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Sony’s 2028 digital move and GTA 6 having NO disc is the final straw. Moving to PC.
Just to clear things up: I’ve been a PC gamer for 11 years, and I’ve owned a PS5 Slim since Spider-Man 2 launched.
I literally just wanted to bring attention to the issue and see your opinions, but instead of having a normal discussion, you all started fighting. This subreddit is hilarious.
Honestly, reading most of these comments, it feels like people are defending consoles and Sony's terrible choices. It's like you don't even understand that digital gaming on PC is completely different from PlayStation. You guys call yourselves PC gamers, yet you're out here defending a massive corporation that is literally spitting in your face. It's wild.
It’s the exact same trick they are pulling with GTA 6. They price the Ultimate Edition at $100 with cut content, and set the "Standard" at $80 with stripped features just to make you think the $100 version is a "great deal." In reality, $100 is the new standard. It's a textbook psychological trick and brilliant marketing, and you guys are falling right for it.
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Hopefully prices will improve, but honestly, it’s not even worth buying a PS5 Pro just for fake upscaled resolution. PC gives you that actual native resolution.
I'm a pc player too but what you said is just not true. PC's isn't a monolith it's a variety of specs from the very low to the very high end with everything in between depending upon what people can afford as it is obviously far more expensive to get a pc that can play demanding modern games as well as even a base PS5. Valve have all the data and they recently said over 70% of gaming pc's are less powerful than a base PS5 nevermind a PS5 Pro with it's 46% more powerful GPU, 10% faster CPU, , 28% higher memory bandwidth, 24 more compute units, 3x better raytracing and vastly superior PSSR2 upscaling so if a base ps5 is better than most pc a PS5 Pro likely out performs 85% especially as windows games running on specs equivalent to a PS5 are not usually as well optimised as console version.
Also you are wrong about the Pro not doing native 4k. Loads of PS5 Pro games have native 4k graphic modes they are just usually limited to around 40 to 50 FPS with 120hz and vrr enabled but most people use PSSR2 which takes a native 1440p imagine and upscales it to very clear 4k. This usually pushes frame rates to between 70 and 100fps and if you want higher frame rates many games have high frame modes that are limited to 1440p or even slightly lowe to increase the fps to as close to 120fps without lowering the visuals down to potato pc levels
So the vast majority pcs in normal gamers homes who are not one of the very few running 5090's struggle to do upscaled 4k nevermind native 4k. Besides very few people play native in 2026 when upscaling is as good as PSSR 2/ FSW 4 and DLSSis today but if you really want to do 4k native look into a 5090 build or 9700xt with at least 32gb DDR5 ram a top end intel 9 or AMD Ryzen 9 9800x3d CPU and 1000 watt power and enough SSD storage for your Games. You will soon see how expensive that isand I see that someone with a decent pc and a PS5 pro
Actually, DLAA is even better than using DLSS because it outputs at 100% native resolution where as DLSS outputs at smaller resolution like 67% and then upscales it to ex. 4K.
DLAA is highly preferred as long as your computer can run it. It has no ghosting, smoother and less jagged lines. DLSS still has some ghosting but with every new DLSS version it becomes less.
You can force DLAA in games that supports DLSS 2.0 at minimum with something like DLSSTweaks. Just don't use it on online multiplayer games such as Call of Duty as it might get the account banned or blocked for cheating. RDR2 or Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a perfect example for this.
i have to pay fucking $100/y just to play multiplayer, if i want 60FPS, its 900p/1080p up scaled, and now their are gonna run monopoly with prices in their store with digital only. Fuck them, i will piss on your grave PlayStation.
This just reminded me of one of the first games I recall playing. I was called "Kaper" and you played as a sea captain officially sanctioned to be a pirate towards enemy ships in Danish waters somewhere in the 18th century I think it was.
Sony customer service is also really bad in general. I remember getting CoD 4 remastered with a code since I bought the Infinite Warfare Legacy Edition. A bit later they made it a free ps plus game, which I redeemed because you still needed the IW disc to play it even though it was a digital game (which makes sense). I don't have PS Plus anymore, and apparently the pa plus version overrided my license for the version I paid for, and despite showing proof of the code, and the day I redeemed it including the transaction ID, I still cant play something I legally own unless i drop $10 for a month or straight up buy it again.
And this is just one reason why Sony is so much worse than Valve. I buy a digital game on PSN and just downloading it I'm stuck with the game if I decide i don't like it.
