Topic: The PlayStation Fan Thread

@Octane - No disagreement from me on the $50 difference. A $50 difference between the physical and digital versions makes logistical sense. However, I believe Sony will be scummy enough to bilk casual-gamers for the extra $50 and will ask for the $100 difference between the standard and digital versions of the PS5. I'm sure Sony realizes that most people are sheep. "Baaaaaah."

If the PS3 was originally 600 dollars and that was two generations ago i find it hard to believe that PS5 could possibly be much less. I'm still confused about all these reports of a huge graphical leap. Looks like PS4 2.0 to me. Yeah it's noticeable but just barely. Horizon 2 was the only game they showed that looked like "next gen".

@Zeldafan79 The PS4 was 400 at launch; so what do you mean by that?

I think it makes a quite a big difference if you watch it natively in 4K. What kind of screen are you watching it on? Is it a 4K screen? Diminishing returns exist for sure, so it becomes harder to notice. But I do think that the almost instant loading in Ratchet & Clank is a great example of what sets next gen apart from this generation. And I'm curious to see what developers can do with that. Also, things like the haptic triggers can be neat, but I'd have to experience that first.

I also think that PSVR will see quite a big jump in graphics once the next headset is out. The current PSVR is quite grainy, but I imagine that next gen VR looks closer to PS4 graphics, which is pretty exciting.

I'm failing to see how Sony drastically undercutting the physical edition's price in order to drive more people to the purely digital version of the hardware is "scummy." Sounds like a big win for the consumer, IMO.

@Octane
Well i do know one reason for PS4 being cheaper was because bluray technology was no longer a new thing but PS5 is supposed to be such a beast. Seems these people who are expecting a great deal of just over 400 or 450 are getting their hopes up.

@Ralizah - Sony would prefer it if consumers bought the digital version of PS5. There would be less profit from each day-one hardware sale, but more long-term profit if that PS5 owner bought everything digitally. So Sony will persuade potential PS5 buyers to commit to the gaming industry's all-digital future by making the disc version of PS5 $100 more expensive.

Pretty scummy.

Whatever happened, i will keep stay the slogan #letsgophysical 🤟
Physical games as always.

@Magician Again, I see nothing scummy about making the digital iteration of the hardware more affordable for the consumer. ESPECIALLY if it means Sony is loss leading to achieve this result.

That's less money out of my pocket, and more out of theirs.

Sounds great to me.

@Ralizah I agree, scummy definitely isn't the word I'd associate with it. Just seems like smart long term

@Magician yeah I don't see anything wrong with offering a cheaper all digital version. Benefits the consumer to have the option. Some folks don't need an extra DVD player, and might just want the console for the games.

As long as both are available, I don't see an issue.

With Sony’s current subscription service and proprietary SSD, I would be hesitant to go all digital. An all digital Xbox works because you can just buy GamePass and get their exclusives and other games for a lump sum per year. It’s their big selling point right now.

With Sony’s SSD you’d be able to at max 7-10 AAA on the drive at one time, while surrendering the right to resell or refund the purchase. Consumer rights on digital purchases are tragically limited at this juncture and I’m cautious going all in on it.

@Ralizah @redd214 Short term it's beneficial for us. I agree, but not long term. Digital purchases are more expensive than physical copies (in my area at least). Most AAA digital games are €70, whereas the physical copies can be found for as low as €50-55 in some cases, especially if you pre-order. The Last of Us Part II is €69.99 for example, and I managed to pre-order a physical copy for €54.

The reason why this is possible is because of competition. Stores are competing for the best price. On consoles the only storefront is the platform holder. There is no competition. Nothing to drive the price down. The lack of competition for digital purchases is the main reason why I don't want to see an all-digital future. There's simply no competition anymore, and this is by default bad for the end user.

I don't know about you, but I take a healthy market over a monopolised market any day!

@Octane Digital and physical MSRP are the same in the U.S. (barring the occasional Amazon preorder discount), so that's a non-issue for me when it comes to day one purchases. And Sony's sales this gen are frequent and generous, so I rarely opt for physical purchases as is.

More often than not, I'm finding it cheaper to go the digital route on my games. I doubt Sony is going to cackle evilly and jack up the prices on all of its games when the day comes that the newest Playstation doesn't support physical media anymore.

