- Analysts suggest Sony won’t reverse its decision to end physical disc production
- Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Kantan Games, says Sony will wait for the backlash to pass.
- Toto adds that “digital is simply too lucrative” for the PlayStation company
Sony plans to end physical disc production in 2028, but despite fan resistance, analysts suggest the PlayStation maker won’t reverse its decision.
The announcement caused an uproar within the community, and while fans online continue to urge the company to reverse its decision, including creating a petition that has garnered over 247,400 signatures at the time of writing, Sony remains silent on the issue.
Others are also PS5 users protesting the project by canceling their PlayStation Plus subscriptions, with many fans encouraging others to do the same.
However, according to Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Japanese video game industry consultancy Kantan Games, the boycott will not change Sony’s mind on the issue.
“I sympathize with fans of physical media, but Sony will not reverse this decision,” Toto said in an interview with IGN. “They of course knew what the reaction online would be like, and they are now waiting for this storm to pass.”
Toto attributes this to the fact that digital is more profitable, and the number of players canceling their PS Plus subscription would not be enough to convince the gaming giant.
“Sony has over 120 million active PlayStation users,” he said. “About 50 million people subscribe to PlayStation Plus. As an experiment, let’s say 500,000 people cancel in protest, that would only be 1% of that business – of course, not enough for Sony to start rethinking. Digital is just too lucrative.”
The profit margins between physical and digital games are significant, especially when considering digital sales of first-party PlayStation games.
As IGN calculated, a game like The last of us would give Sony 65% of the profits from a physical copy, 30% to the retailer and 5% for production costs. For digital sales made from the PlayStation Store, Sony would keep 100% of the revenue, but for third-party titles like Call of Dutythe company would keep a 30% discount off the asking price.
“Their current profit margin has been too low for years now, so they feel compelled to act,” Toto added. “From an economic standpoint, digital sales just make too much sense, especially for platform holders.”
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