Sony's plans to end support for new PlayStation discs has caused huge volumes of uproar in the gaming world, but one analyst thinks the situation was inevitable, especially with an incoming PS6 that could cost somewhere around $1000.
"I think this was always going to happen," games analyst Piers Harding-Rolls says in a chat with Edge Magazine, arguing that the costs involved in manufacturing physical games are eating into Sony's bottom line. "Sales of physical games are pushing more revenue out of the ecosystem of Sony and its publishing partners, and they're the ones that are bearing the costs. No fee for printing the disc and shipping it out means there's more share for Sony and publishers."
Keep in mind Sony also receives a 30% of any digital purchase made on the PlayStation store, and the company can more carefully control its game prices in a world where it operates the only storefront selling PlayStation games.
Making the situation worse are the ever-increasing console costs, fuelled by AI data centres and a global RAM shortage. "The console market is facing a serious situation, because this unprecedented increase in component costs is potentially undermining the viability of the whole sector," Harding-Rolls adds. "If you come to market with a device that is $1000, you are starting to limit your audience quite significantly. So it's about: 'How can we viably get to market at a reasonable price point? How can we maintain the console market's scale in the next generation?'"
Ending disc support in early 2028, around the timeframe of the PS6, is simply a "generational timing thing," according to Harding-Rolls, since the company "might think it's wise to have a kind of clean cut for the beginning of the next cycle."
Essentially, Sony's probably looking at ways to keep its profits in check and squeeze as much juice from each game sale as possible. But while the numbers may add up for the company, PlayStation owners are getting nothing from being forced into an all-digital world.
