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[Punished Miku]

Genuine question: Beyond game sharing, the fact that your digital copy will not get scratched, and not having to put a disk in, are there other benefits you can educate me on?

1. Forward compatibility with basically any device. Its going to be cloud / pc / phone compatible pretty soon and your copy will carry forward in future gens that have dropped physical. 2. Convenience when switching games, especially with quick resume. 3. Being able to easily visualize your library. I've had physical libraries so big it took up a full extra room and then some for 20 years. Most of it sits unplayed and you forget what you even own. 4. Clutter and having your living space look like a Blockbuster Video gets old after many years. Its all gone except for a few collectibles. Much more convenient in terms of living space.

 

[THE DUCK]

Genuine question: Beyond game sharing, the fact that your digital copy will not get scratched, and not having to put a disk in, are there other benefits you can educate me on?

Sure:

Easy and fast switching between games

Instant sorting and searching

Never lose a game to fire, theft, or borrowing

Easier sharing between rooms, just log in. (This is a big one in a house with multiple consoles, not just sharing with others)

Storage space. I own hundreds of games across multiple platforms, this would be a serious issue at this point.

When you combine that with, for me at least, almost no downside, it's an easy choice. I don't sell games, and I find that where I live 98 times out of a hundred digital games are on sale at the same price as physical. (Sometimes physical is cheaper, sometimes the digital sale is cheaper)

I do miss the whole collectibility part with the box and all, but it's ok.

 

[Topher]

Wait, you play at 30? Not on my watch......
Just kidding, if you want your eyes to bleed that's your choice. Actually, I used to be a 30fps is just fine person......lately I can't seem to go back........

Also waring is one thing, debate is still valid. One thing that drives me crazy on this forum is so many things be labeled as "console waring" when the debate happens to involve 2 consoles or 2 companies. One can have a position on either side without it being a console war.

Yeah.....i can't go back either. lol

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was getting at with the "warring" thing. Some folks may have that angle, but others just have views that are not tied to it at all. We can't read minds so don't think there is any point trying to put a finger on who is warring or not unless they are being obvious about it. I mean.....when it is real warring then everyone knows it, but this ain't that I don't think.

But console wars at least have an antagonistic angle. As in there is financial investment that could be lost. What exactly is the pro-digital camp even cheering FOR?

Think THE DUCK covered the pro digital angle fairly well above. I'm pro-physical myself but there are valid arguments either way.

 

[twilo99]

Why even include PC, mobile, and VR in this data? It makes no sense.

cuz those 3 are the future of gaming

 

[THE DUCK]

But console wars at least have an antagonistic angle. As in there is financial investment that could be lost. What exactly is the pro-digital camp even cheering FOR?

Only one console declared that physical is already dead. Despite it bringing them no advantage, the supporters of that console tried to defend that position with no benefit to themselves. Because it is the company stance and thus needed to be cheered for.

I dont think the S dropped the drive just to "stick it to digital", it was more likely a cost cutting measure than anything. I think the positioning of the S changed from the original vision, I think ms expected to be selling it for cheaper but then covid hit. Then they foolishly held back thinking it would keep selling and tighted thier belts when they should have gone $149 or $199.

 

[sachos]

Im sorry but this reeks of wanting to make physical look in a way worse shape than it really is. I want to see a chart like this one from the UK sales in 2023 but for the US or the entire world? Is there anyway we can get that?

 

[IntentionalPun]

Price going up for digital and physical can result in possibly more revenue (or not depending on if you push people away from buying software and into subs) but I'm not sure what that has to do with physical specifically.

It means actual unit sales went down more than the 37% sales revenue was down.

That’s all I meant.

Nothing I said had anything to do with digital. We are not discussing digital sales lol

 

[sachos]

Look at the replies to that tweet, everyone falling for the statistics trick he just pulled...

 

[ProtoByte]

But console wars at least have an antagonistic angle. As in there is financial investment that could be lost. What exactly is the pro-digital camp even cheering FOR?

Think THE DUCK covered the pro digital angle fairly well above. I'm pro-physical myself but there are valid arguments either way.

Duck covered the benefits of digital games. Not motivation as to why anyone would be anti-physical. I've never seen anyone who likes physical saying that you shouldn't be able to buy digital, but I have seen it the other way around.

I think it just comes down to winning arguments over the internet. That's literally it. Similar to Piscatella, it's an ego thing.

 

[nial]

It depends on if there is any slight physical format change. If there is a slight change, backwards compat through digital will be their way out.

Does that necessarily have to be the case if the player can still read BD/UHD-BD discs?
I think we'll keep using UHD-BD for PS6, tho.

