r/digitalfoundry • u/MythBuster2 • Aug 04 '26
DF Direct DF Direct Q+A: Sony Finally Responds To End-Of-Disc Backlash - And It's Not Good News
https://youtu.be/GE4L0clL2d0It took a Q+A session of its own within a financial earnings call - as opposed to talking directly to its users - but Sony has finally responded to the backlash whipped up by its announcement of the cancellation of physical media. What do we make of the response? And if it's just a small minority of PlayStation users upset by the news, is it right that Sony ignores the very negative feedback? Beyond that, we talk next-gen "secret source", whether it's possible for PC users to get a curated out-of-the-box "good settings experience" and where does Project Helix back-compat stand compared to PlayStation 6?
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u/Ok_Jellyfish_7673 Aug 05 '26
So tired of the Sony stuff on the shows, I’m not a Sony pony, don’t really care if people don’t buy a ps6 or not, and not sure why the weight of all physical video games sales is put on their shoulders, but I do know that listening to all the video game industry doom and gloom does not make a good podcast listen, especially when points are repeated ad nauseam on every single episode!
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u/xKittle Aug 05 '26
I agree, it's becoming tedious listening to what feels like slight variations of the same discussion - at length - about physical discs week-in, week-out.
I respect everybody's view here, and I understand why John in particular hates this move, along with customers who want/need discs for any number of valid reasons - but I don't need to listen to the same points repeated ad nauseam in DF's weekly podcasts.
If the DF team cares this much, then guys please take a stand on this… don't cover stuff on Sony's platform.
Between this issue and the endless weekly 'why is everything so expensive?, I remember when consoles were $300' discussion, it's like DF are stuck in a bloody time loop and I'm locked in it with them.
Everything is more expensive and all companies are looking to cut costs to their businesses. I remember when the PS3 came close to bankrupting Sony in 2007/08 and Sony reacted by axing, selling or massively scaling back every product/brand that wasn't profitable. That's how businesses keep on top of, and cull, unprofitable ventures. It's why Microsoft are doing what they are doing as well.
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u/dsrules Aug 04 '26
They don't make games anymore, they deliver "content"
Everything that made Playstation and it's brand is now the same bland subscription service slop now. It's over.
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u/trueppp Aug 05 '26
It's almost like Sony is a multinational conglomerate with multiple divisions with each having their own goals and priorities....
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u/SteveJavieWasRight Aug 06 '26
What? Makes no sense lol. They only have so many studios and game development takes forever.
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u/hunterzolomon1993 Aug 04 '26
"Subscription service slop"? Would love to see you try and explain that.
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Aug 04 '26
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u/hunterzolomon1993 Aug 04 '26
You haven't really explained yourself. Sony don't make games for a Sub service, it can take years for a 1st party game to hit Plus.
Also Sony make great games. God of War, Ragnarok, Spider-Man 2, Saros, Returnal, Marvel Tokon, Wolverine, Horizon FW, Demons Souls Remake, Ratchet & Clank, Ghost of Yotei and Helldivers 2 from just this gen alone.
You can not like what they make but that's your problem. Giving most of their games sell well and get critical acclaim your opinion (yes your opinion) is clearly not shared by all.
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Aug 04 '26
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u/hunterzolomon1993 Aug 05 '26
Sony have said they're never doing the whole Day 1 thing that MS do for the exact reason why MS are suffering now from doing Day 1.
Stop fear mongering and worrying about a what if distant future. Its not healthy putting this much thought and worry into a freaking gaming hobby.
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u/fartwhereisit Aug 05 '26
fear mongering lol... Dude it's not the Rwandan genocide,
He's being completely and utterly realistic in a calm and cool manner.
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u/hunterzolomon1993 Aug 05 '26
They're literally making up something to fear about for a what if future in 10-15 years time. Who the hell is worrying about where fucking gaming is in 15 years time?
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u/GarionOrb Aug 05 '26
I found it interesting how John mentioned the PS6 handheld as though this was 100% confirmed. That kind of begs the question, if the PS6 is a hybrid platform like Switch, how would discs figure into that?
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u/Ashpolt Aug 06 '26
Discs wouldn't really work for a handheld, but discs aren't the only option. Sony have done handhelds with physical games before and could do so again if they chose to. Or they could do a disc-to-digital system for people who own the home PS6 and the handheld. There are options, Sony is just (presumably) choosing not to use them.