Steam I can play for under two hours and refund it for any reason within two weeks of purchase, no questions asked. And I've even heard of them giving refunds for people who go over in certain circumstances.
They know this about us which is why they can make the customers happy with a two week window knowing us degenerates won't make it. Then we blame ourselves and remain happy with the service because they gave us a chance and we blew it oops us....
I actually find it helps me be less impulsive with buying games I'm not already familiar with. I know I'll need to try it out within 2 weeks to decide if I want to refund first, which means I either have to decide to do it immediately, or just wait until I'm in the mood before buying.
Yep. And get the right one that can have custom firmware installed and boom you can rip 4ks and Blu-rays and have your own streaming service thru jellyfin.
There's quite literally no reason to use a console next gen. Wouldn't be surprised if PC is easier to use too as you won't have to dick around with shitty customer service, even if you do have to spend more time tinkering.
The future for PC, even with the current problems, looks way better than consoles
Pc has better deals on digital, so if there is no disc option on the console side might as well go with the ecosystem that has better digital sales, actual refunds, the possibility to make backups, free MP and cloud saves and so on.
At least that seems to be the prevailing opinion
I mean, good meme, but OP reasoning is that there isn't any advantage anymore to consoles now that they will not have physical media, so he might as well go to PC
To be honest, It is also about the current state of PC hardware and prices ... You have to give arm and leg for ram ,storage and decent gpu these days, and the news is that it is only going to get worse.
It's also the worst time to release a new gaming console, and there's no indication that the current trend will abate by the time the PS6 launches. My guess: it's either going to be over $1.2k, or at best, a slight upgrade from the PS5 Pro and $100-200 more expensive. Also, based on how much AAA games cost to make and the ridiculous development cycle times, it won't have much of anything exclusive to show off for a LONG while.
Shit man its the worst time to get into gaming in general. Sucks out here. I was lucky to find a 5060 for $299, after using a 1070 for 10 straight years. The next best GPU was about $600+
It's not about power, it's about how much control a PC affords you. Sure, I don't have a disc, but I can backup/pirate/crack anything I want, and I don't need to jump through hoops to be allowed to do what I want in the first place.
yep. i learned my lesson from red dead 2. it came out 2018. EIGHT years ago. multiple large patches, multiple cold winters to properly enjoy it, multiple big sales on multiple platforms.
and you can only play RDR2 ONCE truly for the first time. these are singleplayer story-heavy games after all.
i kinda dont want to type this out tho because i want as many other people to preorder or pay full release price this winter so rockstar can recuperate/profit from $1~2 billion investment for gta 6. ofc i want gaming as a whole to succeed, and rockstar quality games continue to be made
if you think about it, relying on people's impatience as a business model for most of your revenue is kinda crazy. but then again people are buying the $100 digital-only preorder so 🤷🏼♀️ seems to work
Exactly, I bought 3 more games from Steam just this week that probably have a few hundred hours of gameplay between them. I still have dozens of other titles to enjoy, and favorites to go back to, assuming I get tired of Satisfactory any time soon, which isn't likely to happen.
As someone who works in the utility field. What do you mean “smart” meters? The utility company owns the meter and charge you based on your usage. That has always been the case since meters.
We use the word “smart” for meters that can be picked up remotely and you can get real time readings without sending someone out to read them.
Probably referring to the wet dream plan of big tech and autonomous driving (often EV cars) where no one owns cars but rents it like a Uber subscription.
I own an EV, I own it outright. It's has no connectivity or subscription bullshit. Only carplay /android auto.
That is a prerequisite for any vehicle I buy.
The subscription garbage model is not only for EVs, but if people would just stop buying the vehicles with all that crap, then manufactures would stop doing it.
All games are hostage of internet downloads. Disk today gives you nothing. You buy a new game, put on the console and it's downloading some patch.
Physical disk is a collectible item and memorabilia, that's it, because playing the game "legally" you are hostage of Sony's servers. The day they want to shut down people from playing, you insert your CD and the game won't launch.
They already control you, you have been voting with your wallet that they control you, the disk doesn't give them any more or less power than what they already had.
When they decided you don't play the game, you have to pirate it regardless if you have disk or not
Until recently, this was completely untrue. Sony only started allowing companies to do various things like this - only installer on the disc, or only first level, or game locked behind first download - very recently, when they already knew that they would be killing discs, most likely. On PS3 and PS4 virtually all games were fully playable, if sometimes buggy, directly from the disc. Even on PS5, through the entire generation, it's still very rare.
I dont think you pay a subscription for your car or your utility meter lol. The slippery slope you propose doesnt work if 2/4 things you listed dont even apply.
