"Sony's killing disks to protect PS6 profits": Sony reportedly kept developers in dark about death of physical games

Sony's announcement that the company won’t be producing physical game disks starting in 2028 has resulted in a ton of backlash from the community. We have not heard a peep from Sony about the entire debacle. But we have witnessed extensive discourse around Sony’s reasons for going all-digital. Serial leaker Moore’s Law Is Dead has also chimed in with his take, while revealing some inputs from game developers.

MLID claims that none of the game developers he talked to had any idea that Sony was preparing to kill physical games. The game developers apparently found out at the same time as everyone else. This makes it seem that the decision to move away from disks was made quite recently.

This makes sense, as several leaks have claimed in the past that the PS6 would have official backwards compatibility with PS4 and PS5 games. This required the console to have a disk drive. Since we now know that the PS6 won’t have a disk drive, it all points to a very recent decision on the part of Sony to kill physical games, one that is unlikely to change.

This also ties in with the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 not having a physical release. MLID thinks that Sony could’ve “tipped off” Rockstar that the PS6 won’t have a disk drive. Since GTA 6 is, according to MLID, essentially a PS6 game launching early on the PS5, Rockstar decided not to have actual physical game disks. There are surely other reasons for Rockstar’s decision as well, but MLID’s assertion does have some merit.

What does Sony gain by removing a disk drive from the PS6?

While the death of physical PlayStation games is disappointing, Sony could’ve been forced to do so for a variety of reasons.

For starters, MLID suggests that Sony “killed disks to protect PS6 profits”. Sony has announced that it won’t be offering big subsidies like prior console generations. So, when the PS6 launches in 2027 or 2028, the company will now pass almost all of the cost burden to consumers. We are seeing this with the PS5. The Sony PS5 and the Xbox Series console generation is the first one where gaming consoles are now more expensive than at the start of their lifecycle, due to the ongoing DRAM and SSD supply shortage.

The component shortage isn’t going to get better for a while, which is why reports are pouring in that the PS6 could cost around $1,000 or more. Since Sony needs to build the PS6 to be as affordable as possible to reach millions of people, removing a disk drive is an easy way to eliminate some cost.

Removing physical disks will also allow Sony to better control the price of games. Unlike physical game disks, you can’t rent out or sell digital games in the second-hand market. Take the example of GTA 6. Usually, you could’ve just bought the game, played the single-player campaign, and sold it on a marketplace to recoup a big chunk of your money. This would’ve also allowed someone else to buy GTA 6 for less than the full $80.

Now, you can’t do that. This makes both Rockstar and Sony more money. Rockstar gets to sell multiple copies, and Sony gets to take a 30% cut on each copy of the game sold on the PlayStation Store.

MLID asks gamers to make noise and voice their dissatisfaction on social media to force Sony to change course. We don’t know how much that will help. But it is always a good idea to voice your concerns and let companies know when you don’t like the way they are doing things.

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