Physical Media Just Can't Catch a Break Right Now

I'm not entirely sure why people hold physical media in such high regard. I've made the move to digital long ago, it's so much cheaper and I don't have to find a space for it to all gather dust. Yes it could shut down at any time, but what's the likelihood of that happening really?

As someone who still buys physical UHD (granted, I rip them into MKV and use a media player to watch them) this makes me sad.

If the PS6 doesn't have a disk drive then I won't be buying one day one and stick with PS5 for a few years, the Switch 2 would probably become my main console for Jrpgs then. But, I just can't see physical games disappearing until digital sales reach 95% of all sales.

I'm probably 50/50 when it comes to video games between physical and digital.

DVD's however..... honestly can't remember the last time I bought one outside of something really obscure that's only available on DVD

@elvisfan1 there’s just always the fear of some big bad bogeyman. People feel like if they have the disc in their house that they own it, and it could never be taken from them. The digital way, it feels like it can always be taken from you. By the way, I’m a guy who’s been digital for about five years and won’t go back.

@elvisfan1 It definitely isn’t cheaper lmao, for the 10% of great digital prices, most games are priced 20/25 pounds more than their physical counterparts.

But the ease of access is still a big appeal, it’s why i go with digital/physical on a by game basis.

This is unfortunate.

Digital is convenient sure and I buy games digitally sometimes but I still prefer to own a physical copy I can. They can't play that "You're only paying for a license" bs when you own a disc and can pop it right into your PS4/PS5.

"But it's clear... " I ain't read all the yapping in the rest no offense 🗣️✋

Keep in mind, physical media and disc-based media are two separate things.

@GamingFan4Lyf how crazy is it that I read your post and thought, “Old school!” lol

I used to think PS6 would have discs but all that talk about a handheld that natively plays PS5 games complicates things. Naturally discs that size wouldn't fit in a handheld so backwards compatibility on the handheld would have to be limited to digital only.

Which gives me the impression that there'd either be a PSP to Vita style transition (PS6 carts exist but there's no disc drive) or the console is fully digital only.

@DonJorginho I should have mentioned I rarely play a game on release and wait for a deal on them. 99% of the time, digital ends up cheaper than second hand physical, never mind new. This is just my experience of course.

There was an old Revolution X arcade cabinet in the lobby of a movie theatre near me growing up. It was one of those shooter units with a mounted gun. Your weapon shot CD rom discs at the enemies instead of bullets, and it was a great way to pass the time until a movie started. Now arcades are all but gone, movie theatres are floundering, and physical discs are slowly dying. Send your Thank You’s to greedy corporations in pursuit of total control and the worthless younger generation too stupid and short sighted to realize what they’re giving up.

There's the case of eventual disc rot and finding space to put all of those games as well.

The only physical games I buy are Nintendo first party. Everything else is digital. I just find it easier, more convenient, and cheaper, personally

@elvisfan1 how is it cheaper? I paid $79 for Alan wake 2 physical, played it, and sold it on ebay for $60. I wound up paying $20 for something the digital only people paid $70 for. Definitely not cheaper.

@Majin_Deicide Your not though especially nowadays. The finished game all bug free and properly playable appears months down the line via patches digitally. Sitting with a v1.0 disk doesnt make sense to me.

@elvisfan1 for resale value that why people like physical games..or for some to showcase there collection of games..

@elvisfan1 It's cheaper for you. Which is fine and all, but your experience isn't everyone's. My preferred local retailer nearly always has games €5 cheaper at launch, but sometimes as much as €15 (Tekken 8 was €80 from the PSN Store, €65 from them physically). And if you preorder a new release game for delivery from their website, it'll land in your letterbox at least a day before release.

And there's also the fact that you can resell discs too. Bought Dragon Age The Veilguard for €45 physically on Black Friday (which in itself is already cheaper than its cheapest digital price), didn't like it, resold it five days later for €43. Total "loss" for me was €2, instead of the €€50-something it was going for digitally.

