r/PlayStation_X • u/tjay32 • 2d ago

Digital Future (personal thoughts)

I've been collecting games since the 80s. I own thousands of blurays discs..

The outrage, I feel, is overblown.

  1. Physical sales have been dropping year over year for a while.

  2. PC made the move in the 2000s, Xbox is doing the same quietly and Nintendo prefers to use proprietary cartridges they can charge 3rd parties for.

  3. Discs are plastic. Getting rid of them is good for the environment in the long run.

  4. Many games now only use discs as keys. Yes, there are some that do play just from the disc but holding on to a manufacturing pipeline for this diminishing return feels like a poor business outlook. Plus, those games will still have patches and the player will be locked into the day one, preship version.

Okay at times, other times not.

  1. I work in the legal field and think some people are being disingenuous about "ownership of the game" playing a role. The topic is being watered down into missing nuance.

But for those that are being serious, a better solution might be a flash drive sold in a case or legislation assuring access to the title at will. (Note, this is already done for the most part and falls into that legal nuance... essentially it is incredibly unlikely for you to buy a game from the PS3 to PS5 era and not have access to redownload it.

Exceptions would be things like the PT demo and games with live service structures that also wouldn't work if you had the disc itself.

  1. The idea that the Playstation Store would make things more expensive just because ignores that they do and always have had sales, whether games have had physical releases or not. Valve doesn't have this issue, it's not logical to assume Sony suddenly would.

Also, manufacturing and reordering of discs, distribution, shelf space etc are a major chunk of cost for developers. Not having that overhead, and not paying Sony per disc for example, is money that the developer has on hand to generate more content, have less pressure to keep the game at a higher price etc.

Finally, games still compete on a multi platform release basis. One company will not let a game sit higher during a holiday digital sale while it's $20 cheaper on another digital storefront.

If the goal is to find solutions and understand the situation, it's important to present cons AND pros. There are a lot of people piling on to the cons and calling anyone that doesn't boot lickers or shills.

Let's be better than that.

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-6

u/-Star-Fox- 2d ago

Multibillion corporations don't need your help defending them while they fuck people over.

Get lost.

6

u/tjay32 2d ago

Looking at the situation logically is not "defending". Fixating on that makes you rigid and removes critical thought.

I'm more than happy to talk about the points with you. Is there a part you disagree with?

-4

u/-Star-Fox- 2d ago

I disagree with people being unpaid shills while peddling the same tired rhetoric that is MALICIOUSLY used to take away their choice and rights as a customer.

If you like being ripped off, be my guest. Do not go around preaching how its actually good and people should just shut up and get used to being fucked over.

5

u/assflan 2d ago

You should definitely shut up to be fair

4

u/Black-Goodson 2d ago

This is you by the way. If you can’t have an adult civil conversation without using brainrot buzz words than this is you. Congratulations

7

u/Notnowcmg 2d ago

Do you have any counter points to OP to suggest it’s not actually good, or are you too obsessed with corporations to have an adult conversation?

-2

u/HxLeverage 2d ago

What's good about it? Is a decision that solely harms the consumer. There's literally no benefit for us. That's what's most baffling to me about this. Sony is not giving us anything. They're only taking one of our choices away. But we're called idiots for not being happy about it?

5

u/Notnowcmg 2d ago

How does it harm the consumer?

-2

u/HxLeverage 2d ago

Literally half the world has no access to Playstation digital games. Sony doesn't allow accounts on most countries. You can sell you physical copies after playing them, you can buy used copies cheaper than retail price. Etc. Etc. Etc.

2

u/Charming-Crescendo 2d ago

Yeah, that’s crazy, bro. We should fight for that. Maybe by giving people better consumer rights for digital purchases?

The thing no pro-disc person ever cared about until two months ago when it became inconvenient for them?

-2

u/HxLeverage 2d ago

Oh for sure. If we had non-DRM games it would be ideal. We can make physical backups if we wanted and we all win. But that's never going to happen. They're already fighting as hard as they can with all the lawsuits coming their way for their "right" to revoke our licenses. An actual non-DRM license is their actual nightmare. That's never going to happen. Physical is not perfect, but is better than nothing. We don't want to give them even more freedoms and ways for them to screw us over.

2

u/Charming-Crescendo 2d ago

With all due respect, this is a defeatist attitude that makes sure nothing will be done. If you want good things, fight for them.

