The tradition of borrowing and sharing video games, a cornerstone of the medium's social aspect, is under threat as the industry shifts away from physical media. PlayStation's potential cessation of physical disc production in 2028 signals a significant change, moving away from the tangible experience of unwrapping a game and the inherent freedom of owning a physical copy.
A physical game disc represents a permanent, unchanging artifact. This immutability is crucial for preserving original content, including music licenses that might otherwise expire and be removed from digital versions, as seen with titles like Grand Theft Auto 4 and Alan Wake. Ownership, whether through a physical disc or a digital license, represents an investment by the player, and the control over that investment should remain with the purchaser.
The concept of digital ownership is often misunderstood. Purchasing a digital game typically grants a license to access the content, rather than outright ownership. This license is subject to Digital Rights Management (DRM) protocols, which can allow publishers to revoke access at any time. This system, which gained prominence in the 2010s with the stated aim of preventing piracy, has led to issues such as players being locked out of games due to server malfunctions or losing access to cloud-based saves.
DRM operates through complex digital chains, where a publisher can unilaterally remove access to a game. This mirrors the frustration of having a meal taken away mid-consumption. Numerous games, including Spec Ops: The Line, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Deadpool, and Super Mario Maker, have been delisted from digital storefronts due to expired licenses or infrastructure changes, leaving them inaccessible to new players and a growing concern for those who missed the original purchase window. The phasing out of physical discs will likely exacerbate this problem, making previously available titles even harder to find.
PlayStation's move towards digital is partly attributed to declining physical sales and evolving consumer trends. In May 2016, physical game sales were nearly $6 billion, a figure that has since dropped to around $1.5 billion. For PlayStation specifically, digital purchases have risen from 27% in 2016 to 78% this year. Furthermore, rising hardware manufacturing costs, with the PS6 potentially costing close to $1000 to produce, make a digital-only console a more financially viable option for Sony, as indicated by PlayStation boss Hideaki Nishino.
This industry-wide shift is not unique to PlayStation. Nintendo's Switch 2 game-key cards and Xbox's reliance on Game Pass point towards a digital-only future. Developers also bear some responsibility, as demonstrated by IO Interactive's 007 First Light, which included a significant day-one download on its physical disc, diminishing the value of the physical copy itself.
The decline of physical discs also threatens the robust second-hand market, where players could trade in games and discover older titles at reduced prices. Publishers have previously attempted to undermine this market through measures like one-time online pass codes. Without physical discs, the entire ecosystem of pre-owned games could cease to exist.
Potential solutions could emerge through new digital models. One possibility is a digital second-hand marketplace, inspired by platforms like GOG, which offers DRM-free games that can be kept indefinitely. An evolution of this could involve user-operated digital storefronts where publishers and developers could receive a percentage of sales, ensuring continued revenue streams while granting players true ownership and enabling a digital resurgence of the second-hand market.
Another avenue involves boutique publishers like Limited Run Games, Fangamer, and Super Rare Games, which specialize in producing physical editions of digital titles. These companies have scaled their operations and partnered with major publishers, demonstrating the continued viability of physical releases, especially if a disc drive add-on becomes available for future consoles like the PS6.
PlayStation's decision to reduce physical disc production serves as a warning for the future of game ownership. The potential for intrusive advertising or product placement in future games, enabled by a purely digital ecosystem, looms large. The industry's response to this shift, and the actions gamers take in the coming year, will significantly shape the landscape of digital ownership and player rights for the next decade.