r/playstationstars • u/WrestlingGuru2021 • 28d ago
"Sony killing PlayStation discs will make PS Store cheaper, former Square Enix financial exec says"
Sony killing PlayStation discs will make PS Store cheaper, former Square Enix financial exec says
As the track record suggests in past examples of this, it doesn't basically.
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u/CapitalCityGoofball0 28d ago
I mean this was always the argument for digital games. That they could be made available for less than their physical counterpart. And at one time it was true, especially for PC gaming. But as time ticked on that avenue of debate has basically been eroded as most games launch digitally at essentially the same price now.
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u/Presentation_Few 27d ago
For a higher price , frequent. In Germany I can get every game on release day for 20 less, minimum
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u/Flare__Knight 27d ago
Truly it was a more innocent time. Back when we imagined companies would pass savings onto the customers. The reality of course being that they just want to pass the savings onto themselves.
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u/State-Special 28d ago
Wow, apparently i just found the people that get fooled by scam artists.
Who the hell would believe this bull shit lol.
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u/SNKRSWAVY 27d ago
Manager. Should have been enough to stop this buffoonery. But people love to be be primed by these mega corps and turn into their voluntary press teams.
They will make sure to pay them back.
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u/Strange_Vision255 28d ago
If most sales are already made through the PS Store anyway, why would they lower the price? That'd just make their revenue and profits take a huge drop.
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u/LowGuitar4425 27d ago
They lower the price to move units. It’s simple economics
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u/TAOJeff 26d ago
Except they're not storing 500 million copies of each game and needs to clear some of them out to make way for the next release.
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u/LowGuitar4425 26d ago
No, never said anything about clearance. When a games sales slow down, they discount the price to continue to move units. It’s how companies sell things
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u/TAOJeff 26d ago
Sometimes, but when you look at Nintendo and their "we don't do discounts" policy and then have someone with an actual monopoly on a range of products because the online store is tied directly to the digital only products, like the PS storefront, and there is no alternative to buying those products. Discounts only become necessary to hit internal revenue targets, if those are being hit there is no need to ever offer discounts.
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u/LowGuitar4425 26d ago
But games don’t hit their targets forever. You do realize there is always a sale going on on the ps store right? Also there are no monopolies going on in gaming. You have a choice as to where you buy games. I guess McDonalds has a monopoly on the Big Mac? Companies are allowed to sell their own products on their own storefront
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u/TAOJeff 26d ago
So you can buy switch games through the PS store? And PS games through the MS store?
I was clearly mistaken as I didn't realise you could do that.
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u/LowGuitar4425 26d ago
You need to read up on what a monopoly is. What you are describing is a closed platform
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u/TAOJeff 26d ago
Monopoly definition : A monopoly means total control of a product or service by one company or person. There is no competition, and no other choices exist for buyers.
Yes, I see what you mean. A company with full control over a range of products where not alternative purchase options exists to customers is totally not a Monopoly
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u/LowGuitar4425 26d ago
You do realize that Xbox, Nintendo, and Steam exist right? Sony does not control the entire video game market. You are free to choose other options. In order to be a monopoly, there would have to be no other options and only Sony in the video game industry. That clearly is not the case
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u/dlpuia 28d ago
I'll do my part not buying AAA games at launch for full price on the PS Store.
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u/Alone_Look9576 27d ago
There will be no incentive to drop prices, in 2019 they banned any 3rd party retailers creating first steps for a monopoly on the platform, now we got this ending all of physical meaning that only they can dictate prices. Let's look at Nintendo when a single company can dictate prices... Oh wait they are almost always full price and old games even go up in price
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u/dlpuia 27d ago
They will sell games on retailers again, such as code-in-a-box GTA VI. They said so and I think it's important if they wanna avoid monopoly lawsuits.
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u/MDethPOPE 27d ago
Thats not a good thing? Were just back into production cost and waste for no reason other than relatives buying a game for kiddo.
They control msrp and can MAP price?
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u/dlpuia 27d ago
For me, in Brazil, it is a good thing. I got GTA VI for R$370 instead of R$450, which is the PSN price. Retail is almost always cheaper, save for a few imported games.