 

[THE DUCK]

Duck covered the benefits of digital games. Not motivation as to why anyone would be anti-physical. I've never seen anyone who likes physical saying that you shouldn't be able to buy digital, but I have seen it the other way around.

I think it just comes down to winning arguments over the internet. That's literally it. Similar to Piscatella, it's an ego thing.

I'm not anti physical, I'm anti physical bullies!
They wade into threads declaring MS evil for having one digital console, blame consumers for not buying more physical, get mad at people who don't by physical, etc.

The regular physical people are cool, I get the collecting addiction, wanting to be able to play offline, or ability to trade or sell if that's thier thing.

 

[Viking Warrior]

Nonsense. We don't even know how much was spent on physical media with this data. The data is so useless that physical media sales could have actually increased and still have fallen percentage wise due to an increase in spending in mobile.

This is done on purpose to skew the actual data,someone wants you to think that physical is no longer desired or needed.Why not compare platforms that sell both digital and physical,because that number is far bigger than 5% for physical sells and goes against their narrative.

 

[reinking]

There are definite consumer benefits for digital but the biggest benefits are for publishers. This is the way they get more control over the media but more importantly, they get rid of preowned games.

 

[ArtHands]

Tweet literally says “all US video game content spending” and you have people questioning why non-console platforms are included

 

[adamsapple]

Im sorry but this reeks of wanting to make physical look in a way worse shape than it really is. I want to see a chart like this one from the UK sales in 2023 but for the US or the entire world? Is there anyway we can get that?

That chart is kind half baked though, it says only includes games where data for both physical and digital is available so that rules out potentially a lot of top sellers, also it' just a share of the top 20 best selling games, not all content.

 

[thismeinteil]

This data funded by MS. "See it's perfectly fine for us to release our adorably digital consoles after all."

 

[March Climber]

Does that necessarily have to be the case if the player can still read BD/UHD-BD discs?
I think we'll keep using UHD-BD for PS6, tho.

That depends on if BD stays as the defacto format-type. I feel like there will always be a new format-type to shake things up eventually.

Nintendo also changes format constantly. It’s funny because if anyone should have been ahead of this digital storefront movement, it should have been them. I will laugh if the next console is not only a different physical media, but is also not BC.

Somehow they keep playing roulette and manage to come out on top even though they do multiple, multiple anti-consumer friendly practices. I want better for Nintendo, but they make it extremely difficult to consider them as a long term investment in this race.

 

[nial]

Nintendo also changes format constantly. It’s funny because if anyone should have been ahead of this digital storefront movement, it should have been them.

In retrospect, the Wii was definitely the best Nintendo has ever been in offering their classic games at that set time, and even then, it could have been MUCH better (N64 VC, Wii and GCN games not available in digital format). It always weirded me out how they threw away all of that with the Wii U; I know Wii mode was a thing, but it should have been integrated within Wii U's eShop, instead of having to do VC re-releases all over again.

 

[MaulerX]

Sure:

Easy and fast switching between games

Instant sorting and searching

Never lose a game to fire, theft, or borrowing

Easier sharing between rooms, just log in. (This is a big one in a house with multiple consoles, not just sharing with others)

Storage space. I own hundreds of games across multiple platforms, this would be a serious issue at this point.

When you combine that with, for me at least, almost no downside, it's an easy choice. I don't sell games, and I find that where I live 98 times out of a hundred digital games are on sale at the same price as physical. (Sometimes physical is cheaper, sometimes the digital sale is cheaper)

I do miss the whole collectibility part with the box and all, but it's ok.

Here's another one:

Pre-loading of games.

Seriously, you can't play games off the disc drive anyways. They have to be installed into the HDD taking the same exact amount of space. So either I go to the store, buy a game, then go home, put the disc in the drive and wait for it to install or... stay home, fix myself a drink and just play the damn game. No huff and no puff.

 

[adamsapple]

Here's another one:

Pre-loading of games.

Seriously, you can't play games off the disc drive anyways. They have to be installed into the HDD taking the same exact amount of space. So either I go to the store, buy a game, then go home, put the disc in the drive and wait for it to install or... stay home, fix myself a drink and just play the damn game. No huff and no puff.

Xbox at least has a solution for this specific problem. You can download any game using the phone app to your console, it won't work without the disc to activate it of course, but you can have it pre-downloaded well in advance of getting the disc. It's what I do all the time.

The only one we can be sure of is digital is increasing, how physical sales are going cannot be determined by the data provided.

Physical spending dropped 37% from 2019 to 2023. I don't know how you can translate that to anything else but physical sales are declining.

