'PS5 Pro Signposts a Disc-Less Future That Few Actually Want' (gamesindustry.biz) 39
From an opinion piece on GamesIndustry.biz about the recently launched PS5 Pro that went on sale this week: What I'd argue is actually more interesting about PS5 Pro in a wider perspective isn't what Sony has done to the chips in the system -- it's what they've chosen not to include, and what it tells us about the decision-making process that's likely occurring for the company's future hardware. PS5 Pro doesn't have a disc drive. Anyone who wants to play disc-based games on the system will need to buy one of the add-on drives Sony started selling when the PS5 Slim model was released, adding further to the cost of the already very expensive device.
To add insult to injury, Sony doesn't seem to have made any effort whatsoever to ensure that those drives are actually well-stocked for the launch of the Pro. I can only speak directly to the situation in Japan, where they've been out of stock at most major retailers for months and even second-hand units are being sold at three to four times SRP by scalpers. But asking around suggests that the situation isn't much better in other regions. That's a very rough welcome to PS5 Pro ownership for anyone upgrading who has a collection of games on disc.
It's possible, of course, that Sony excluded the drive simply because its cost would push the Pro's price tag even higher. However, the incongruity of Sony's "Pro" console lacking the basic ability to play the games Sony sells at retailers all around the world is striking, and it's difficult to see the decision to accept that incongruity -- and the inconvenience it would inevitably cause for customers -- as anything other than strategic.
Digital sales make up a bigger and bigger portion of the industry's revenues every year, but physical game sales are still a very big deal -- and physical games are products that fall outside the control of publishers and platform holders in a way that they have found increasingly irritating in recent years. People who buy physical games can sell them second-hand or lend them to their friends, retailers with physical games in stock can discount them or include them in bundles as they see fit.
To add insult to injury, Sony doesn't seem to have made any effort whatsoever to ensure that those drives are actually well-stocked for the launch of the Pro. I can only speak directly to the situation in Japan, where they've been out of stock at most major retailers for months and even second-hand units are being sold at three to four times SRP by scalpers. But asking around suggests that the situation isn't much better in other regions. That's a very rough welcome to PS5 Pro ownership for anyone upgrading who has a collection of games on disc.
It's possible, of course, that Sony excluded the drive simply because its cost would push the Pro's price tag even higher. However, the incongruity of Sony's "Pro" console lacking the basic ability to play the games Sony sells at retailers all around the world is striking, and it's difficult to see the decision to accept that incongruity -- and the inconvenience it would inevitably cause for customers -- as anything other than strategic.
Digital sales make up a bigger and bigger portion of the industry's revenues every year, but physical game sales are still a very big deal -- and physical games are products that fall outside the control of publishers and platform holders in a way that they have found increasingly irritating in recent years. People who buy physical games can sell them second-hand or lend them to their friends, retailers with physical games in stock can discount them or include them in bundles as they see fit.
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I tend to agree with you, especially since shops nowadays sell you a plastic case with a download code inside anyway.
But then you look at Warcraft 3, for example, and the only available version officially is the one Blizzard wants you to play, and you have to go somewhere else to download a version of your liking.
Granted that most games are online only anyway, and they only let you connect to their servers if you have the "right" version. But there is a certain loss of ownership with the discs gone.
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This. Movies, and music, and most gaming platforms went away from physical media years ago. What's next, people asking for physical media for their phone game?
If you have a PS4 and a shelf full of disks..... you can continue to play them on your PS4.
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The optical drive also tends to be the first thing that dies on a console, resulting in either a bricked console or an expensive repair - or even having to mod the console to accept a new drive because the drives are paired to the console.
Having the drive be an external device at least makes it easier to replace when it fails.
But people complaining about a lack of optical media are thinking long term. I can dig out a PS1 with a selection of games and still play them today many years after Sony discontinued
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Whoa! Are you serious? The drive is uniquely locked to the console and vice versa?
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This seems like a good idea in theory, until Sony or the game developer decides to shut down the update/DRM servers for the game and it no longer works properly.
Only at that point do you realize that having a physical copy of the complete game might have been a good idea after-all.
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You're assuming you can play the game. It's been a long time since I've heard of someone buying a disc based game, throwing it in their PS5 and being able to play it straight away. Typically what happens is the first thing you actually need to do is download an update making the entire disk exercise pointless.
Also you're assuming people play games for the need to own a game. Many people don't. Many people play games for entertainment, and entertainment is fungible. "Oh noes game X no longer works!", *procee
Re: "few" should be "almost everyone" (Score:2)
I'm Cool With It (Score:1)
I'm totally fine with disc-less. I have a PS5 with the disc drive, and while I've used it for a couple games, I far prefer digital downloads. They can be acquired from my couch and with a 100Gig connection, they download quick and easily. No clutter around the house, nothing to throw in the landfill, no getting up and inserting a disc every time I want to play, no noise of the disc spinning. Totally down with disc-less.
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You have a 100Gig connection?!
Must be nice.