I also don't like having stacks of games lying around collecting dust, that's why I resell them and get a hefty chunk of change back. I can well afford them all digitally day one if I wanted, but what's the point in effectively setting fire to that money when I can resell the discs when I'm finished/bored of them?

And I'm not some luddite that doesn't see the benefit of digital. I have hundreds of games digitally. I just also see the benefit of physical and will lament when they disappear for good (get ready to be ridden raw when that happens, BTW).

@TheTraditional I own a few thousand (music CDs). Some are over 30 years old. All of one of them has disc rot.

By the time they're all physically decayed I think I'll long since be physically decayed myself.

One step closer to the adorably all digital future😎

If Sony fully cut the disc drive then they’ll be sued into oblivion and forced to sell digital codes to other retailers. It’s either that or they pull out of the EU completely. Being happy about being locked into Sony prices is buffoon behaviour.

Kinda why I have an extensive Playstation and Steam/GOG libraries. Been all digital since the PS4 twilight years.

@elvisfan1 It’s the difference between actually owning your purchased product vs buying an indefinite rental.

I want to own my games/movies/music. Simple as that.

True story. My sister just bought my nephew the discless PS5 for Christmas. And she also bought him Madden on disc at Walmart. 😂 After a long talk w/ me, our mom, and her mother in law she decided discless was not the way to go for a tween who has parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who like to buy him video games. So she returned the discless PS5 and bought the disc PS5 for $50 more. Which I told her she’ll more than make back just on all the PS4 games I can give him that she won’t need to buy. And the rest of the relatives can much more easily buy him disc based games.

And that’s 1 reason to go for disc, gifts. New and old.

I’ll be a little sad when video goes all digital. I like borrowing movies from the library. And some sets are just nice to have. Though I can’t also see kids growing up w/ mobile devices and streaming not even knowing what physical media is. So both sides have their pros and cons but progress marches on.

I do buy a lot of games digitally these days but that's usually when they're on sale, for new games I want at launch, I almost always buy them physically. I buy all my movies physically as there is no way I'm subscribing to multiple companies to be able to watch the films that I want to.

I do find it odd that so many almost celebrate an all digital future, as this will not benefit the consumer in any way, even if you don't buy physical

I've moved over to digital a while ago and it's just so much more convenient, and it saves space on my shelf.

This year I've bought: Stellar blade, Undisputed, Astrobot, Tekken 8, Black Myth Wu Kong (today), Blops 6 & GT7, all on disc.
The last blu ray I bought was Deadpool and Wolverine and I still buy CDs the latest being Eminem and Linkin Parks hits, so physical media is still a big thing for me and my family too.
If PS6 is going to be digital only, and Sony are still PC porting, I'll just go to PC as it'll help my fledgling youtube channel more

Unfortunate but it’s reality. Gonna enjoy physical games the rest of this gen then go fully pc next gen. Physical games have been the main reason why I have been a console gamer but if they go away so do I.

@Swirly if you are gonna by cds might as well switch over to vinyl. Better sound quality and also retain more value.

@elvisfan1 dont know how its so much cheaper every game ive bought on disc this generation ive sold for what ive bought it for

so playing games this generation has cost me nothing im not sure how you can get cheaper than that

@elvisfan1 The disc is a physical manifestation of the license. I can prove that I own the game. I can loan it, gift it, or sell it. The most important part of physical games is competition. Digital only games are only sold on PSN. There's no external pressure to reduce prices. Without physical media, Sony has a monopoly. With physical media, Amazon, Sony, GameStop, and other resellers can compete against each other. The consumer wins. There's also the possibility that your digital games are delisted or that your license is revoked. They can do that if they want to; it's in the terms of service.

One more thing post-edit - many physical games appreciate in value. Digital games have zero value besides the value that the end user derives from playing and enjoying it.

That's why I'm heavily in favor of physical.

I miss physical media more and more as time goes by. Outside of the sheer joy of having everything on a shelf and easily being able to spot what I want to watch or play, there are so many other advantages.