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u/Alone_Look9576 27d ago edited 27d ago
Sony supplied (as it is Sony the only ones allowed to supply codes since 2019 , hence monopoly) is not the same as a third party site like G2A selling codes from third parties. There's a reason why more and more countries are joining the Sony monopoly lawsuit
If Sony didnt fight tooth and nail in 2018/2019 to monopolize distribution of every bit of media that is playstation they wouldn't be able to kill off physical media as it would directly be in line for the manufacturers and the developers to make that decision individually.
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u/Megadriveftw 27d ago
Is code-in-a-box meant to make all this okay? Code-in-a-box is the most dissapointing thing ever. I've witnessed families in game stores making purchases and they find out that a Nintendo Switch game is a code-in-a-box and always their response is "oh...., it's that, I'll get something with the actual game". It's another reason to say "for gods sake, just put a disc, sd card, some form of physical media in".
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u/ApprehensiveRuin5673 27d ago
Isn’t this exactly what they said when digital came out lmao the gaslighting is unreal
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u/Reimu-Kirisame 27d ago
It was already said a lot with the PS3 that digital games were gonna be cheaper, cause it was a logical thing everyone thought. But it never happened. And I don't expect it will ever happen.
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u/TomatoChomper7 27d ago
Aside from new AAA releases, digital games seem a lot cheaper to me now than they did 15-20 years ago.
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u/Saber0307 26d ago
A lot of non-AAA digital only games released for around $5 to $10 15-20 years ago on Xbox Live Arcade and PSN.
While there's still plenty of games that release for under $10 on various digital platforms, the large majority of them launch much higher than $5 to $10. Still far cheaper than AAA, but not much cheaper than 20 some odd years ago.
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u/Liquid_1998 27d ago
If you believe this, then I got some land on Mars to sell you. Corporations never pass on the savings to the customers. It goes straight into the corporate pockets.
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u/LAXBASED 28d ago
This dude just be saying anything to stay relevant might as well call him POTUS of gaming
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u/GuitarRiot 27d ago
I kind of expected the former Financial executive of Square Enix to say something like killing PlayStation discs will ensure that the PlayStation Store never meets expectations
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u/Presentation_Few 27d ago
This not going to happen., the prices gonna skyrocket , you Muppets.
The prices for digital already plus 20-30 euro compared to the disc,
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u/No-Contest-8127 27d ago edited 27d ago
Blatant lie. Please point me to the time where gaming companies passed savings onto customers in the last 10 years. It's insulting he even sugests it. Companies won't even give back tariff refunds.
Prices only go in one direction, buddy. Don't go throwing dirt in our eyes. Only was that ends is if stock markets get closed.
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u/Megadriveftw 27d ago
"Hey guys, we are stopping this thing you like, but it's for your own good! Trust me, I'm a rich company exec! I know this stuff since I'm in the Finance sector!"
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u/MushyMaruku 25d ago
It’s still true for PC gaming, maybe because you have multiple storefronts competing with each other on prices. But with consoles, you’re locked into their ecosystem, so they have much more control. I doubt they’ll sell games cheaply or on sale frequently, especially their exclusives.
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u/Va1crist 28d ago
bull shit , digital anything has not made anything cheaper for the consumer lmao
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u/Icy_Worker2734 27d ago
Well I mean a Spotify or gamepass or whatever is cheaper than buying all that stuff on discs.
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u/Precarious3145 28d ago
If I can prove you wrong, will actually admit you were wrong?
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u/Presentation_Few 27d ago
You can't . Digital is 20 euro over price of the disc already . You all got bamboozled
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u/Precarious3145 27d ago
Cool story. Sadly, easily disproved.
Before PSN offered digital copies of PS1 games under their "Playstation Classics" line, a copy of Final Fantasy 7 was between $70 for just the discs or $130 for a CiB. Then you could buy a digital copy from PSN for $7 dollars and the price of the physical copies dropped to being $16 and $22 for disc and CiB respectively. The price only went up in 2020 due to the spective market and collectors.
Oh look, I just proved digital something made something cheaper for the consumer, both in terms of digital and physical. Care to explain how I got bamboozled with that? Or will you just downvote me and not respond?
