This morning, Sony announced that physical PlayStation game discs will cease production in 2028 and, well… I'm not surprised, I'm just disappointed. I've been a physical game collector for years, but the writing's been on the wall pretty much since the start of the PS4 generation. The advantages of digital distribution are too numerous to count – if you're a game publisher. But for those of us out here actually buying and playing games, the consequences are vast and severe even for players who prefer the digital format.
The existence of digital distribution has been a net positive for gaming, since it's allowed small and mid-sized developers to create games and sell them to a wide audience they never would've been able to reach before. Without digital game sales, the likes of Stardew Valley, Hades, and Terraria simply would not exist. But while I'm happy to support indie developers by buying their digital games, if I'm faced with a choice between paying $70 (or, at this point, $80) for a physical game or a digital one, I'm going for the physical option every time.