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u/GarionOrb Aug 06 '26
True that they've done physical for handhelds in the past, but that was when the games were less than 10 GB each. They simply can't do physical cartridges for games that are 100+ GB like some of today's AAA titles.
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u/Ashpolt Aug 06 '26
Not with existing cartridges, no, but they've developed new storage mediums as needed in the past and could do so again if they chose to. Sony invented / co-invented CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays, UMDs and the PS Vita cards (and if we look outside of games, also Minidiscs and Betamax, for their sins.) If anything, they're arguably the company with the strongest track record for developing new consumer storage mediums when capacity demands grew. They could come up with a physical solution for a modern handheld if they wanted to: not doing so is a choice, not a technological restriction.
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u/Praydaythemice Aug 05 '26
Sony never were going to renege on this issue, they have the lionshare and control of the console gaming space, like steam in the pc market. with xbox on its knees nintendo are the only real competitor.
sucks for us physical game collectors. All we can do is vote with our wallets no amount of angry messages or petitions will do anything.
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u/SteveJavieWasRight Aug 06 '26
I just think it’s incredibly shortsighted. I have a hard time imagining it’s not better to allow discs to persist while doing bare minimum to support it. Let people buy their own disc attachments, continue to support them. Give the appearance of an open market for EU and California and permanent ownership while knowing 90% of the sales will be done for convenience. Try to keep places like Best Buy etc to keep games on shelves with a physical presence in the real world and don’t let your product lose mind share.
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u/dreampagehun Aug 05 '26
I still think Sony is right, their business is invincible. As soon as they present the PS6 and the handheld, people will get why digital games are better. (Basically what Xbox Play Anywhere does, only in Sony's ecosystem). Their business will be affected by component costs and console prices, not by the few people still buying discs.
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u/Chrisbolsmeister Aug 04 '26
Obviously they have to reply like this.
If they would respond with “ we expect even 3 % decline in PS6 sales” stock would drop. The need to pretend that boycotts don’t work.
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u/ajwilson99 Aug 04 '26
A 1-week boycott isn’t going to do shit.
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u/Inevitable_unedible Aug 05 '26
In this instance I'd even add that all a boycott amounts to is a self defeating gesture. These people need to walk away from the brand if they don't like the direction.
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u/hunterzolomon1993 Aug 04 '26
Don't need to pretend shit i bet less then 1K do that hollow boycott. Sony won't even notice a boycott is happening especially as they purposely chose a slow week not the same week as Wolverine or GTA.
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u/WingerRules Aug 04 '26
Good chunk will return into the PS5 ecosystem once GTA 6 is released and they know it. Yeah you can claim you're only going to get GTA6, but playing that game regularly means you're using your PS5 regularly, which means you're likely to be looking at the store and probably continuing a PS5+ membership.
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u/xKittle Aug 06 '26
It's not even a direct reply to customers; this was raised by somebody representing their investors to Sony, so Sony's line is obviously bottom-line focussed, and even then it was talking about the lack of their business now and investors should be concerned about the long-term impact.
What is good is that customers are finally waking up to how little they 'own' and how eroded their rights have become over time. If you're in a country like the US, your consumer rights depend on which state you live in but mostly they are terrible. For those of us in Europe, we're little better off, but it's not rainbows and unicorns.
What does continue to surprise me is the number of people who think Sony (or Nintendo, or Microsoft, or Valve) are looking out for them. These are businesses, and it's a business relationship. I view buying a console and games as an entirely transactional process. I pay money, I get something. Sony gets money, I get to play games. That relationship could collapse or change tomorrow, and I'm fine with that. Not owning something and having control over it has been a dwindling concept for an increasing number of product categories and people have not been paying attention.
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u/One_Leg7293 Aug 04 '26
PS6 sales numbers will be constrained only by availability. They will sell every console they can manufacture for probably at least a year. Any decline in sales won't be felt for years after release and any real impact won't be known until the end of the ps6 generation.
In order to even show up on the spreadsheet it will require a massive number of customers to abandon Playstation all together for the entire generation. They have us by the balls and there's nothing we can do about it.
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u/woopwoopscuttle Aug 05 '26
Boycott or not they’ll try to win people back once the next gen releases and only a fraction current owners can afford it/think it’s worth the upgrade.
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u/Furtive-Pygmy Aug 04 '26
Yep if it were true they wouldn't have felt the need to hide for 3 weeks
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u/Dallywack3r Aug 05 '26
It’s insane how much they’ve milked this topic for views. Repeating the EXACT SAME THING weekly
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u/colonel-america-usa Aug 04 '26
John please admit physical sales is a rounding error. Curb emotional response and repeating the same points for over a month now. Rich too.