Personally, I'm still someone who holds the preowned market in high regard, and that's why I always prefer to opt for physical. I very, very rarely go back to games (outside of a few classics) and always like the option to offset the cost of a new game by selling old ones on eBay.

Movies have the bigger problem of their distribution being so spread out - trying to find a specific movie and figuring out if I already have access to it via a subscription service or if I need to buy it digitally, and then making sure the service I'm buying it from has an app on the TV on want to watch it on... it is all such a hassle, and to be honest has made me far less likely to bother than when I just had a few shelves full of DVDs.

For dvd and blue ray physical is far better quality than streaming. So to with videogames, but at least you can locally install digital games to play at the same quality as physical media

Games play the same whether they’re digital or physical, but there is a WIDE gulf between the audio-visual quality of streaming a movie vs. the UHD disc. Even a standard bluray on an upscale looks better than the best streaming service.

I'm very pro physical media. I have over a thousand DVDs, hundreds of BD and dozens of 4k but barely any PS4 onward games. For me the fact that I get access from two simultaneous accounts means that digital is always cheaper and it's much easier to business travel with too.

I've always find it funny that even certain f2p games have even made it physical after release 😂

One way of them already try to discourage trading games is doing sales as fast as possible, that way it would be more competitive than what it used to. (could we complain about half-glass empty 🤷)
I mean, physical is just a means for trading, if they make digital sharing ecosystem better, won't doubt many would have a change in perspective. A Way Out is a prime example, something I'd always think of.
In terms of preservation, they are already doing that with Plus Premium.

At least they are still doing their part, regardless of what this community have in their minds~

The market is speaking loudly in favour of convenience at the expense of competition, secondary and tertiary markets, preservation, sentimentalism, product quality and overall consumer control. And profit hungry corporations are all too happy to oblige.

I predict that the PS6 will not include a disc drive, but there will be an optional external drive sold separately, so it won't be like the PS5's drive that mounts inside the console. I wish Sony designed the PS5's drive to be external to future proof it to be compatible with the PS6 and beyond instead of necessitating the purchase of another one when the time comes.

The big question is what will happen with digital pricing when Sony has complete monopoly. People just expect prices to remain the same, but big companies aren't usually happy to just keep making the same amount of profit

100% digital for games now, but I'm shifting back towards physical media for movies as I get sick of the thinly spread nature of streaming services as every studio has it's own subscription these days, plus you don't have to rely on the internet and content at a lower quality.

I'm totally happy with digital games purchases but I do hope all subscription services start to phase out or tilt more towards just being an indy dev platform, because I don't want the games industry to fully collapse. And that may be the case of we continue down the path that includes Xbox putting their best release of the generation on to a subscription service that has peaked. Thankfully PS users will have the chance to buy it in Spring 😅

That said, any pressure on companies that sell digital games to provide more competition in that space I very much support.

Not worried, because physical disc market raise again, when movies come in Real Look Technology. I buy digital only when it is inevitable (not released physically). I'm not fan of rental, I rather buy and play when I want, not when they want.

@MrPeanutbutterz Agree mate, that's why I said it's just my experience in my second comment. And fair enough I'd completely neglected the fact that a lot of people resell their games.

@IntrepidWombat I don't think there's a lot of physical media that appreciates nowadays to be honest. Maybe the odd thing but not as much as it used to certainly.

@TheTraditional You'll die before disc rot gets a single blu ray disc.

@elvisfan1 I go physical because its generally cheaper and has resale value making it further cheaper. Its all about the cost and cost alone. Digital is more convenient but when games can be half the cost on disc then can be sold to cex for a further chunk of money it just cheaper over all. I also borrow and lend game with my mates which saves on cost even further.

@TheTraditional I doubt I will even experience disc rot occurring to my discs in my lifetime, I have music CDs from the late 80s that are perfectly fine, but I have seen disc rot from discs bought second hand. I think they were just stored under poor conditions.