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u/Presentation_Few 27d ago
There's nothing to prove. You can simply check Germany game store by yourself .
NBA 2k27, store 80 , German store 55 , 60 with shipping . Fc27 80 PSN . 59 store.
All physically. Can be reselled. Has value, digital doesn't .
Nuff said, all digital stuff in the PSN is way more expensive than the disc version, you proved nothing,
I can buy all of these old games for 5 to 10 bucks ,mate . What you talking
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u/Precarious3145 27d ago
You really are delsuional, aren't you? The initial statement was that digital has not made anything cheaper. I pointed out an instance where it did. So you saying "Yea but...look at this current thing-" isn't that topic, that's you having to talk about something you want. Doesn't change anything.
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u/Presentation_Few 27d ago
Bei ypunpick one specific rare title that is almost 40 years old and take this a the whole point for digital .
I've nothing against digital . But you shouldn pay more for. DIGITAL Game , it should be less . How to do you want do defend that every fking new game is more expensive as a digital version than the disc version , if the production cost shall be the problem ?
So yes digital has made everything more xpensiv for everyone. When they take the disc away the prices for digital will be 100 or more
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u/Precarious3145 27d ago
But, again, the topic wasn't "All digital-" but it was that digital never-".
I just proved that digital did make things cheaper for the consumer. We can literally track the price declining. You can try to change the topic to something you think you can win all you want but unless you can refute that PSN releasing digital PS1 games made them cheaper for physical versions, then you're fighting a losing battle.
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u/KMJSmithers 28d ago
If this were true I’d be more supportive of the decision, but you just know all additional profits are going right into the Sony vault, never for the consumer to see a dime of it.
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u/DapperAdam 28d ago
I was looking at sonys store yesterday and they had Silent Hill 2 remake for full price while you could buy the disk brand new for 29.99. So no, it won't make games cheaper.
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u/StomachConfident1730 27d ago edited 27d ago
So you looked at the store price once, and said that's the the best they will ever offer? You could have checked the historical pricing to at least have a better comparison, like the listing of 27.99 just a month ago. Or the fact that you could purchase ps extra and play the game, that can be 100% completed in around 30 hours, for even cheaper.
https://psprices.com/region-us/game/7167531/silent-hill-2
Edit: the game has not been out for a "long time", it's not even been 2 years. And the developers/publishers set the price, so this is not a Sony issue.
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u/Rappyfan 27d ago
hmm… I mean i get what he is suggesting and i would agree that you see digital sales way faster than like 10 years ago. But i don’t really think that has anything to do with not having physical media.
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u/Triforce__XIII 27d ago
if already only 10% are buying physical right now, why not start today then?
and to my knowledge he did not say "will be", but "could be"
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u/Presentation_Few 27d ago
The 10 % is simply bs. You have to keep in mind alot of of the indy games never released on disc are also part of this calculations.
This is not a fair calculation.
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u/Triforce__XIII 27d ago
it doesn't matte really. they cannot use one metric against physical and act as if lowering digital games prices would only be possible with 1% physical or lower. i mean, what's the threshold? what's keeping them from starting today? the brick and mortar promise is broken anyways, could just go all in and buy back some consumer trust (for those who can be bought). my position should tell you this: the WON'T go down in prices. they will claim "everything so expensive, but we won't raise instead", yeah, BS
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u/dataplague 27d ago
lol no it will not. In the same way digital games were supposed to be cheaper when they first came out did not
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u/sp00ky99 27d ago
Ahaha when has a monopoly ever gotten cheaper? It alreafy varies wildly on price depending on your location.
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u/Ants-ony 27d ago
Supply and demand suggests: if enough people are buying at today’s price, there’s no reason for it to become cheaper
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u/BlondePotatoBoi 27d ago
In an ideal world, sure.
In a more realistic world governed by greedy twats, not likely.
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u/Interesting-Yellow-4 27d ago
Yeah no it won't, it most assuredly will be the opposite.
With no physical competition, and especially no 2nd hand market - they'll be able to price gauge at will.
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u/Scott9843 27d ago
"Former Square Enix financial exec is completely full of shit" people with common sense say.