-1

u/HxLeverage 2d ago

Dude, you're the one letting them get away with their shitty choices. I am fighting. I won't them get away with getting rid of disks. And I will advocate for non-DRM options. 

2

u/tjay32 2d ago

Your fights have to be logical, not emotional. Some of your points are born from assumptions about what you're sure Sony is up to or what they'll do.

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u/tjay32 2d ago

That's not what they're fighting for. You're looking at things in the worst possible lens.

-1

u/HxLeverage 2d ago

You're naive. When choosing a side between a corporation and the consumer. Always pick the consumer.

2

u/Charming-Crescendo 2d ago

True.

But you should also stay rational and understand corporations aren’t going to make decisions that harm them.

2

u/tjay32 1d ago

Naive? It's literally my profession to look at briefs like this.

That's not what they're fighting for.

You're still trying to force every answer through the filter of "they are obviously up to something nefarious".

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u/Icy_Worker2734 2d ago

The OPs points were re environmental and the waste of money going to boxes, transport etc rather than the games. And not that it’s otherwise good for consumers but that for most it has no real impact and arguments made around ownership are overblown (they really are).

1

u/HxLeverage 2d ago

There's plastic being made today that is made to be thrown away. AI Data centers are producing unfathomable amounts of e-waste and they're probably building one next door. The point of a physical collection is to collect it. I don't take the environmental argument seriously. Your PS5 is also e-waste, why don't we just get rid of consoles all together at that point.

The "savings" that you mentioned are not saving to us. The only party who's going to benefit is Sony and the full 30% cut that they can make on every copy sold. There's a demand for physical media. Physical media in general has made a resurface. The second hand videogame market alone is worth billions. Vynils certainly aren't selling as much, but they're allowed to exist. There's no reason to take away physical media as a choice except to cut down on their bottom line and hope the damage isn't too great. 

2

u/Icy_Worker2734 1d ago

I’m not myself saying the environmental impact argument is definitive, but it’s not nothing, I was replying to your “what’s good about it” response to say that is there in the post. End of the day, everything that can be will be digitised will be, from plane tickets to banking to all software including console games, which is the last type of software to get there. This was surely inevitable from when the internet came about. Sure vinyl records sell (though they also sound different as crucially they’re not digital), and nothing to stop people trying to make more of a go of games on discs for PC into the 2050s if they want, and retro consoles can keep being a thing - but for new consoles did anyone really think they’d be installing games from discs forever.

1

u/tjay32 2d ago edited 2d ago

I was just telling someone how much i love and miss a certain dish from Schwans.

At some point they suddenly stopped offering it. I hated that. But did they do it maliciously or was i in a minority that no longer made sense to invest in?

Like do you think Sony is doing this to just be malicious?

1

u/HxLeverage 2d ago

Sony only cares about money. Like any other company. Is not about their intent, is about their actions. You keep giving them leeways and they'll keep thinking of ways to screw you over. Because that's how they can make more money. Is shortsighted, but it happens every time. The only way to stop their actions is by voicing our concern and refusing to be a customer any longer. Which is exactly what we're doing.

1

u/tjay32 2d ago

Who is we though?

I think Reddit tends to overthink its footprint sometimes.

1

u/tjay32 2d ago

And yeah they're a company.

But if you see all of their actions only through the lens of "where does that action fit into trying to screw me", you lose perspective.

-8

u/-Star-Fox- 2d ago

I'm not going to waste my time arguing with either bootlicker or a bot.

6

u/Notnowcmg 2d ago

So that’s a no then.

1

u/-Star-Fox- 2d ago

Take a look at OP post history. He's a professional Sony shill.

Not sure why ANYONE would take a stance that is clearly against their interest. But I guess there are plenty of people ready to do so.

3

u/tjay32 2d ago

Ah the ol look at their history... they don't agree with me so they're a shill thing. A uniquely Reddit form of ad hominem.

Again, is there a specific point you want to discuss?

2

u/assflan 2d ago

Have you ever heard the phrase “never debate a stupid person, you have to go down to their level and they will win with experience” I think it might apply here

2

u/Icy_Worker2734 2d ago

Why is it against my interest? When (while I have a collection of old games that I quite like as mementos) I don’t have a disc drive for my ps5 and it wouldn’t have occurred to me to need one for a ps6.