asdasdasdbb
Member
That doesn't nearly happen as often as it did anymore. And it likely means the retailer is losing money trying to move inventory, which isn't great for them either.
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Mat Piscatella "The rate of decline in US physical video game software spending accelerated in 2024"
- Thread starter ArtHands
- Start date
That doesn't nearly happen as often as it did anymore. And it likely means the retailer is losing money trying to move inventory, which isn't great for them either.
I personally think it's a little bit of platform wars. I notice the the people who love digital are the same people who love renting their games...
They've been brainwashed by corporate pr
TheGodfather07
Member
Ebay.
reinking
Gold Member
I took it in reference to the decline in availability. There is no decline in currency being available. There is when it comes to physical games. Really though, comparing video games to banking is silly to begin with.
RetroGamingUK
Member
The rate of decline in US video game software quality accelerated in 2024
…is what the title should read.
Dr. Wilkinson
Member
Damn what are you smoking, man? Care to pass some around?
Goalus
Member
What are you on about?
Of course I have to wait for lower prices. With a huge backlog it doesn't feel like waiting though. The fact is I pay extremely low prices.
DownLikeBCPowder
Member
After buying games for a quarter of a century (myself), it's hard not to be in the same situation.
BlitzerRadic
Member
Sony doesnt need to steer anything. The market is doing that all on its own.
I don't mind digital at all, I can't remember the last time I used a physical disc in a PC. But the big difference between digital on PC and consoles is that with consoles one is being forced to use a single store which is in full control of the console maker. And tbh sometimes it is also nice to have a physical copy from a collector's point of view.
KiteGr
Member
Well, I struggled to keep a game collection and pretty much gave up. Every disk required 3 massive patches and 2 dlcs to play properly, physical edition of Indies were "limited" and overpriced, and the supposed "complete editions" where pretty much the standards with voucher codes thrown in and the likelihood of having even more DLC in the future.
I transitioned to digital, but I would be a fool not to choose Steam as the platform of choice, as it's better on all aspects. Console makers force the choice on me, but they won't rip the rewards.
I transitioned to digital, but I would be a fool not to choose Steam as the platform of choice, as it's better on all aspects. Console makers force the choice on me, but they won't rip the rewards.
Hudo
Gold Member
Because "the market" has been steered towards that. Valve have played a big part in that. And so have Microsoft and Sony.
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
It would be good to get stats per platform, it feels like analysts are also playing their part trying to ensure people accept the manifest destiny and actively accelerate it.
Physical sales have dropped again, but are we counting sales dropping wholesale (this including one party whose software sales dropped entirely), is GamePass counted in any way as digital sales vs physical, etc…
Anyways, it sucks and people will realise it when it is too late and blame something unrelated (the root cause of future anti-consumer digital practices would have to be found surely in death of the “other option” if and when).
Physical sales have dropped again, but are we counting sales dropping wholesale (this including one party whose software sales dropped entirely), is GamePass counted in any way as digital sales vs physical, etc…
Anyways, it sucks and people will realise it when it is too late and blame something unrelated (the root cause of future anti-consumer digital practices would have to be found surely in death of the “other option” if and when).
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MAX PAYMENT
Member
I embraced the all-digital future years ago.
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ShadyAcshuns
Member
Lower those digital prices and maybe I'll take a dip. With no shipping fees, no printing fees, no plastic boxes, discs or cartridges, they should be able to lower prices, right?I embraced the all-digital future years ago.
MAX PAYMENT
Member
#steamsales
ShadyAcshuns
Member
On consoles? lol
DownLikeBCPowder
Member
????
I compare this to EV cars issue, where EV mas mandated and ICE production was stopped (Off topic: Blaming carbon on climate change, even if climatee chage is really inevitable and the real issue is deforestation and bad forest management and pollution due to corruption on regulation of anti pollution device). Good thing Pres Trump stop that EV mandate and let people have the choice. Going back, some shops are just mandating removal of physical copies even if there is still demand. Let the customers decide and not remove it remove the market.
DownLikeBCPowder
Member
Yes, programs like the cash for clunkers removed valuable ICE vehicles from the economy.. terrible, terrible plan. And that's far before these green mandates were prevalent. I agree this is both relatable to the physical game market in some ways (not exactly, but I get it), additionally not wise and pushing the market this direction is more harm than good in both instances in terms of consumers.