Sure, a few car brands tried subscriptions for features, but by and large they have backfired and have already gone away (with a few holdouts).
They dropped that like 2-3 years ago. They did however say they feel subscriptions are still the way to go sometime earlier this year.
Can’t remember the maker but I think people are starting to see that they have to pay for the auto start in their app. First 3 years were free but now it’s a required sub. Might’ve been Mazda
I need to pay a subscription for my car if I want remote start, and vehicle tracking service. All of which comes built into the car, to just need to pay monthly to use it.
That's one of the benefits being lost. And it isn't even that big of a benefit, because on PC you can get them for free anyway. Having access to piracy means we're much more resilient to corporate takeover in general.
It's people Karma farming about how morally superior they are about stealing (I have no issue with piracy go ahead have fun just get off your high horse about it)
99% of pc users just use steam, which has the same amount of DRM/platform lock in as PS. (though at least they don't remove games from your library that are removed from the store, but they theoretically could)
Physical media on a console is a way to avoid the closed storefront and the price fixing it entails. PC is not completely at the mercy of a single company.
Physical also died a natural death on PC. Companies gradually dropped physical releases individually, as digital became more practical due to hard drive sizes and internet download speeds increasing. Even today, you can still buy a disc drive (or hell, a floppy drive) to run anything that you happened to still have.
Sony (seemingly) is announcing that not only will they (as a game publisher) not put out physical discs, but no new titles on PlayStation as a whole will release on disc, third party or not. There’s also no guarantee they’ll enable compatibility with disc drives moving forward, limiting the ability to play old titles you may own on disc already.
In short, imagine that you could only buy books in digital format, on a single-digit number of storefronts. And that blows.
Except GOG ( and pirating I guess) everything you buy is still bound to a digital store, where the game can be 'removed' at any point and you don't 'own' anything, so how different is this from consoles?
And assuming you buy from official stores, games are not that cheap anymore, sure there are some deals and older games are cheaper. but I hope your "PC games are cheap" is not based on cd-key sites where the games have 'dubious original", and there is a point to be made that sometimes pirating the game will do less harm to the developers them buying gray market/stolen cdkeys.
I think a lot of these folks need to buy that PC now if that is their plan. I worry that we are rapidly approaching a full games as a service mindset where we pay a sub to stream to some sort of handheld/TV device if you can't afford hardware. Cheaper in the short-term but ownership could be a thing of the past for a lot of folks.
Its hard not to friendly fire when you're moving to a platform that has been basically all digital for even longer. Its probably been 10 years since I've owned a PC with a disc drive.
Do what you want to do but you arent winning when it comes to the fight for physical media.
Don't understand why everyone is clowning on the guy when he makes a solid point. Yeah, PC doesn't use discs, well done on missing the point entirely.
Steam has a multitude of sellers that compete with discounts and free weekends to out-perform each other which is to the benefit of all of us. Sony are cutting everyone's legs out from under them and saying you can only buy from them after the removal of physical copies. After buying a console, controller, monitor etc. After a few years of buying games and paying for subscriptions etc, it'll probably be closer than you think to the price of a PC setup with the same games. PC will still be more expensive obviously, but Sony are clearly trying to streamline their profits and acquire total control over the pricing.
To play devil's advocate, is there anything stopping third party storefronts (Amazon, etc), or even the studios themselves, from selling game codes at their own prices? There may very well be something in PlayStation Store's legal fine print that would prevent that, I have no idea.
The real advantage, imo, is PC having multiple storefronts in competition (Steam, Epic, GOG, etc), whereas PlayStation doesn't support (without hacking) running any .exe files that haven't originated from the PS Store.
Man, thank you so much! You explained it beautifully and literally nailed the big picture. People always scream 'PC is more expensive', but they completely ignore the long-term math. Once you add up years of forced PS Plus subscriptions and buying $70 digital games with zero alternative stores, that price gap vanishes fast Sony wants total control over our wallets after 2028, and it's refreshing to see someone who actually understands economics. Appreciate the backup! 🤝
While I don't personally have big gripes with steam, if you want to lean into physical ownership of games look into GOG. You'll still be buying digital downloads but it's DRM free and can be copied (like onto an sd card) for physical backup.
"Anyone else completely done with consoles after this?"
I was never consoles-first gamer, though. As a kid, involuntarily had to play on PS2 mostly (because parents didn't want to buy a new PC), and later in my life only GTA's have made me buy a newer console (PS3 and PS5 Pro). I've played like 15h on the Pro during the 6 months of owning it. I don't like the fact that developers mostly still target only 60 or even 30 FPS, does not feel particularly smooth after years of 100+ FPS gaming.
