Circana: 82% of all PS5 sales are disc versions. Sony knows they're really charging 920€ / $780 for the PS5 Pro people actually want.

[ToTTenTranz]

Disc Editions Make Up 82% Of All PS5 Console Sales

Gamers still want the option for discs as over 80% of all PS5 console sales in the US have been for the disc edition.

insider-gaming.com

When Sony says they're selling the PS5 Pro without a disc to provide people with "a choice", we can all conclude it's pure bullshit.

The move is to either make bank by demanding a whopping 120€ for a disc drive, or in some cases to force people to only be able to contribute to Sony's distribution take by limiting them to the PSN store. The latter has additional perks, like being able to fully control gamers' behavior in all of PSN's social activities (game chats, psn forums, etc.) and preventing people from being able to access the 2nd hand market.

 

[akira__]

I was wondering, the disc attachment is the same as the new ps5 model right?

If you have a ps5 base model with disc attachment couldn't you sell the that model on eBay as a digital version?

And keep the disc attachment?

The only issue would be the plates?

 

[Vertigo]

Sure I bought a disc drive ps5… but not once loaded a disc into it.

 

[ethomaz]

That is because up to 2023 Sony barely shipped digital version of PS5.

That changed.

If you look at 2024 PS5 DE ratio are increasing month after month.
In September it was 40% that is twice what you posted in OP.

We have all this data in Circana thread.
It is not news worth imo.

And the article forget the most important thing…

78% of game sales in 2024 in US were digital.
And that doesn’t include digital only titles.

People have more consoles with disc because they didn’t have option to buy the DE.

 

[Kokoloko]

Disc Editions Make Up 82% Of All PS5 Console Sales

Gamers still want the option for discs as over 80% of all PS5 console sales in the US have been for the disc edition.

insider-gaming.com

When Sony says they're selling the PS5 Pro without a disc to provide people with "a choice", we can all conclude it's pure bullshit.

The move is to either make bank by demanding a whopping 120€ for a disc drive, or in some cases to force people to only be able to contribute to Sony's distribution take by limiting them to the PSN store. The latter has additional perks, like being able to fully control gamers' behavior in all of PSN's social activities (game chats, psn forums, etc.) and preventing people from being able to access the 2nd hand market.

Its not BS it is a choice lol. Just like the PS5 Slim did. Why should I pay for one when I barely use it?
I barely buy physical games. Bought the PS5 slim without a disc and then bought it later for some BC games I had.

Its a good option but Id rather pay a bit less and not have the disc drive. If you want it, go buy it.
It doesnt make sense to add it and increase price when over 60-70% of game sales are digital

 

[Kokoloko]

I was wondering, the disc attachment is the same as the new ps5 model right?

If you have a ps5 base model with disc attachment couldn't you sell the that model on eBay as a digital version?

And keep the disc attachment?

The only issue would be the plates?

Makes no sense for Sony to have 2 seperate disc drives. Im guessing the one that works on PS5 Slim will work on PS5 Pro

 

[Boswollox]

Could this explain the loss of revenue and hardware sales? Sony are falling into the trap of abandoning the markets that are majority physical, chasing the phantom digital dollar?

 

[ethomaz]

Could this explain the loss of revenue and hardware sales? Sony are falling into the trap of abandoning the markets that are majority digital, chasing the phantom digital dollar?

Just to fix to be accurate.

 

[Boswollox]

Just to fix to be inaccurate.

Abandoning majority physical regions

 

[arvfab]

Its not BS it is a choice lol. Just like the PS5 Slim did. Why should I pay for one when I barely use it?
I barely buy physical games. Bought the PS5 slim without a disc and then bought it later for some BC games I had.

Its a good option but Id rather pay a bit less and not have the disc drive. If you want it, go buy it.
It doesnt make sense to add it and increase price when over 60-70% of game sales are digital

So why not offer both options like with the Slim?

In fact, the Slim with drive costs less than buying separately.

I buy 99% of my games physically and for people like me, the drive is essential.

 

[ethomaz]

Abandoning majority physical regions

Not sure what you are trying to say... Sony is not abandoning anything... they give you the two options.

Consumers are abandoning physical.
It is a market trend that is growing from years already since PS4 days.

US and Europe game sales are majority digital.
Only Japan and some asia countries still had digital sales below 50% but that is increasing year by year... few years ago it was below 20%.

 

[AllBizness]

Disc Editions Make Up 82% Of All PS5 Console Sales

Gamers still want the option for discs as over 80% of all PS5 console sales in the US have been for the disc edition.

insider-gaming.com

When Sony says they're selling the PS5 Pro without a disc to provide people with "a choice", we can all conclude it's pure bullshit.