 

[MaulerX]

Xbox at least has a solution for this specific problem. You can download any game using the phone app to your console, it won't work without the disc to activate it of course, but you can have it pre-downloaded well in advance of getting the disc. It's what I do all the time.

Yes this is true. It's an amazing feature and they don't get alot credit for it. This should be a standard feature across the board.

This is an example of physical being made better by digital. The irony is that this particular physical game shortcoming is alleviated only on Xbox consoles.

 

[rm082e]

Xbox at least has a solution for this specific problem. You can download any game using the phone app to your console, it won't work without the disc to activate it of course, but you can have it pre-downloaded well in advance of getting the disc. It's what I do all the time.

Wow...so playing the game with a disc is the same process as digital, but with the added restriction of needing to have the disc in the drive to play the game? That seems...less convenient...

 

[adamsapple]

Wow...so playing the game with a disc is the same process as digital, but with the added restriction of needing to have the disc in the drive to play the game? That seems...less convenient...

?

I'm talking about optionally having the game data downloaded to your console before you even insert a disc in. Helpful if you're heading out to get something and just have it ready to play asap.

 

[rm082e]

?

I'm talking about optionally having the game data downloaded to your console before you even insert a disc in. Helpful if you're heading out to get something and just have it ready to play asap.

Yeah, I understand what you're saying. What I'm getting at is if you take advantage of that option, you're still downloading the game and installing it digitally. You have the added requirement of putting the disc in the drive to verify you have a license to play the game. If you just bought it digitally, you would have the license to play it coupled with the install. In that scenario, using the disc is just "extra steps".

I'm all for options. If people want to buy physical media because they're specifically untrusting of a digital license, good for them. I'm not trying to convince any die-hard physical media fans to go digital.

 

[adamsapple]

Yeah, I understand what you're saying. What I'm getting at is if you take advantage of that option, you're still downloading the game and installing it digitally. You have the added requirement of putting the disc in the drive to verify you have a license to play the game. If you just bought it digitally, you would have the license to play it coupled with the install. In that scenario, using the disc is just "extra steps".

I'm all for options. If people want to buy physical media because they're specifically untrusting of a digital license, good for them. I'm not trying to convince any die-hard physical media fans to go digital.

You're technically right, but it's just a value added feature and my personal use case is ... say I'm going to the local mom and pops store to pick up a few games for cheap, before I head out, I have those games queued to download on the console so by the time I get back, I just insert the disc and start playing. This saves the time of 1/ installing from disc (which every game does now anyway) and 2/ also gets you the latest 'patched' version of the game immediately.

Just a nice time saver.

 

[mayham2199]

I guess Mobile being included in that makes it hard for me to contextualize. It would be more helpful to know what the percentage of physical vs digital spending is for each of the three consoles.

The direction is still the same though: I expect Microsoft and Sony will not support any physical media next generation, only Nintendo with the Switch 2.

No way Sony stops nextgen. They'll offer the external drive at the very least.

 

[Battlesmurf]

Deep-seated anxiety and dread about the future.

-or the fact that he comes off about as accurate as my parents trying to talk about my childhood games. Everything was an Atari or Nintendo. They meant well but lacked an understanding.

 

[Kupfer]

Don't trust any statistics that you haven't falsified yourself

 

[Goalus]

I'm not anti physical, I'm anti physical bullies!
They wade into threads declaring MS evil for having one digital console, blame consumers for not buying more physical, get mad at people who don't by physical, etc.

That's my main reason for cheering every time the physical games lose an additional % of market share.

 

[Hudo]

It sure doesn’t help physical when one of the three main console platform holders is actively trying to kill it off

Don't be disingenuous. Nintendo and Sony are also working on killing that shit off, albeit at a slower pace. Both of them would love for physical games to go away because it gives them more control.

On PC it's already dead. The glorious day of big box PC games... good times...

Edit: Ironically, games going digital-only has shifted my perspective on their value. I started to treat and see them more as a throw-away commodity than something actually valuable. Holding a big box with a colored manual that also contains lore etc. really does something for me.

 

[mckmas8808]

Oh, I'm not trying to "bothsides" or anything. It just seems obvious to me this is the direction they're both heading.

As the costs keep increasing, it's in their best interest to eliminate used/rentals/borrowing. Along with that, we're not going to see the cost of silicon drop at the rate it used to. Eliminating the drive and costs associated with physical media will help increase their profits. If the player base is getting more and more comfortable with it, they'll reach a point where it's just not worth continuing to cater to the shrinking pool of people who have strong feelings about physical media.

I'm guessing Microsoft is already there and the new discless Series X will be a replacement, not an option when it launches later this year. I'm assuming the PS5 Pro will support their add-on drive, but only because they want to double-dip on existing PS5 owners.