BlitzerRadic
Member
PS3, PS4 and PS5 all have disc drives. As people love to point out physical games are sooo much cheaper than physical. So how did Sony steer people to digital lmao
Rawbutt Jellybean
Member
Cheaper digital only launch PS5. No disc drive on the PS5 Pro. You often get to play earlier if you go digital. PS+ games got people used to the idea of having a digital collection. Pretty much same thing with MS.PS3, PS4 and PS5 all have disc drives. As people love to point out physical games are sooo much cheaper than physical. So how did Sony steer people to digital lmao
BlitzerRadic
Member
Cheaper digital at launch PS5? Sony did their best not to sell that thing because they were losing money on it lmao. It only existed to advertise a lower price point.
No disc drive on Pro? You mean the one that so many here said is pointless and not needed? BTW you can buy a drive right now on PS Direct.
Play earlier at launch? Well thats just one of the conveniences of digital vs. physical.
PS+ got used to people having a digital collection? So what? People had physical collection before that and they saw the benefits of digital and made their choice.
Rawbutt Jellybean
Member
That's a lot of cope but missing is the biggest piece: Sony benefits huge from a digital future as they all do so they have every incentive to push us towards that future.
RCU005
Member
This not necessarily means that people are choosing Digital because they want it. Many people will choose a PS5 Digital edition because it's cheaper. They prefer to give physical up but be able to have a PS5 and/or play games with their friends. The same with Xbox Series S. It's very cheap, so people would choose that even if they don't like digital.
This is the move Sony and MS are doing to force people into digital, but it's already clear anyway that Sony will launch the PS6 as digital console with an optional disc drive to not piss people off. They experimented with the PRO and it's working for them.
This is the move Sony and MS are doing to force people into digital, but it's already clear anyway that Sony will launch the PS6 as digital console with an optional disc drive to not piss people off. They experimented with the PRO and it's working for them.
Kagoshima_Luke
Gold Member
JORMBO
Darkness no more
Nah. I'll just live in the past.
This picture leaves me with a lot of questions. 2 kids are playing a single player game. And the game is sitting on the table. No one is even looking at the TV.
BlitzerRadic
Member
The games are not cheaper. The vast majority of PS5s out there right now have a disc drive. Anyone can buy a disk drive right now if they dont have one. But still, physical sales go down every year. Thats not cope, thats reality lmao.
"Steering" or "pushing" implies some sort of intentional manipulation rather than letting the market decide organically. Offering a discless PS5 or the existence of PS+ isnt market manipulation, its called giving people a choice.
Hawking Radiation
Member
Who the fuck still buys physical copies of anything?
MAX PAYMENT
Member
Ew. Hell no.
Rawbutt Jellybean
Member
Games don't need to be cheaper and Sony has been laying the ground work for a digital future for over a decade through the points I made before. There's nothing wrong with it and it's clearly working well since it's resulted in the majority of game sales being digital. It's not even a criticism of Sony lmao.
I do if it's an option. No way I'm spending $70 for a single game unless I can also transfer ownership if I want.Who the fuck still buys physical copies of anything?
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Rhazer Fusion
Member
Yeah, it’s the beginning of the end. The writing was on the proverbial wall with the new XBOX Series X and PS5 Pro consoles where they excluded the disc drives. I understand these corporations want full control, to be able to dictate pricing and to take ownership away, but what gets me are the legion of people who are fully embracing this like having physical around makes a difference in their lives.
Less options are always detrimental to the consumer and the greed will only escalate from these companies who know they have no competition now. For the gamers who are ecstatic about this, you have no idea what you are openly accepting. No lore price shopping, trade in’s, selling, borrowing, higher prices, etc. I can now hear the hundreds of YouTube videos years from now complaining that TLOU3 never drops in price, is buggy/broken and I can’t get a refund for it. The day gaming goes all digital is the day I go retro.
Less options are always detrimental to the consumer and the greed will only escalate from these companies who know they have no competition now. For the gamers who are ecstatic about this, you have no idea what you are openly accepting. No lore price shopping, trade in’s, selling, borrowing, higher prices, etc. I can now hear the hundreds of YouTube videos years from now complaining that TLOU3 never drops in price, is buggy/broken and I can’t get a refund for it. The day gaming goes all digital is the day I go retro.
