I guess you can call me "old fashion" but, I'll be picking up the ps5 with a disc drive. I haven't purchased any digital games really, and I like having the ability to sell a game later if I want. Half my games I've picked up on offer up, Facebook market place, etc for maybe half their retail price ( little as a few weeks after release). Theirs always someone that doesn't like the Game, bored with it, etc . Also, I don't see a problem with these consoles price points. The turnover for each generation is usually 7-8 years, and 500.00 isn't very much in that time span. Lastly, I'll probably be skipping an Xbox again unless they have some good first party content. My laptop can handle everything they have out now on medium setting too.

Good luck being locked into buying directly from Sony with the all digital version. Paying full price for months/years old games is great. Everyone knows when you take away competition things just get better.

Console digital market places are s***, with s*** prices....that are only comparable AT launch where most/all prices are the same. Why discount things when your base has few/no options. Even digital codes (when available) like to remain oddly high.

The drive....for one is overpriced. $100 extra dollars for a drive is silly.

But. It gives the console maker a reason to keep prices competitive.

$100 dollars now will cost you alot more later, when you are paying $59/$69 for all of your games.

Xbox has a serious edge there with game pass and smart delivery, but I'd still never buy a digital only console.

I also participated in that survey. However, there were similar questions asked that gave various options and asked how likely I'd be to buy it at the prices presented. There were variations that had more than stated as possibilities.

This is the dumbest thing I've ever read, there is no way they get the parts for the ps5 for $100

Seems reasonable. Sony or MS should have no problem selling all digital version for a lot less, because this really locks users to only their store and that 30% cut really pays back any loss. Since you can't buy retail where they lose a lot of margin to sellers and other companies involved. MS is even planing to release version where you sign up for two year subscription plan for discount at purchase price, or something like that, if memory serves.

Quote from: Special Guy on July 06, 2020, 04:39:15Physical copy seems the right move if the future economy presents a pay the electric bill or the internet scenario. Which millions of this market are likely headed for.

Nonsense. If anyone falls into a situation where they must decide which utility bill they are going to pay this month, buying a PS5 (or any other disposable income good) is completely out of the equation.

Quote from: Billy on July 05, 2020, 18:47:02But the real benefit of digital is sharing. Me and my brother split all games down the middle. His ps is activated as mine and mine is activated as his. Now we share all games.

Sure, both can now play the same game at the same time in separate consoles (even far away homes) using just one purchase, but the Luddites aren't interested. Don't waste your time explaining, that's the lesson I've learned.

People will happily spend up to $1,500 a year to buy the latest phone, but are disgusted at the audacity of a console costing a third of that? Don't forget this is a generation in which they maybe won't buy another for maybe a decade!? And yet Mr smartphone buyer has potentially gone and spent another $1,500 the year after!? This tech is cutting edge and will last a long time, effectively $50 per year! You might spend that on 1 game!

Those of you saying, I don't play Blu-Ray discs, don't you have any PS4 games that are physical and would still want to play?

Until there is some kind of Blockchain technology that allows gamers to sell their digital games on a Sony facilitated platform (similar to eBay), the digital edition will cost many, many times more than the Blu-Ray version, over the life of the console, because digital games are so damn expensive and you're at the mercy of Sony to reduce the price. Any other thought is just short sighted.

And what incentive do they have to reduce the price when it's their own platform? If they did the above, I'd buy the digital edition and not only would it revolutionise the industry forever, it'd win the console generation for Sony putting their revenue in to the stratosphere. Think about it!  ;)

I don't do a ton of "blueray watching" nowadays with netflix and that breed.

I jump games so much that I can see the savings for a no B.R. player option, just that scenario alone honestly.

I haven't used a disc to play a game, well for nostalgia maybe chuck in an oldie...but haven't really played a disc game in a minute.

I am a PS+ and PSNow subscriber, so I have access to the new stuff and a bunch of good older content, no disc required.

But again, it's a hundred dollar dvd player that I can control with my PS4 remote.

Post. Script. It has me thinking though, still time to mull it over.

This is dumb. The physical discs aren't going to be more expensive than digital. Ever. Physical discs are always cheaper because they can be resold. So if you don't mind the inconvenience of discs and buy used games, you might be able to recover the premium paid for the console with a drive.

Quote from: Errrr No on July 05, 2020, 15:41:42
This is NOT an irresistible price! £500 was the astronomical worst case scenario... It does not make £400 cheap!

I wonder who even started that £500 rumour hmmm?

Sony are crooked fucks.

The PS5 cost $450 to create. How is Sony crooked for wanting (at least) $500 for their product? They are a business and are expected to make a profit, or there is no point in them making products. If you think it's too much, then don't buy it.

I don't understand why you bother reporting on speculation and things that aren't actual facts. Why not just wait for an announcement from Sony? No one is going to know 100% what the price is until they say. You're just wasting your talent and everyone's time reporting on this.