The move is to either make bank by demanding a whopping 120€ for a disc drive, or in some cases to force people to only be able to contribute to Sony's distribution take by limiting them to the PSN store. The latter has additional perks, like being able to fully control gamers' behavior in all of PSN's social activities (game chats, psn forums, etc.) and preventing people from being able to access the 2nd hand market.

Why you mad? Sony needs to make bank to give us these awesome games quit your bitching.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

I wonder what the actual overlap is between PS5 Pro "enthusiasts" (i.e. people who are eager to get a PS5 Pro) and people who originally bought the disc PS5 and own disc games.
I bet it's well above 90%. I.e. almost everyone who would value the PS5 Pro experience are early owners of the original disc PS5 with disc games.


So like I said, the actual price for the PS5 Pro is 920€ for the overwhelming majority of people who would actually want a PS5 Pro. And Sony knows this.

I was wondering, the disc attachment is the same as the new ps5 model right?

If you have a ps5 base model with disc attachment couldn't you sell the that model on eBay as a digital version?

And keep the disc attachment?

The only issue would be the plates?

You could, but the slim only started selling a year ago, whereas the regular version is 4 years old. So you had 3x more time selling the release model with disc than you had the slim model with disc.

And my guess is the overwhelming majority of people who bought a PS5 less than a year ago isn't willing to upgrade their console to a mid-gen anytime soon.

I buy 99% of my games physically and for people like me, the drive is essential.

Same. I own like 10 PS5 disc games (plus some PS4 discs for which I got the PS5 upgrade) and the only PSN purchases I ever made were either Plus subscriptions or DLCs that had no physical release.

I won't even consider transitioning to a digital-only console this gen.

 

[Kokoloko]

So why not offer both options like with the Slim?

In fact, the Slim with drive costs less than buying separately.

I buy 99% of my games physically and for people like me, the drive is essential.

Probably production wise. Allows them to only make 1 model instead of 2. Keep the cost under 699.
Nothing is stopping you from playing your games tbh, you just buy a disc drive

 

[Boswollox]

Consumers are abandoning physical.

Are they? Or are there options becoming so restricted?

 

[ethomaz]

Are they? Or are there options becoming so restricted?

I don't discuss conspiracy theories assumptions...

I discuss facts.

Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social)

Alright, let's chat digital video game sales. For those titles which Circana has both physical & digital tracking (excluding all titles without both physical AND digital sales in the period), we are seeing a bit of a slowdown in the US dollar share growth rate of digital. Cont...

bsky.app

Since PS4 days digital is growing at fast rate every year... this year (2024) was the first which it slow down because it near 80% and not everybody likes digital but most do.

Physical stores are dying because most consumers doesn't buy physically anymore... not because it become more difficult to buy physical games.
The consumer move to digital happened before physical games become hard to buy.
Options being restricted is a result of most consumers buying digital.

Nobody will invest in something that consumers doesn't want.
If there is enough demand from the consumers physical games should be easy to buy yet.

That is the law of supply and demand way before Christ.
Why people wants to complicate with conspiracy theories is out of my mind.

 

[Gediminas]

Consumers are abandoning physical.

No, they are not. Stop with fake and innept narrative.
Customers never abandoned physical, game publishers and bean counter trying abandoning it.
Each passing year, there is more and more ONLY digital games, we at the point, where it was 9 to 1 and still, AAA games are 50 50.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Nothing is stopping you from playing your games tbh, you just buy a disc drive

The fact that you need to buy it separately and then assemble it yourself at home is a barrier to a lot of people.

It doesn't matter how easy you and I think it is to retrieve the plates and insert the disc drive. The majority of people aren't used to do any type of upgrade on their electronics.

Not selling a pre-assembled version of the PS5 Pro with disc is going to stop people from upgrading, and even other people from buying the PS5 Pro because they don't want to go through the hassle of upgrading.
Or even worse: some people will be buying the PS5 Pro assuming it has a disc and then they'll get a bad surprise.

Are they? Or are there options becoming so restricted?

The restrictions have a motive, and that motive is not to "lower the cost of entrance".
The motive is one of two:
1 - push more people towards digital-only and increase their digital distribution share (a monopoly for Sony).
2 - sell a bluray drive for a whopping 120€.


None of these options is pro-consumer.

 

[ethomaz]

No, they are not. Stop with fake and innept narrative.
Customers never abandoned physical, game publishers and bean counter trying abandoning it.
Each passing year, there is more and more ONLY digital games, we at the point, where it was 9 to 1 and still, AAA games are 50 50.

You are correct.
They already did... since PS4 days.
And the numbers excluding digital only games and DLCs already showed that.

Sorry.

 

[Gediminas]

None of these options is pro-consumer.

Lately, those customers just dumbasses.
No wonder, suits are trying to exploit it.