MiguelItUp
Member
I understand people having preferences.
But I'll never, ever understand the praise of not owning physical goods. It makes absolutely no sense to me. If you take care of your physical goods, they can last your lifetime, if not more so. A digital good can't do that, hell, we don't even know how long they'll truly last. Options are great, and I hate that we're going into a future where the only options we have are where you stream it, or what platform you bought it from or on.
But I'll never, ever understand the praise of not owning physical goods. It makes absolutely no sense to me. If you take care of your physical goods, they can last your lifetime, if not more so. A digital good can't do that, hell, we don't even know how long they'll truly last. Options are great, and I hate that we're going into a future where the only options we have are where you stream it, or what platform you bought it from or on.
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Sentenza
Member
It’s not even just about the number of stores. The main factor is that on PC no manufacturer can force on you a random reset of your entire game collection every few years, on a whim, with the release of any new hardware.
You buy a game on PC, chances are you’ll be able to play it on any other PC you’ll get way into the foreseeable future.
Effigenius
Member
There are not plenty of digital sales. Maybe if you only buy your games once a year on Black Friday, lol. I’ll give you an example I had just today. My son wants to play Assassins Creed Origin. I checked the Sony store. It’s $59.99 (lol!). I looked on Amazon it’s $20, on GameStop used it’s $10. Finding the game you want to be on sale when you want it digitally is like going to Netflix to watch a specific movie. It’s almost certainly not going to be there. Maybe if you wait long enough it will show up. And the hilarious thing is companies make far more money on a digital sale than a physical one. That’s why they have herded the gullible sheep to digital and keep all the profit. They have digital libraries that can be taken away in an instant if someone reports you and claims you said the N word or cheated or whatever. The literal only advantage is for the gamers who have become so fat from consuming Doritos and Mountain Dew that they can’t walk under their own power, now they don’t have to get up to change games. Awesome. So worth all the other trade offs.
cormack12
Gold Member
Origins is always on sale for between 7.99 and 9.99 - you can track on psprices etc. If you make use of the tools available e.g wishlists etc. Then you can quite easily pick up what you want when you want.
If you're an impulsive buyer, or a parent that can't tell their kid to wait then it will be a chore just being a reactive shopper, yeah. But the point is to be savvy and add to your library when games are on sale.
Case in point. I have like 8 games on my wishlist. All have been on sale in the last 8 weeks with between 25% - 65% off - these were comparable with prices on retail (unused). I could have bit but I'm still waiting for price drops. Also bear in mind, technically you're getting two copies of the game (offline and online) to console share.
Setsuna Mudou
Member
Effigenius
Member
Or just be a physical buyer and buy it immediately. That’s clearly the best option, no?
cormack12
Gold Member
Until you get the store with bare shelves I guess?
There's no reason to not buy digital any more. Walled gardens need to come down I agree totally, but the disk is just a data vessel these days, and pretty much every game requires multiple patches to put it in a decent state.
If PC can do it, there's no reason consoles can't. It's as ludicrous as those paying 2k for a new GPU then crying that a game is £50+ on steam.
Synless
Member
OR I could just own the copy on the disc/cartridge I bought it on and not have to buy additional hardware.buy a big hard drive or 2, backup your games... boom, you own them now...
asdasdasdbb
Member
You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Setsuna Mudou
Member
you think that disc drive is going to last you forever? you think that disc is going to last you forever? If you want to really own something in perpetuity just make a backup, physical discs will stop working sooner or later
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ZoukGalaxy
Member
Mainly US people never stopped to praise "digital pros" aka "I'm too lazy to change discs" or "discs are only keys anyways" (which a big lie or/and a sad ignorance at best) since that's why the "GOLD" step exist for consoles.
Enjoy your digital future owning nothing giving corporates total control of your entire things. Until some international regulations and laws hopefully appears somedays: you own nothing currently. Don't trust corporations, they don't care about you at all.
You reap what you sow.
Enjoy your digital future owning nothing giving corporates total control of your entire things. Until some international regulations and laws hopefully appears somedays: you own nothing currently. Don't trust corporations, they don't care about you at all.
You reap what you sow.
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