Jason Schreier, in a YouTube video, thoroughly analyzed Sony's decision to stop releasing discs for new games starting in 2028 and explained why the company will not change its course.
He believes that Sony's main mistake is to announce the abandonment of physical media without offering anything in return to players. The company could have lowered prices for digital versions, added the ability to share games, improved the refund system, or offered other benefits. None of the above will happen.
The journalist believes that the transition is exclusively beneficial to Sony. When selling its own game for $70 on disc, the company receives about $45.5, while a digital copy brings almost the entire amount, as the money remains within the PlayStation Store. Similarly with games from third-party publishers: instead of a licensing fee of approximately 15%, Sony receives about 30% commission from each digital sale.
According to Schreier, this is why consoles are sold not for profit from "hardware," but for revenue from the digital store, subscriptions, and commissions from game sales. Sony decided that the number of buyers who need discs is no longer large enough to continue releasing them.
The journalist warned that the abandonment of physical media will harm game preservation, the secondary market, player-to-player exchange, and libraries where games can be borrowed for free. At the same time, the negative reaction does not subside: users discuss the abandonment of discs under PlayStation publications. If Sony had simultaneously offered real benefits to players, the criticism would have been significantly weaker.