Study Reveals PS5 Discs Are Much Cheaper Than Digital Games

A recent study analyzed the prices of several first- and third-party PS5 games across retail stores and the official PlayStation Store, concluding that physical copies can be significantly cheaper than their digital counterparts. Competitive retail pricing for video games is nothing new and has been the norm for most of the industry’s history. However, as PlayStation continues to phase out physical media for its consoles and push users toward buying digital games, the price gap has become more noticeable.

Before the current study, Dr. Serkan Toto, a games industry analyst, explained the difference in profitability between physical and digital game sales. He said that companies like Sony gravitate toward no-disc policies because they keep the full $70 or $80 from the sale of a first-party digital game, whereas they have to give at least 30% of the revenue from each physical game sale to retailers, in addition to production costs that further reduce overall profit. Now, a new study reveals another possible reason why Sony is so fond of an all-digital PlayStation ecosystem.

Physical PS5 Discs Can Be Up to $57 Cheaper Than Digital Games

According to a recent study by the Dutch tech website Tweakers, players can save up to €50, or about $57 USD, by purchasing physical PS5 games instead of their digital versions. Tweakers examined a sample of 16 third-party and first-party PS5 games that have received a Game of the Year nomination since 2021, including Resident Evil 4 Remake, God of War Ragnarok, and Elden Ring. It then used its proprietary tool to gather retail prices for those games and compared them with their current prices on the PlayStation Store. Unsurprisingly, almost every game on the list turned out to be at least a few euros cheaper than its digital counterpart, with most available at significantly lower prices. Tweakers said, “The PlayStation Store also has its fair share of advantages… But if you are purely looking for the lowest prices, physical games are often the best option.”

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Physical PS5 Discs Are Way Cheaper in the US Too

Since Tweakers’ study focused on retail prices in the Netherlands, GameRant conducted a smaller analysis to see whether physical PS5 games are similarly cheaper in the US. Using the online price-tracking tool Deku Deals, GameRant collected the lowest retail prices for five popular PS5 games and compared them with their PlayStation Store prices. The games were Red Dead Redemption, God of War Ragnarok, Hogwarts Legacy, Elden Ring, and Spider-Man 2.

As shown in the table below, buying physical copies of all five games at the best available prices would cost a US-based player about $162. Purchasing the same games digitally from the PlayStation Store, however, would cost roughly $320. In other words, at least in GameRant’s small sample, digital games can be 49% more expensive than discs.

Most of the games included in both GameRant’s and Tweakers’ analyses are a few years old, which might justify the retail discounts. However, that pinpoints one of the biggest advantages of physical games, which is increasingly at risk of disappearing. Retailers often reduce the prices of physical copies over time, making them a more affordable option for budget-conscious gamers. However, the PlayStation Store rarely lowers a game’s regular price, even years after its original release.

Tweakers also noted that the PlayStation Store occasionally offers limited-time sales that can bring digital prices below those of physical copies. However, these discounts are short-lived and, in the case of first-party PlayStation games, relatively infrequent. Limited-time discounts on first-party games are also unlikely to exceed 50%, whereas retailers often offer much deeper discounts on AAA titles that have been on the market for a while.