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Will sony take a U-turn on no physical

sony takes a U-turn again?

  • yes

    Votes: 46 13.5%

  • not this time

    Votes: 294 86.5%
  • Total voters
    340
roosnam1980

roosnam1980

Member
They did take one U-turn recently with the pc ports , any chance they will do it again with the recent decision to end production .
imo yes
 
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Im Not No Way GIF
 
Nah.
In my opinion, by announcing no disk based releases come 2028, they are shifting towards a diskless console & future going forward (PS6).

I do wonder tho that if the next xbox offered a disk drive, or at least an optional add-on, would that help their sales more against the ps6? then again how many disks would games be on... 2? 3? more? Which doesnt seem feasible.
 
Previous turns were involved with less money and infrastructure changes. This is a different case. Should they do it - they shouldn't do it now in the first place. Rather make it during next generation with subtle changes - disc drive as an optional ad-on. Some interviews where they would say, that this won't be forever, etc. And then, at the end of generation, they could have announce the end of production.

Getting back to should they do it - yes. Will they do it - no. Only if they would see a decline of users (like with Game Pass after last rise of the price) then they would need to react.

This was truly bad timing. First they should show people that there is a great stuff (console, games) ahead. Then say, that there still will be a way to play your discs games but with additional cost of ad-on drive (which probably will be). For now this looks bad.
 
They falsely think they bring enough value and have not enough competition to do this, they will die on all digital future hill 4sure, gaas intitiative and funding all their DEI shit needs money from somewhere, thats the only way they can monetize their customers with no limit.
 
Why should they? Business is doing great and people keep buying their products no matter what they do. So they don't have to give a damn about what customers actually want, they can focus entirely on maximizing profits.
If things ever start going downhill, they'll try to win customers back. But with hardly any competition from Xbox, that probably won't happen for a very long time.
 
AI estimates it at 15-20% of a U-turn.

Personally, what I could see happening is a sort of partial U-turn. Remember that Sony only stated that they would stop producing optical discs in 2028, not that they would kill physical altogether. And so what they might do is go the Nintendo route and release little key cards. These would have virtually no storage and would cost little to manufacture, a reader for them would cost next to nothing an take up virtually no space inside of the PS6. If they do this they will still gain a lot of control but at the same time they can give PS gamers enough of an illusion of ownership (since you could lend or sell your key cards) that they would buy a PS6. It would certainly make me consider a PS6 if this was the case. A move like that would also keep retailers happy.
 
They didn't do a U-turn with PC ports. They're still coming, especially with the recent news about them still focusing on GAAS, nothing substantial has changed.

Anyway, Sony is already shifting focus to Micro Optics at their disc production sites.

salzburg.orf.at

Sony setzt künftig auf Micro Optics

Der japanische Konzern Sony will künftig Neuerscheinungen von Konsolenspielen nur noch online anbieten. Der Wegfall von Speichermedien wie etwa Compact Discs bedeutet größere Umstrukturierungen der zentralen Produktion im Sony-Werk in Thalgau (Flachgau). Der Personalstand soll dennoch...
salzburg.orf.at salzburg.orf.at

DeepL translation
Sony to Focus on Micro Optics in the Future
The Japanese corporation Sony plans to offer new console game releases exclusively online in the future. The phase-out of storage media such as compact discs will require major restructuring of central production at the Sony plant in Thalgau (Flachgau). However, the number of employees is expected to remain unchanged.

600,000 discs still roll off the assembly line at Sony's Thalgau plant every day. Starting in 2028, that number is expected to drop significantly, as new PlayStation games will no longer be offered on disc. The corporate decision will have a direct impact on production in Thalgau, says Dietmar Tanzer, CEO of Sony DADC.

"PlayStation currently accounts for about 50 percent of our volume, and of that, about 20 percent are new orders. We're looking at roughly 10 percent of the volume in 2028," says Tanzer.

300 employees are set to be retrained
Currently, 300 employees work at the Thalgau plant and were informed about the restructuring on Wednesday. Tanzer emphasizes that the company intends to maintain this number.
The changes have been on the horizon for some time. According to company management, around 30 million euros were recently invested in new technology for manufacturing optical microlenses at the Thalgau plant. This is set to become a new business segment, says Markus Streibl, head of "Micro Optics" at Sony DADC.

Test operations are underway; mass production to begin in 2027
"Micro Optics involves the miniaturization of optical systems and elements and is used to focus and direct light in the smallest of spaces. One application, for example, would be a car turn signal projected onto the asphalt," says Streibl.

Employees have already been reassigned from disc production to support the test operations. In the future, the company plans to retrain them on a large scale. Sony aims to begin mass production of optical microlenses as early as next year.

red, salzburg.ORF.at
Click to expand...
 
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Doubt it, unfortunately. With digital % increasing YoY it was just a matter of when. Fucking hate this timeline, everything went to shit when Harambe was murdered.
 
Lol no. Don't be delusional.
Actual data completely support the decision, gaming will obviously complete its digital transition, it's already 80% there, everyone knew this moment was around the corner.
Also when such decisions are taken it means that other major steps have already been taken like deinvesting/selling current manufacturing lines, ending contracts, alerting suppliers and so on.

They knew that a minority would complain, it's irrelevant, they don't represent the global market trends and no gaming platform is a viable alternative promoting and promising long term support of physical media.
 
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DavidGzz said:
That was just convenient at the time due to fighting some competition. That competition goes away and we get asshole Sony back.
Click to expand...
Not disagreeing with you at all, it just seems all the goodwill they received from that point on is totally lost.

At this rate I've have 0 interest in buying a PS6 and Ive had every playstation since the first one. Im still considering the portable but it is really dependent on price.
 
No. Looking back at how they launched where they've basically positioned the non-disc drive PS5 as the main thing, this was probably planned for quite a long time. They probably wanted to wait for sales data to use for projections and how the market develops before committing to that. I expect that they're quite happy that they won't have to build a disc version of PS6.
 
I really hope they don't. I want this shit to accelerate to finally result in some kind of change. I don't care if they go bancrupt or governments starts enforcing consumer rights in the digital space. Something has to happen. I don't want this to drag on any longer.
 
No. They will make more money by killing the used game market and also forcing everyone to use their digital store. They will lose some people, but those two things will more then make up for it. It all comes down to which generates the most money.
 
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