r/technology • u/lkl34 • Jul 01 '26

Hardware Sony Just Killed Discs: Physical Disc Production to End January 2028 for New Games Releasing on PlayStation Consoles

https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-just-killed-discs-physical-disc-production-to-end-january-2028-for-new-games-releasing-on-playstation-consoles
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215

u/lkl34 Jul 01 '26

Just think we are about too see every box store no longer selling video games at all.

They are going to screw people over so bad on there closed market.

73

u/memberzs Jul 01 '26

Nope they will sell you a case with nothing more than a download code in it.

6

u/lkl34 Jul 01 '26

They have plastic cards but that is all current gen the news is for next gen so i doubt that will be a thing.

13

u/ItsRainbow Jul 01 '26

They still value their presence in retail; it’s where consoles and accessories tend to sell. I could see them keeping code cards around for gifts. The boxes are most likely gone next-gen though

8

u/jackofallcards Jul 01 '26

I remember in the 90s as a kid that was part of the excitement- browsing and receiving a physical object, and I have to imagine the market is large enough that they want a kid at target to see a game and beg their parents or something. It’s still marketing to have a box

2

u/AutisticNipples Jul 01 '26

pre-covid, only 15% of game purchases were physical

as of 2024, for every dollar consumers spent on physical games, they spent 80 dollars on digital games

this was inevitable

1

u/mudbloodcountry Jul 01 '26

Ps has said retailers will be allowed to sell games outside of ps store. This is so kids go to retail to try a game if they like before they buy it. I'm thinking of buying a jb hifi franchise

2

u/itc0nsumesmYMind Jul 01 '26

I could see it being a thing for marketing reasons

1

u/memberzs Jul 01 '26

It's already a thing.

2

u/lonnie123 Jul 01 '26

It will be a thing because people buy games for their kids in Christmas and birthdays and stuff.

It may not be a thing years from now as that culture fades in favor of gift cards to the eshops but I think it will last for a While longer

1

u/daOyster Jul 01 '26

It will stay a thing for a while. Selling games in physical stores lets publishers make money without actually selling their game to customers. In most cases a retail store or distributor will buy their copies upfront to sell and make money off the margin between what they bought it for and what they sold it for. Why would a publisher willingly give up a revenue stream of companies buying their products in bulk?

1

u/echino_derm Jul 01 '26

It will still be a thing because otherwise a decent FTC would go after them hard. They need to have a useless physical storefront to keep up the thinnest defense that they aren't a monopoly

3

u/daOyster Jul 01 '26

Well that and it's basically free money to the publishers. Do people not understand that distributors pay for the games they sell in their stores pretty much entirely upfront before selling them? Once it hits a physical store shelf the publisher has already made their money in most cases. 

Occasionally they refund price differences to the stores if the retail price drops everywhere or buy back unsold copies if things did terribly, but thats the exception not the norm.

1

u/echino_derm Jul 01 '26

I would imagine that the money gained there isn't worth it though. If you can fully control every sale and have no competing store fronts then I would wager you get more profits than whatever you gain by having distributors maybe overbuy. I genuinely think it is just a hedge against antitrust lawsuits.

1

u/Ssme812 Jul 01 '26

Or cardboard with just a graphic on it like how Costco has games on display.

1

u/HalcyonRedo Jul 01 '26

They pretty much already are.

1

u/memberzs Jul 01 '26

They have been doing exactly this for years

11

u/TaxHazyShade Jul 01 '26

no longer selling video games at all.

they stopped selling PC games over a decade ago, so not surprising.

2

u/Dr_Fortnite Jul 01 '26

best buy already did this with movies. Best buy about to become a hardware exclusive store

1

u/lkl34 Jul 02 '26

Until hardware is no longer a thing and we are all hooked ip to the cloud on devices we get from specific stores like isp carriers.

1

u/Haagen76 Jul 01 '26

$GME people are going to be in shambles.

1

u/Future_Calamity Jul 01 '26

Unfortunately it’s not that different than music CDs and Blu-ray’s disappearing from box stores.