So why wouldn't the PS6 not also have the add-on drive as an option?

 

[mckmas8808]

Don't be disingenuous. Nintendo and Sony are also working on killing that shit off, albeit at a slower pace. Both of them would love for physical games to go away because it gives them more control.

On PC it's already dead. The glorious day of big box PC games... good times...

Edit: Ironically, games going digital-only has shifted my perspective on their value. I started to treat and see them more as a throw-away commodity than something actually valuable. Holding a big box with a colored manual that also contains lore etc. really does something for me.

The bolded is underrated reason why digital-only consoles is bad. Most people can't make the connection that Hudo just did here. But it's real.

 

[rm082e]

So why wouldn't the PS6 not also have the add-on drive as an option?

It certainly could. This is really just a math equation for Sony: Do they make more money selling physical games than they potentially lose through used game sales, GameFly, piracy, and borrowing? For the PS5 and Xbox Series, the answer was still an obvious "Yes". But as more and more people choose to buy games digitally, that number comes down over time and eventually those two meet. If it keeps falling, then they're losing more money by continuing to support physical than they're making.

From the reporting I've seen over the last year or so, it sounds like PS5 has been approaching an 80% digital, 20% physical split for new game sales. Do we get to 90%/10% by holiday 2027 (probably the earliest they would launch)? If so, does that cross the threshold where it's no longer profitable to support physical? My impression is that we're rapidly approaching that point. But maybe I'm wrong.

Someone earlier mentioned physical is much more important in other territories where downloading all the games is impractical. That's something I'm admittedly ignorant on. It makes sense, but I don't know what percentage of the PlayStation user base are in those regions/countries.

 

[Topher]

Don't be disingenuous. Nintendo and Sony are also working on killing that shit off, albeit at a slower pace. Both of them would love for physical games to go away because it gives them more control.

On PC it's already dead. The glorious day of big box PC games... good times...

Edit: Ironically, games going digital-only has shifted my perspective on their value. I started to treat and see them more as a throw-away commodity than something actually valuable. Holding a big box with a colored manual that also contains lore etc. really does something for me.

Really does something for my wallet when I resell physical games on ebay when I'm done with them.

 

[rm082e]

Edit: Ironically, games going digital-only has shifted my perspective on their value. I started to treat and see them more as a throw-away commodity than something actually valuable. Holding a big box with a colored manual that also contains lore etc. really does something for me.

I know this will sound weird, but that's actually what I like most about having an all digital library.

I used to spend a lot of money/time/energy on the collecting aspect of games. I wanted nice, neat boxes with manuals all arranged neatly on a shelf (specifically SNES and PS1). I would pull them out, look at them, flip through the manuals, fawn over them, then put them back on the shelf. I eventually realized I cared more about the thing on the shelf than the experience I was having with the games. I had a moment of clarity when I wound up buying a bigger shelf so I could store more games, then I proceeded to buy a game that I knew I was never going to play just because I was craving having the physical packaging on my shelf.

Buying digital, I focus more on the types of games I actually enjoy playing and watching reviews/impression videos to see if I want to pick up a game. On average, I'm spending more time playing games I really enjoy. I'm not spending energy focusing on a physical package which is really just marketing.

 

[Hudo]

I know this will sound weird, but that's actually what I like most about having an all digital library.

I used to spend a lot of money/time/energy on the collecting aspect of games. I wanted nice, neat boxes with manuals all arranged neatly on a shelf (specifically SNES and PS1). I would pull them out, look at them, flip through the manuals, fawn over them, then put them back on the shelf. I eventually realized I cared more about the thing on the shelf than the experience I was having with the games. I had a moment of clarity when I wound up buying a bigger shelf so I could store more games, then I proceeded to buy a game that I knew I was never going to play just because I was craving having the physical packaging on my shelf.

Buying digital, I focus more on the types of games I actually enjoy playing and watching reviews/impression videos to see if I want to pick up a game. On average, I'm spending more time playing games I really enjoy. I'm not spending energy focusing on a physical package which is really just marketing.

Yeah, I can also understand this. That's also why I am not a militant anti-digital-only guy anymore. I really hated Valve for quite a long time for chaining Half-Life 2 to Steam and introducing Steam in general. Still not the biggest fan but it's the least worst option, I guess.

 

[sachos]

it says only includes games where data for both physical and digital is available so that rules out potentially a lot of top sellers

Well yes, to measure physical sales you have to measure with games that have both options available otherwise the huge number of games that only have digital releases would skew it way towards digital. When both options are available people seem to go for physical way more than many people want to believe.
I agree with your other point, i wish the graph took into account more than just the top 20 sellers.