r/Asmongold

I get why people claim that digital is the future and I myself am basically forced into buying digital only since I only have a PC and physical media for PC basically died after 2012, but owning a disc doesn't magically mean you truly own the game because of EULAs, patches, servers, etc.

The real fix is better consumer protection laws like how Asmongold claims. Sony dropping physical in 2028 makes business sense. But here's the part I'm worried about:

Even if we somehow get perfect digital ownership (you can really own and transfer your games), going full digital-only still hurts us bad on pricing. Right now with physical you can buy a game new from different stores that compete on price, and more importantly, the used market lets people grab physical copies way cheaper after launch (like $30-40 instead of $70).

If physical dies, Sony controls the only way to buy new PS exclusives... their store. They can keep prices high forever because there's no used market to compete with them. No more cheap second-hand copies for people who don't want to pay full price.

For single-player games, physical also gives you a practical fallback, you can just stay offline and not update if Sony tries some bullshit later but this is a difficult topic because some games have built in DRM so its pretty complicated topic to talk about. Digital doesn't give you that same independence. I agree convenience is king for a lot of people, but losing physical completely feels like it gives Sony (and other publishers) too much control long-term over prices.

Obviously physical media is slowly fading away because digital media is much more convenient more, but if it truly dies, and the future is digitally only, Sony has complete control over the prices and we all know Sony ain't so nice so this ends up hurting consumers in the future.

I wish people would speak more on this topic, because most people can agree that we need laws to be put in place to truly own our physical and digital games, thats for damn sure, but if the future is digital only, it hurts consumers in the end if Sony has full control over prices and same goes for other stores as well.