While Sony might be going back to PS5-exclusive releases with its single-player games, the company has also started slowing down on advertising the console itself. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, CEO of the company Hiroki Totoki explained the reason behind this slow-down in marketing the PS5, noting that there isn’t a need to “aggressively sell” it thanks to it being in the later stages of the typical console lifecycle.
“We are in the latter half of the life cycle for a PlayStation console. That means that we do not need to ‘aggressively sell’ the console today. And rather than that, we’re focusing on recurring revenue from the recurrent user base. And already, PlayStation Plus has more than 125 million monthly active users today, and how to monetize from those users is quite important for us.”
While this statement itself hasn’t drawn much in the way of ire from fans of PlayStation, many have taken to the interview’s comment section to criticize Sony’s plans to end the production of PlayStation discs. Alongside a host of comments demanding that the company should “keep physical media”, there are also many saying that they won’t buy any games without discs, and asking the company to “stop killing discs”.
Sony announced its plans to end physical game releases from January 2028 onwards back in July, saying that it was a way for the company to better align itself with consumer trends that seemingly have a larger preference for digital media.
“This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs,” said the company. “This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.”
While the announcement has drawn quite a bit of criticism from across the industry, many have noted that it feels like it was inevitable. Among those who don’t seem to mind an all-digital future is former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida, who spoke about being “a totally digital consumer” when it came to games.
“Well, I didn’t know they were planning that,” he said. “But personally, I’m a totally digital consumer. I don’t want to manage discs or swap discs. I want all my games on my dashboard, and I just select a game and play it. So, I’m completely digital.”
However, Yoshida acknowledged that there are fans of physical media out there, and expressed hope that things like collector’s editions would fill in the gap for these fans, even if they don’t include game discs in the package.
“I know there are collectors of physical games. They have walls full of physical packages, and for them, it would be a shame if physical games were no longer available to collect.”
“Even with physical disc games, in most cases, developers are constantly updating and adding game data anyway. Anyone who chooses to purchase a physical version will still need to download new patches, DLC, or updates. So, not having a disc, I don’t understand if it’s such a big issue.”