Well, regardless, even if I agreed with you, it wouldn't make Sony moving to push consumers toward the all-digital model "scummy," and there's a physical model on offer anyway, so you should be covered.

Also, sales would have to be extremely lopsided for them to even consider losing out on the physical market with the PS6.

I still don't see how this is anything but good for the consumer.

@Octane At launch absolutely price difference certainly leans in favor of physical, no disagreement there. However with the weekly sales digital can be far cheaper if you're patient, in my area at least.

Even as someone who's been pretty much all digital on the PS4 for years and will continue with the PS5, I honestly dont see an all-digital future anytime soon. This upcoming gen I'd predict digital will certaintly overtake physical by a good margin but I think it will be a good while until we're all digital on the console side of things as many fear.

I don't know if "scummy" is the word. "Shrewd" is a better pejorative. Doing the loss-leading that Sony has built an empire on to control digital formats and win optical media wars is a strong move to push people digital by manipulating the market. On the other hand, the sure fire way to convert people to a format that's less beneficial to them overall is to pay them to do it....and that's not really "scummy" - they're paying you to do it more or less. Yes, in the hopes that you end up paying them more over time as a result.

Kaz Hirai = Tom Nook confirmed!

If they're really undercutting a lot, I'd bite. I've done PS4 and X1 mostly digital this gen after swearing I wouldn't due to the great sales making it cheaper, as well as "game sharing" (which hopefully continues) meaning I buy one copy of most things instead of two, which greatly increases the number of games I'm comfortable buying overall rather than being stingy and picky. The net result for me is saving more money (or getting more games for the same money) so it's a win. If I lost money it wouldn't be a win. If they're going to pay for part of my hardware so I can keep getting games cheaper too that's a big win, but if they're doing it so they can kill all competition and start price fixing....that's a problem. If they kill game sharing, that's also a problem.

Either way that SSD is a disastrous problem probably on both "next gen" consoles, ayway.

In theory, the digital version being much cheaper would be consumer friendly. In reality, there's other things to consider. Here's a few ideas:

• Will Sony discontinue the physical version like they discontinued the PS3 with backwards compatibility?
• Will Sony pull a Don Mattrick XB1 move?

@Grumblevolcano Sony was planning to pull a Don Mattrick XB1 move the same day Don Mattrick did. They only backed out in a panic session back-stage when the market grabbed pitchforks and ran after Mattrick so they could come out smelling like a rose. XB1 and PS4 were supposed to use the same nasty system.

It would be very "market leader Sony" to just quietly go back to that plan with the 5 while screaming about ray tracing and SSDs.

I do think an "all digital" marketplace needs to be opened up to competition to work. Is it actually anti-competitive currently though? Amazon, BB, GS, Walmart etc all sell codes. They run their own sales. They're clearly getting "wholesaler" pricing on digital codes. As long as the Sony store is just a fixed official distribution center more or less, but retailers get their own wholesale pricing and can still compete, it's not so different from physical, aside from the resale factor and depreciation due to oversupply. Though I do imagine there's some legal maneuvering needed to fix distribution/wholesale monopoly tactics as well, particularly where third party (Ubi, etc) distribution through a platform holder's system is involved.

I thought I'd seen that Sony were stopping the selling of codes for their games, though, @NEStalgia .... I might be wrong or it might not be accurate, though

There's also good reason for them to subsidize the digital version. Traditionally a lot of PS hardware has been sold due to it being a partically subsidized player of some new optical format player, so that gamers are subsidizing media format adoption through game purchases. This time they're not really pushing a new format (nor with PS4 did they) so it doesn't harm them to have game sales subsidize the digtial "format", and let the people buying an all-in-one theater box as their video player pay for that in the hardware without the gamer subsidy.

@BruceCM That would be awful of so. I don't buy TOO many PS codes outside PS, but that would be a direct-to-the-throat attack on competition, and I can't imagine retailers would be too thrilled to sell PS5 hardware and accessories if they're not getting much game action. Even Sony can't withstand a combined assault by Amazon & Walmart. That would make the value of PS5, and especially the digital version a lot less appealing.

What PS codes, @NEStalgia .... ? To top up your wallet? There were a lot of articles about it awhile ago -
https://www.google.com/search?q=playstation+stop+retailers+se...