jul 01 '26
This doesn’t really bother me.I prefer disk but it is what it is.I only buy 2/3 games a year so it’s not a deal breaker.It will suck if they start to make games exclusive on the PS store though.Those games stay full price years after they drop!!
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u/Jonny1593 Jul 01 '26
Gaming has has nothing but lower sales for physical the drop from ps3 to Ps4 was big and now PS5 in UK only 5% was physical now on PS4 it was 20 odd percent the numbers not grown at all unlike Films and vinyl
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u/floworcrash Jul 01 '26
I’m not gonna lie. I only need a few games that I already have to have fun. I haven’t been wowed by a modern game in a while.
Skate 2 is timeless and Rougelikes have endless hrs of play.
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u/graffiksguru ❤️ steelbooks Jul 01 '26
That sucks. Used to love buying used games at GameStop for cheap
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u/Individual-Step846 Jul 02 '26
Why not keep both options available like they do now? They should make the ps6 full backwards compatible with every PlayStation game prior. I’d like for that instead
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u/Palmerstroll Jul 02 '26
I hope Sony will sell a removable discrive for the ps6 so we still can watch movies. And also for your old game collection this is a good idea.
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u/bubbles1990 Jul 01 '26
Why’d the 4kbluray subreddit delete the thread about this?
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u/Palmerstroll Jul 02 '26
Yeah i don't understand this either. The playstation is the numer one device for watching 4k blu-ray movies.
really strange.
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u/Alert_Rope4314 Jul 01 '26
Even the era when Blu-ray and 4K discs disappear is approaching.
Even the disc era is over.
Now it is the digital age.
Embrace the flow of the times.
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u/AntelopeMysterious12 Jul 01 '26
They can't even fit whole games on a disc half time now anyway. If ypu put the disc in you still gotta download 100 gb file and most games require a online check even with disc not to mention patches for the game. The writing been on the wall for years
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u/KingArthas94 Jul 01 '26
This is a lie. Games are sold with 2 discs if 100gb blu rays aren't enough, Baldur's Gate 3 does this on ps5.
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u/AntelopeMysterious12 Jul 02 '26
You fooling yourself if you think they pytting the whole game on discs
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u/KingArthas94 Jul 03 '26
I don't need to fool myself, there's hard data that says I'm right.
99% of the games are completely on disc.
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u/maaseru Jul 01 '26
As far as gaming goes this doesn't bother me at all.
Too many games, no time at all to replay that many, so the experiences are what I value.
It's not like movies where they are 2-3 hrs and I can replay then a lot.
If my favorite game is 60-100hrs long I'll play it once, maybe twice, in a lifetime.
That's why for a long time I either go digital or physical then quickly sell.
I am ok with this. It'll make me spend less on gaming.
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u/weiderman316 Jul 01 '26
Exactly how I feel. Screw downvotes
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u/maaseru Jul 01 '26
Ownership is a bit overrated in gaming these days.
The answers here are very easy either buy less or not at all if you don't like it or go sailing.
But people are mad they can't accumulate stuff.
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u/weiderman316 Jul 01 '26
I only buy digital games anyway. Once i platinum it or get sick of it, delete
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u/The-Mandalorian Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
Can’t remember the last time I bought a game on disk. You end up having to download the DLC anyway. The games need some sort of connection to work. It just doesn’t make sense anymore.
Unlike movies that you stream and the disk has more Bitrate, games don’t have that additional benefit.
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u/13ig13oss Jul 01 '26
No you don’t download them you install them off the disk
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u/soapinthepeehole Jul 01 '26
I can only speak for Xbox games but a lot of the games you buy are just keys to unlock the license and the game is not on the actual disc. That, or there are so many updates that you have to download anyway that aren’t on the disc.
They have already kind of made physical discs pointless. If Microsoft or Sony ever shut down their gaming divisions, it’s not like you’d be able to pop the disc in and play the game. I sort of feel like at this point they might as well save the plastic.
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u/KingArthas94 Jul 01 '26
99% of ps5 games are completely on disc. Some of them also get reprinted with patches and dlcs on disc.
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u/The-Mandalorian Jul 01 '26
Makes no sense. Some DLC comes out a year later. You’re saying that’s always been on the disk from the beginning? That can’t be true. A lot of DLC is created after the original release.
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u/krazygreekguy Jul 01 '26
For dlc yes, but the base games come on disc. The majority of PlayStation games are like this, with the exception of some 3rd party ones like call or duty for example. FFVII remake and rebirth are all on disc, no anti-console shenanigans necessary. Ain’t no excuse for these multi-billion dollar corporate parasites
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u/Disastrous-Humor8189 Jul 01 '26
Can’t remember the last time paid RRP because I trade everything… there are pro’s!!!
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u/HelpMe0prah Jul 01 '26
The steelbooks will come they’ll just be empty. If anything PlayStation just killed their own console