Will PS Store Games Get Cheaper Without Discs? Former Square Enix Executive Surprises with Forecast

The former Square Enix Director of Business Development believes that Sony's abandonment of discs for PS5 will lead not to an increase, but to a decrease in prices in the PS Store due to direct competition between publishers.

Former Square Enix Director of Business Development, Jacob Navok, believes that Sony's abandonment of physical discs for PS5 could lower game prices in the PS Store, rather than raise them.

According to Navok, digital prices are currently largely tied to the cost of physical copies. After discs disappear, publishers will be able to directly compete with each other in the PS Store, as happens on Steam. As an example, he cited the price reduction of Final Fantasy XVI on Steam.

Navok also noted that prices in the PS Store are set by the publishers themselves, and Sony acts more as a marketplace. Competition between stores like Steam and Epic Games Store, he said, primarily affects the developers' share, not the price for players.

However, this forecast is debatable. A study presented as part of a court case in the Netherlands showed that digital games for PlayStation are on average 47% more expensive than disc versions.