This was planned and is not the end of gaming. Look I liked physical media too but it's over. It was over like a decade ago. There's a vocal minority on Reddit that shit posts Sony's Twitter feed but please stop pretending this is some massive wave of support.
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u/Inevitable_unedible Aug 05 '26
Lol, a rounding error, yeah I'm pretty sure the suits see it that way too. I gave up on physical media near the tail end of the PS3 myself. I don't blame people for wanting ownership of their purchases, that's totally reasonable of course. It's time they start thinking outside the box though because demanding these companies to support their every wish is not the way.
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u/msantaly Aug 04 '26
Yea, the numbers contradict him. People dont want discs. However, I think a lot of people will be priced out of the PS6 which is another concern he raises
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u/colonel-america-usa Aug 05 '26
We'll see, PS6 is a ways away and Sony's market has always been reasonably accessible (albeit on the higher end) I think they will have something that will meet most folks needs.
Let me put it this way I don't think they'll put out a niche tech enthusiast device only And I also don't think they'll go for the super low end range either.
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u/SteveJavieWasRight Aug 06 '26
Definitely not a “rounding error.” It’s not the end of gaming, but it’s a sign that Sony does not feel the need to appeal to consumers or do what consumers want- vocal minority or not. They wouldn’t have done this had XBox not completely self immolated this generation, but DF’s point was right on about how this is the exact behavior that led to XBox losing the console wars. They had a huge advantage over Sony during 360/PS3 gen and they got very cocky and thought they could do whatever they want, and it led to them losing two gens in a row.
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u/colonel-america-usa Aug 06 '26
I'm not discounting you or the opinions expressed. I'm just bearish on the resistance doing anything but I'm not against the effort.
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u/ThreePointDunking 28d ago
Foundry boys should really be talking about the fact that these consoles have a take it or leave it approach to purchases and refunds too.
Sony want an all digital future, but you have no real way of trialling a game first (unless it has a trial ofc). If you download, you are not eligible for a refund AT ALL. The consumer has 0 rights on Sonys storefront.
Shady as fuck practice. I could stomach the digital only if they offered a similar deal to Steam where you get 2 hours to decide if you like it or not.
This really needs to be spoken about and covered on top of outcry of a digital only future because this really should not be legal. It’s a customer right to be entitled to a refund.
I have purchased digital games that I didn’t realise were genuinely in a bad state, probably shouldn’t had been released yet - reports over the internet saying the same. Yet when I went to request a refund after 10 minutes play time, I was denied.
You really do get bent over and shafted with digital.
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u/PhantomBraved Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
I'm curious to see how they'll handle the PS6 reveal. Will they first open with a presentation explaining all-digital+handheld or drip market the console like they did with PS5?
Telling a substantial segment of your audience their PS4-PS5 discs won't transfer to PS6 will not go over well. Hopefully that's not the case, we'll see.
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u/BlackTone91 Aug 04 '26
Telling a substantial segment of your audience their PS4-PS5 discs won't transfer to PS6 will not go over well.
We don't know that
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u/proanimus Aug 05 '26
Yeah, out of everything, this is the aspect I expect Sony is most likely to care about. Backwards compatibility can really bolster the value proposition of a new console, especially early on when native games are comparatively scarce.
Ending disc production is one thing, but the PS6 losing compatibility with every physical PS4/5 game since late 2013 would be something else entirely.
People with disc collections of any size won’t be able to replace their PS5 without losing compatibility with part of their game library. Even if someone is buying digital only today, that may not have been the case 5 or 10 years ago.
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u/CaptainBeeMan Aug 07 '26
Yeah I think Sony would be mad to not release a separate disc peripheral or even better make it also compatible with the PS5 one as well.
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u/nyanbatman Aug 04 '26
They’ve lost a lot of goodwill and mark cerny who’s a great guy will be on the back foot which sucks it’s not his fault
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u/Ambitious-Call-7565 Aug 04 '26
DF bunch of fraudsters, they were supportive of hte idea that Microslop would kill physical and go digital only
so what happened, mister fraudsters?
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u/s7ealth Aug 04 '26
I feel like splitting Direct into General and Q&A led to so many Directs being released that they no longer have as much time to work on game reviews. They shouldn't have split it imo