If you want to know just how far PlayStation is willing to push its digital-only agenda, look no further than how the company handled the demise of Destiny, Bungie’s flagship franchise. Between ending Destiny 2 and announcing plans to no longer produce physical games after 2028, Sony has seemingly been on a speed run to see how many gaming communities the company can upset. The industry as a whole has been moving away from physical media, but Sony announcing an official timeline is the first major turn that is bound to have a huge ripple effect in coming years. As gamers continue to feel a loss of ownership over the games they buy, Sony’s decision has only increased that anxiety.
Not every gamer is concerned about the end of physical games, but longtime gaming veterans and collectors are the ones getting the short end of the stick in this situation. There are even plans to boycott Marvel’s Wolverine in September as a way to protest against Sony’s decision. Unfortunately, such efforts are going to be overlooked, because if Sony won’t greenlight a game as requested as Destiny 3, then there’s no way that the company is going to consider changing its mind when it comes to physical games.
Gamers Hoping for Sony to Change Its Mind About Physical Games Need to Remember Destiny 3
I’m an avid game collector, and I don’t want to see physical discs become a thing of the past. However, this change has felt like an inevitable move by the industry for years, so I’m not surprised. Sony ending physical games in a few years is going to be a devastating end of an era, but the lack of Destiny 3 is a solid example of why demanding that the company reverse its decision is unlikely to produce any results.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Easy (120s)Medium (90s)Hard (60s)
It’s been a rough year for Destiny fans. Sony and Bungie announced the end of Destiny 2 recently, and just like the eventual discontinuation of physical games, it marked the end of a gaming legacy. Destiny 2 may have had a rough few years, but it still boasted a thriving player base. Bungie’s newest game Marathon was intended to be one of the games to further Sony’s live-service plans, but it hasn’t gained the same traction. The extraction shooter has seen solid success, but it has also angered plenty of Destiny 2 players and is a lot more niche, so it hasn’t resonated with a lot of Bungie fans.
In response to Bungie and Sony’s decision, there have been several Destiny 2 server slams since the announcement that have drawn a wild number of players, in addition to petitions asking for either the continuation of the game or Destiny 3. These moves were valiant efforts on the community’s part, but it hasn’t convinced Sony to change its mind. Even though there is always the chance that the company could decide to surprise players down the road, Bungie making Destiny 3 doesn’t seem to be in the cards.
- The June 9 Destiny 2 server slam attracted a whopping 800,000 players.
- 168,000 of those players were on Steam.
- The massive player count even crashed the servers.
- In comparison, Marathon‘s peak player count on Steam has only been a fraction of these numbers, with 88,337 players.
The Destiny 3 petition has reached over 400,000 signatures at this point, so it’s clear that there is obviously an audience there. Sony simply isn’t interested in continuing the franchise further. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but it’s the sad truth of the situation. Every live-service game is going to have its final day of new content, and it looks like the sun has set on Destiny 2 and the rest of the franchise for good.
The Physical Game Armageddon Has Begun, and There’s No Stopping It Now
It’s possible that companies like Xbox and Nintendo will continue to produce physical games in the coming years, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the creation of boxes and discs were reserved for specific first-party exclusives only. Nintendo’s ecosystem thrives on collectors, so the company is bound to continue producing physical copies. However, Nintendo has already caused plenty of controversy with its Game-Key Card system. Since a Switch 2 Game-Key Card is just a license key, it simply gives the illusion of ownership.
Aside from gamers, brick-and-mortar and secondhand game stores are going to be heavily affected by Sony’s decision to end physical games. Buying used games will become a thing of the past, which will inevitably cause local businesses to close and hurt gamers who rely on cheaper secondhand purchases.
GTA 6 has been another major player that has caused controversy with its approach to physical copies. The physical version of GTA 6 won’t contain a disc and is simply just another license key. With Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive’s decision to forego an actual disc and price the Standard Edition at $80, the industry is bound to follow in these footsteps. Plenty of gamers are going to refuse to buy a discless box, and that’s only going to give publishers more reason to embrace a digital-only future.
Gamers Should Still Make Their Voices Heard Despite Sony Going Forward With Its Plans
Even though the Destiny 3 petitions and Destiny 2 server slams haven’t changed Sony’s mind, I still deeply admire gamers’ willingness to come together and fight. It’s important to take a stand, but there are also moments when it’s clear that the industry is going to move forward with plans whether fans like it or not. There are already plenty of gamers who are completely used to only buying the digital version of a game now, and this is the demographic that companies like Sony are going to rely on in the future.
The bright side is that gamers who love to collect discs and boxes can still make choices that help preserve physical media. If you still have any old consoles or games, now is the time to keep them and make sure they can be passed on. Buying physical games is quickly going out of style, but there are still decades’ worth of great older titles out there that can be enjoyed. Sometimes, going back to an older title instead of a new release is a great way to get back in touch with a long-gone era of gaming.
- Released
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August 28, 2017
- ESRB
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T For TEEN for Blood, Language, and Violence