Digital download has conveniently fleeced the vast majority of players to the tunes of thousands of dollars. Save for some enthusiasts or full blown addicts, no way they spend that much on physical disks.

Physical copy seems the right move if the future economy presents a pay the electric bill or the internet scenario. Which millions of this market are likely headed for.

A $100 price point has been pretty much assumed industry wide for weeks now, this is no stretch -look at the XBox One discless model launched a couple years back. It's nothing new.

Here's the thing though -it's only "irresistible" if you refuse to look at the long game, period.

A $100 difference is less than the release price of two typical games today (and with looming rumors that the next generation may actually jump another ten bucks, the contrast is marginalized even further).

So sure, save enough to grab a couple extra games up front... But then keep in mind how often big triple A titles go on sale on CONSOLE ESHOPS. Oh, hey, that frequency drops a lot, doesn't it? Unless something hits Greatest Hits status, it basically never decreases in digital price. That sports game that's a year or two old now? Yeah, still full price (thanks EA), want to play the COD title that came out two years ago? Full price good sir. Sure, these go on sale in the digital storefronts once or twice a year, for maybe 30-40% off once they're a couple years old... But in the physical market, you can grab a used copy for less than half the original price when the next one launches -hell, don't like "used"? You can often get a sealed copy for nearly the same price then too.

Do you like using those pre-order discounts through some of the big gaming retailers? Well, kiss em goodbye, because they can't offer those on digital versions -they make pennies per digital copy sold, so taking 5-10 bucks off for your pre-order ain't something they'll be able to do for you.

Here's my favorite part though: the folks who really want to get into the next gen, but are tight for cash -the gamers who are probably going to see this as the most appetizing... They're the ones who are going to be screwed the hardest, when they can't swap games with friends or even trade them in toward the next big title.

This, of course, affects everybody... Even if YOU don't buy the discless system, you're at the mercy of the larger market. If enough idiots buy the discless version, it becomes unprofitable for big retailers to carry the physical games anymore. Love em or hate em, we've all traded something in at GameStop to get that new game for less because we were tight on cash, at some point or another. If the physical market dwindles, there won't be a sustainable business model for big chains like that, and especially a lot of the mom and pop shops.

In the grand scheme of things, if enough people grab the cheaper option without thinking it through, this even hurts the industry itself. Some of the more narrow-minded executive level folks will often decry used game sales as hurting their business model... But a larger part of the industry understands that those trade-ins fuel more sales of their newer products, and whether a customer pays $60 in cash, or less because of trade-ins, the devs and publishers are still getting the same royalties and payouts -and that older game that was traded in? Yeah, by that time, it's probably not going to be selling at full price anymore anyways, so it's not like they're actually losing anything there either.

What the industry DOES lose though, is sales of their newer games. That guy who needed to trade in his older game to afford the newer one? Yeah, he can't get the newer game now. Sure, some people will scrounge, but after doing that a couple times, most people are just going to back off buying new games... Especially after they get burned with a couple full price games that turn out to be disappointing, that they can't return, re-sell, or trade in. So within a year or less, those gamers are buying less, devs and publishers are generating less income, and have to start re-assessing what kind of investment risks they can make. In simple terms: that means far fewer games will be made as studios have to tighten their budget. You'll see many publishers retract their budget for anything but yearly sequels and tired franchises, because anything else is too great a risk at that point. Nobody wins here.

The thing of it is, part of the industry seems to THINK that by cutting out the middle market, they'll make more money. But they fail to realize the basic economic concept that in order for a market to thrive, you need to keep products/services/income flowing from as many directions as possible. Shutting down arguably the biggest part of that market might mean that publishers can refuse to lower prices as games age, and get to take a higher cut of the sales that exist, but if those overall sales dwindle because people can't afford it... Then they're just making a bigger cut of what is now jack $π1+.

Some people will say "Oh, they'll figure that out. They're smart." They're not. How many times have studio executives made it publicly clear that they learned the WRONG lesson from a games failure, or from disappointing sales? Executives don't accept their mistakes, it's always someone else's fault. The devs didn't make the game exciting enough, the game concept wasn't interesting enough to players... That HAS to be it, because it couldn't possibly be that people hate how they've diluted the entire experience with microtransactions, or how they've priced a game that takes two whole hours to beat, has no replay value, and no multiplayer, for $60 instead of $30. They'll just choke out anything but what they see as the "safest" of bets, income will dwindle, and studios will face tough decisions to fold or merge with conglomerates that will have them working on nothing but Madden for the next decade.

This isn't an extremist perspective, it's the logical path we face, given what these companies have consistently shown us for the last three decades.

If you're right, and digital games are cheaper than hard copies by a decent amount, I'll still buy the bluray version...then wait for all the unsold hardcopies to fall into the bargin bin.