I'll buy physical until the option is completely gone. I bought a few games digital in the past but now I outright refuse to buy digital out of principle. I'm fighting a losing battle of course but I don't want to support it.

@Fishmasterflex96 I prefer cds as I can rip them easier and move the files over to my DAP

This is what Phil Spencer was saying in an interview about consoles with disc drives. That it would become harder and harder to find a manufacturer so them as the pieces and parts are starting to go away. Yes i know they push Digital services and what not. But there’s more than just one or ten reasons for that. This being one of them. Sony still makes a disc drive. I believe they will for PS6 but by PS7 i would guess 90 plus percent of game sales will be digital only. Making it a moot point to even produce a disc drive or physical media in general. Long story short prepare now would be the smarter move.

I'm not sure how it was for other regions but in the US, this Black Friday showed that it's just way cheaper to buy physical for newer games. About 80% of the new games I've purchased are physical because they are just cheaper.

Silent Hill: $30 physical / $56 digital
Stellar Blade: $40 / $50
DBZ Sparking Zero: $50 / $70
Rise of the Ronin: $30 / $40
Disney Epic Mickey Rebrushed: $30 / $42
Spiderman 2: $30 / $40
Sonic X Shadow: $30 / $38
SMT V Vengeance: $25 / $42
Persona 3 Reload: $25 / $35
Like a Dragon IW: $25 / $35
Gran Turismo (PS5): $20 / $30
Avatar: $20 / $31.50
Armored Core: $20 / $36
Hogwarts Legacy: $20 / $30

Honestly almost all games released within the last 2 years have been cheaper physically consistently. Not sure how anyone can argue digital is cheaper unless we're talking about games that were released many years ago.

@Fishmasterflex96 I’m pretty sure the whole “vinyl sounds better than CDs” thing has been debunked in blind listening tests, but I do enjoy owning the Tron Legacy vinyl set I got from Target…I keep meaning to put them on my wall, especially the translucent blue disc!

Absolutely not trying to yuck your yum for vinyl, though! I see the appeal, even if I don’t personally share it!

@AhmadSumadi I may be old school, but, when you have a high-end sound system, there is a noticeable difference between something that is streamed using Dolby Digital Plus and the lossless TrueHD (or DTS-HD MA) found on physical media.

Dune is a great example. There is just a richer bass and cleaner sound to the already incredible soundtrack. Plus, I have noticed that, for whatever reason, surround effects are a lot more pronounced when using a physical disc (or an uncompressed ripped copy of a physical disc) vs the streaming variant of the same film.

I feel like it's the difference between watching something at home vs experiencing it in the theater.

But, alas, I am a dying breed. The masses couldn't care less as most either use a soundbar, TV speakers, or watch from a phone/tablet.

I still buy physical games - ends up cheaper since I play and then sell them (if no DLC is in the development pipeline) - usually for around just £20 less than I bought them for 🙂 Also there have been a few games I didn't get into (e.g. Star Wars Outlaws) which I then could sell on.

So for the physical-only people, do they just not play indie games? Because most indie games don't get physical releases unless it sold well digitally. Which means most indie games aren't available physically. There's a whole realm of games that people won't touch out of principle? And with digital, doesn't more money go to the developer/publisher since there's no manufacturing and distribution costs? I'd rather the people that make games get more of my money rather than be concerned about whether I have a physical disc with resale value even though I'll probably never sell it.

@elvisfan1 A majority don't, you're right. At least not immediately. Most of my PS1 games are worth more than I paid for them, but you're talking about 25 year old games at that point. The ones that appreciate quickly now are hit or miss. Basically all of Falcom's Trails games do - if you want a physical copy, you need to buy one at launch or end up paying significantly more for it.

Physical all the way. I'm fed up with all the delistings and other bull 💩 that comes with all-digital. ❤️💿❤️

I prefer physical media for films because they present in better quality, very few, if any streaming services can match the quality of a good 4k blu ray, I also don't have to worry about my films disappearing one day.