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Especially since the PS5 only has 1 gigabit ethernet, and the pro has wifi7 which *might* be a bit faster under ideal conditions, but in real world scenarios generally won't be, and won't be anywhere close to 100gbps in any case.
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how meany games does it take to hit your cap?
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Newsflash: Your net connection is in the top 5% if not 1% of the world.
Re:I'm Cool With It (Score:4, Insightful)
Newsflash: I'm well aware.
Newsflash: even when you buy the disc you still have to download tens, if not hundreds of gigs, of game data nearly the same as buying the digital copy.
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Yes most users will have a much worse experience downloading games...
I have 1gbps fibre here, but sony don't support IPv6 and legacy IPv4 traffic goes through CGNAT which slows things down massively at peak times. I can get 1gbps downloads over IPv6 day or night, but less than half that over IPv4.
A lot of users will also be using wireless, so things could be massively slower still due to congestion and interference. In the apartment building here i can get around 600mbps using wifi6 when in the same room as
Few people want it? (Score:1)
I was too lazy to deal with disks all the way back on the Wii (I almost always ended up playing the little download games rather than dealing with the disks).
I understand that there are people that like the permanence of disks, and it'll be a shame in 10 years when the games are lost forever, but I imagine the typical user prefers diskless.
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I understand that there are people that like the permanence of disks,
It's not about what you want anymore. The days of "the customer is always right" are long dead. You will be told what you will use.
You will own nothing and be happy.
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It's not so much the lack of ownership that bothers me.
I'm happy to rent things.
I'm more concerned about stuff becoming lost to time. There's too many movies and games not available to rent on any platform, and with the death of physical media they'll be lost forever going forward.
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Much like broadcast tapes of TV shows before the advent of VCRs, many things were lost to time and the consumer is the one who cares more about preserving it.
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When was the customer ever right in any industry?
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Certainly I was too lazy too. I ripped the games to an external USB and used a launcher. But my disc drive is still pristine and I still own a copy even if the original Wii dies and Nintendo no longer supports it.
I love replaying older games and I'm not going to constantly re-buy them to do it.
Even That Seems Somewhat Pointless (Score:5, Insightful)
To paraphrase Agent Smith: "What good is a disc drive, if games demand connectivity?"
The bigger issue is that very few games will allow a player to have a completely offline experience. Insert disc > copy to drive > play game. Not every game will work this way, of course, but this experience is becoming incredibly rare. Yes, there is incentive to have an internet connection; multiplayer gaming being one such reason, DLC and MMO/Live Service games being others...but the absence of the disc drive isn't the cause of the issues, it's a symptom of the trajectory of gaming.
Is it disks or ability to sell games used? (Score:2)
How many folks actually prefer a disc when the disc is just an unlock key to access the game after you download it anyway?
Allow folks to re-sell their digital downloaded games (and even movies/TVs) and discs would disappear at even a faster pace.
Re:Is it disks or ability to sell games used? (Score:4, Insightful)
This.
These days discs are nothing more than a shiny dongle to prove you paid for a license, and having the license no longer associated with a tangible object that can be resold is the actual problem. Unfortunately, it will probably take a law to force online software marketplaces to allow you to re-assign your purchases to someone else, since they love the idea that they've found a loophole to first sale doctrine.
Not that disks are better- (Score:1)
Doesn't affect me, but I get it (Score:2)
Some people - a lot of people if you're in the US - have really crappy internet connections, and probably a monthly data cap to make it even worse. For them, a physical copy is almost a must. But it also begs the question, why is an internet connection all but a must for consoles? Even with a physical copy, a lot of games need to download various assets (not talking patches h
Exactly what they want you to stop doing. (Score:3)
Sharing, lending, exchanging. They l know what they're doing and they're doing it for money and money only. Any game shared is a lost sales opportunity.
No discs, no ownership. (Score:4, Insightful)
Driving piracy (Score:2)
No such thing as physical media anymore (Score:2)
Even if you buy a disc, the code is what matters. ALL the data on the disc, one installed, gets replaced when you update. Discs are utterly pointless for games. The only nice thing a disc player does it let you play blurays, and who the fuck does that anymore? I haven't loaded a disc into my bluray players in literally years.
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No point buying the disk anymore...but if you own older games on disc, it's nice to still be able to play them. And personally, I don't own a Blu Ray player, and I like having the ability to play one using my console. Author overstates the importance, but all thing being equal, it's prefereable for physical disks to be an option, as it was for the standard PS5.
Ps5 pro, 2 comments (Score:2)
1) I have an early ps5. Works great. The idea of dropping another $700 or so to get somewhat better graphics in a limited set of games does not appeal. Anyone who didn't buy a regular ps5 by now is not going to run out there for a pro version. They will sell some units but it won't be a huge rush.
2) I bought the disk version of ps5 because I figured I'd want to own physical media, etc, etc. The reality is I bought a single disk game very early on but that was it. Complete waste of money. YMMV, but t
i am the only one (Score:2)
i maybe the only one that uses the ps5 for uhd video as well. i guess i will hold on to it as long as possible