- Analysts suggest that Sony will not reverse its decision to stop the production of physical discs
- Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Kantan Games, says Sony will wait for the backlash to die down
- Toto adds that “Digital is just too lucrative” for the PlayStation company
Sony plans to end physical disc production in 2028, but despite backlash from fans, analysts suggest the PlayStation maker won’t change its decision.
The announcement has caused a bit of an uproar in the community, and while fans online continue to call on the company to backtrack on its decision, including creating a petition that has gathered over 247,400 signatures at the time of writing, Sony remains silent on the matter.
Others are also PS5 users protesting the plan by canceling their PlayStation Plus subscriptions, with many fans urging others to do the same.
But according to Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Japanese games industry consultancy Kantan Games, said the boycott will not change Sony’s opinion on the matter.
“I sympathize with physical media fans, but Sony will not reverse this decision,” Toto said in an interview with IGN. “Obviously they knew what the online backlash would be like and they are now waiting for this storm to pass.”
Toto says digital is more profitable and the number of players canceling their PS Plus subscriptions would not be enough to persuade the gaming giant.
“Sony has over 120 million active PlayStation users,” he said. “About 50 million people subscribe to PlayStation Plus. As a thought experiment, let’s say 500,000 cancel in protest, that would only take 1% of that business away – certainly not enough for Sony to start rethinking. Digital is just too lucrative.”
The profit margins between physical and digital games are significant, especially when you consider digital sales of first-party PlayStation games.
As IGN calculated, a game that The last of us would offer Sony 65% of the profit from a physical copy, 30% to the retailer and 5% for production costs. For digital sales from the PlayStation Store, Sony will keep 100% of the revenue, but for third-party titles such as Call of Dutywould the company keep a 30% reduction of the tender price.
“Their current profit margins have been too weak for years now, so they feel they have to act,” Toto added. “From a financial perspective, digital sales just make too much sense, especially for platform holders.”
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