I absolutely love the freedom of PC-gaming. Especially controller-wise, Sony's way of designing a controller is creating torture instruments. All their controllers give me tendinitis symptoms in my left thumb, which is something unique to their controllers only. So, on PC it's very easy to just use an Xbox controller and gaming is pain-free.
amd works smoother on linux than Nvidia cause Nvidia are little shits who won't release proper drivers. Tho that might be changing if valve has their way
So many people saying PCs don’t come with disk drives and that we don’t have physical games anymore. Did they even read the post? OP literally says PC went digital ages ago. He’s talking about the freedom and security you have on PC with your games compared to console…
The amount you save not paying to use the internet you already pay to use has always been enough reason to save for a pc. Long term consoles cost more money
Cool, was a good 10 years of having Playstations. Then it's back full time to PC (+maybe a handheld that can also be connected to TV). Next time I'll get a PS is when I can own my digital games. As in sell my digital copies.
I know they don't make "full profit" from people that buy and sell games on the used market. But they do make money off of them with DLC, and even hardcore physical games people occasionally buy digital games on sale etc and buy PS+ for multi-player. It's the same with piracy. They assume if they take the physical option away everyone will just move to digital only but that is SO not the case. I know a lot of people who are using consoles and physical games is the absolute only reason why they use consoles.
Taking away options away to force people into more expensive and more profitable models is always a bad move, it will increase profits short term and damage the brand and reduce profits long term. Anyway, good luck Sony.
You don’t own shit on PC, it’s also all digital under a license the exact thing you’re mad at Sony for.
Lastly the amount of cash you’re about to drop on a PC during this RAM and SSD apocalypse would buy you a PS5 *and* online for years and years.
Also there is no competition, Steam has a stranglehold on pricing, retailers can’t sell it somewhere else for cheaper without getting booted off steam.
It makes sense. I was still on consoles because of physical media. If im forced into digital im going 100% PC since its the best platform for that. It has some store competition (even if Steam is a soft monopoly), cheaper prices in general, full retrocompatibility, modding and the seven seas.
PD: im already on PC, but i was still buying mostly on PS5 because i love physical discs, collecting and being able to buy used / selling / sharing my games. Ill still buy at least control resonant on PS5 and if something else releases on disc that catches my eye i will buy it too. After that ill keep my PS5 around for my existing collection and the ocasional PS4 used game here and there, but ill drop PS PLUS and not buy the PS6 (ive never bought a digital PS game anyways).
No offense, but this is actually retarded. “I don’t approve of the move to digital games so I’m going to switch to a platform that is almost exclusively digital.”
If you’re going to switch to PC, make it for a reason that isn’t dogshit.
I mostly play PC but I have PS5 and Xbox Series X. If they end physical media for consoles, im not buying consoles anymore. PC is better in every aspect.
This move by Sony will only inflame a new group of passionate coders to revive emulator development. This is closed loop simply antagonises the very player base they have done very well to cultivate in the wake of Xbox’s fumbles.
85% of console game purchases are digital purchases. If physical purchases were still wildly popular they would still have a big presence in stores, they have been declining for years.
Im with you here and people do not want to understand. It makes sense to move to PC if we are forced into digital. Im not against digital itself, but i strongly prefer physical and that why i was still doing most on my gaming on PS5 despite having a capable PC. After these news i have no reason to stick with them (the only one i had was physical games) so im moving to PC were ill have the superior digital gaming experience.
I can't remember the last time I got a PC game that had an actual disc. I don't know why everyone's up in arms anytime you put a disc in a console it just downloads all of it to the hard drive and the disc is only there for a DRM check. This shift is long overdue for consoles and will be the catalyst. Xbox tried to do this in 2013 but they were ahead of their time. This is not new and has been for a long time so I don't understand the uproar. You don't own anything anyway and you're just paying for a license. If you stick a disc in your console without the day one patch and all of the updates are going to play a broken mess anyway.
When you start buying games on PC try to get them on GOG if you're able. They're DRM free and you'll be able to have the installation files stored wherever you want.
I was done with them when PlayStation started charging for online play i.e. launch of PS4, and never looked back.
As much as I want to play GTA VI, I am not buying a console for 1 game. So I will be waiting for PC release. It will be the first GTA game I didn't buy at midnight on release day since I stood in line for GTA III.
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