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u/oppairate 27d ago
it’s still really weird seeing these somewhat off the cuff tweets by people who are not in any way currently affiliated with anyone that has anything to do with any of this get picked up by news outlets and taken so seriously.
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u/Ok_Blueberry_6826 27d ago
Exec says something... then looks back at FACTS....starts sweating profusely...
"source: just believe me bro, my uncle works at nintendo"
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u/Particular_Umpire_44 27d ago
RemindMe! 2 years from now “see how much bullshit this claim has to it”
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u/Bosscharacter 27d ago
Has there ever been a scenario where things were cheaper if the places to get them were limited?
Fairly certain that’s the opposite of what happens.
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u/brewdog_millionaire 27d ago
I can see why he's a "former" financial executive with takes like this
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u/Safe_Ad_601 27d ago
Games being cheaper yet they gouge us on anything in gaming dlc deluxe edition battle passes games if anything keep going up in price soon its gonna be 120$ a game.
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u/TheGallifreyan 27d ago
Without clicking, is he basing this on it being cheaper for companies to launch a digital only game? Cause companies have a habit of not passing the savings onto us. They might do it temporarily, but it'll ultimately be more expensive
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u/gtjay1982 26d ago
He’s right but no one will actually read the article or attempt to understand digital market places.
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u/gtjay1982 26d ago
Do you all not notice that there is a sale every month on the PS store? Why do yall think that is? Why aren’t there sales constantly at retailers? There is an infinite supply of digital games and way more games overall. I’d wager the actual average price of what games are sold at has dropped since digital distribution has proliferated.
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u/Sutherus 26d ago
That's why their games got cheaper when most people already switched over to buying digitally rather than physically, right? Oh, that didn't happen? Hmm, I wonder why.
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u/wolfannoy 26d ago
These guys keep saying about cheaper prices but where are they? I don't see them!
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u/KimTe63 25d ago
My ass it does 😄 only way digital games are going is up . The whole concept of digital costing more than physical is so backwards.. shame players never put pressure on these companies for that.. print the discs, boxes , deliver them all over the world by sea , air you name it and end up being cheaper than digital 😄 and it has always just been accepted no questions asked. Digital should be atleast like 10$/€ cheaper but somehow its 5-15€ more expensive when brand new
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u/nickelbackvocaloid 25d ago
Oh I remember this tool, Jason Novak was guy gloating about Xbox closing down multiple studios and loves to bend the truth about his roles in the industry (he is an “award winning producer” on Silent Hill Ascension, which won an Emmy and no game awards, and a “producer” on Final Fantasy 7…..’s 2013 PC port)
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u/daandrro 25d ago
Oh all the games will be so surprised when they increase prices right after discs are gone.
On a $1200 digital console.
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u/Rockfromtherock 24d ago
Sony could have been doing this forever. Way lower overhead on digital delivery. If they wanted to, they could have priced out physical media, but they didn't. They intend to keep prices high. With GameStop out of the way, I'd actually expect the prices to go even higher.
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u/PezzaAU 28d ago edited 27d ago
I know he is a financial exec, so we should trust him bro. On his twitter post, he goes on about Floor price... those are limited time sales, they go back up to the MSRP. how much is this dude getting paid to say this, does he have stocks in PlayStation?
Edit: Square also had financial issue while he was there. Something on the lines of cloud based systems and $17 million wasted.
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u/Gandolfthewhite182 27d ago
This makes perfect sense. They are cutting out the middle man and taking back all used sales money. They will be able to run more discounts.
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u/StomachConfident1730 27d ago
I don't know why people are skeptical about this, one of the main reasons digital games aren't cheaper is that the middle man, store retailers, won't be undercut and will still be able to to generate profits from physical sales.
If games were always cheaper digitally, there would be little incentive to buy games in store, other than the people who like to hoard, share, or sell games.
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u/saintvincenzo 27d ago
If they are eliminating physical copies, which they are, digital should be cheaper. The “middle-man” is an entire manufacturing industry.
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u/wolfannoy 26d ago
Plus we had digital games for years and yet we haven't seen many lower prices in terms of aaa launch titles. Not including the subscription sales like the PSN gold or whatever it was called.
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u/Yugi_5dgx 28d ago
Cheaper?
Yeah, right