As for LG, I wasn't aware they even produced 4k players, they certainly aren't on any top 5 players lists and that's probably why they aren't making any more because the ones they made aren't particularly good.

I still buy physical games but also digital, it depends on price and whether I might want to share or sell it in the future, digital is certainly more convenient.

I still much prefer physical media. Sure, I spend pretty much all my time with my autistic brother watching streaming service me, BUT our internet is horrible. He buys movies all the time, which we can easily watch without having to wait for it to buffer. Plus movies come and go on streaming services and sometimes you can’t find what you want specifically because nobody is streaming it. Also, sometimes there are shows that have “banned” episodes that you can’t find streaming. I’m looking at a Pokémon box set right now that has one of those episodes on it. So it IS better to have a VHS/DVD/Blu-ray of it. Same with physical games. Games sometimes get delisted and you can’t buy them anymore. Yet if you have a physical copy…

You can all preach your “digital only” crap all you want, but physical media is still incredibly important for those very reasons.

Now, I’m not saying we’re both strictly physical media, he owns some 30+ Switch digital games that were bought at deep discounts. But still you can’t just up and deny that physical media is still important with the points I’ve given.

I still use my disk drive very often. I still use it for gaming of course, I played Star Wars outlaws with it but I’ve bought a lot of shows on box sets that way I could ditch many of my streaming subscriptions.

@Wakkawipeout Nope! I don’t play indie games. That said, the only system I own that can connect online is a Vita. So I don’t really have any way of purchasing them. But I don’t see much that interests me that I can think of off the top of my head.

@elvisfan1
I'm dinosaur, old school gamer.
I love physical games that you can owned even the games are more than 20 years old.
I hate the convenience of being digital only.
I hate the future of being digital only.

Not surprised.
Except for enthusiasts, no one buys these players anymore. I collect a lot of movies, though less now than 10 years ago. And hopefully, when my Panasonic UB820 dies, it's still easy to get a replacement online.
I also consume a lot of movies and games digitally, so I'm not one of those that will stop gaming, even if PS6 is digital only.
I just wish that Sony would offer the same kind of refunds, as on PC and Xbox, if you don't enjoy the game you bought digitally.

@dskatter fair enough, was more so coming from a vinyl is cooler to collect angle and if they even offer a slight better sound then cds and if you are a physical collector might as well go with that.

@elvisfan1 "I've made the move to digital long ago, it's so much cheaper"

😂😂 Absolute BS. People may prefer digital for ease, no space required for storing cases, carbon fp etc but to say digital is so much cheaper is a blatant lie.

Digital is kind of expensive. For consoles at least- PC is different because digital on console does something digital on PC doesn't.
The most powerful thing a customer can ever do, no matter what you're buying, is shop around. Make these companies fight each other for the honour of your custom. But on consoles, there is only one digital storefront. On Playstation, if you have don't a disc drive, you have to buy your games from Sony. On PC, Steam is biggest digital store front, but not the only one. You can get your games elsewhere if you like. Same for streaming services for most movies.
That's why console manufacturers are pushing digital, they're trying to weaken customers by forcing them into a market place with only one vendor. At that point, the vendor is in complete control of the price you pay.
So for games consoles I'm much more attached to physical media than I am in any other situation, because the push for digitial is uniquely sinister for games consoles.

@Wakkawipeout I know this will come as a shock, but those of us who prefer physical games will also buy digital games on occasion. It isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition unless you genuinely don’t have an optical drive in your console.

I have a metric ton of PS/Switch/XBox games in physical and digital format. Some games don’t get physical releases in the US, as well. Like the PS4 version of the Ace Attorney games, for example. Either you import or you live with digital only for those. Only the Switch version of those got US releases, and even then the original trilogy never got a state-side physical release. Had to import that one, annoyingly.

@Kidfunkadelic83 I never understand why people insist digital is cheaper. I can, for example, go buy Scarlet Nexus at GameStop for $5! Or buy it on PSN for $60. Yep. Digital sure is cheaper alright…