Reaction: Game Key PS5 Discs Are a Disgrace, and Sony Should Put a Stop to Them

Push Square writes: "And just to be clear here, PlayStation is culpable in all this. While it may not be embracing the practice with its own software, it should be putting pressure on third-party publishers like Bethesda to either include a fully playable build on a Blu-ray or at the very least outright explain what it’s actually offering. It’s simply not acceptable to sell paying customers a borderline blank disc and never clearly disclose it."

[Christopher]

Looked at the case for DOOM The Dark Ages and it doesn't mention anything about it not including full game files. Agree with author, they shouldn't be hiding the fact that you will need to download the game, whether entirely or partially, in order to play the game at all. At least Switch 2 key-cards will denote as much.

With this sort of movement towards key code on disc only, I really worry what that means for nations where they end up at least generation behind the main markets. Markets that rely heavily on physical games.

[CrimsonWing69]

You do realize that over 90% of game sales in major markets like the U.S. and U.K. are digital now, right? Globally, it’s even higher—94% as of 2022. So while it’s unfortunate for regions that still lean on physical media, they’re a very small slice of the pie. Publishers are simply following where the demand (and the money) is.

Also, in markets with limited home internet, people access games through internet cafés or shared setups. Steam has been available in those regions for years. And with Sony now releasing first-party titles on PC, it’s not like console discs are the only path to play anymore.

This isn’t some secretive industry plot, it’s just economics and scale.

And correct me if I’m wrong, but this isn’t new, right? This has been a thing since last-gen?

[Christopher]

Do you even read articles to understand the discussion being had? Your blind rant is showing.

***You do realize that over 90% of game sales in major markets like the U.S. and U.K. are digital now, right?***

Do you realize that this includes mobile markets, which means that 10% compared to console/PC sales is actually extremely high. But, hey, you go on and ignore 10% of the market that has barely budged in the last 10 years.

[-Foxtrot]

I don’t get this massive campaign for digital…

Why do you come off like you want physical to die off? Why the push to defend it? Gaming would be so terrible if everything went digital 100%.

One of the reasons we see such a “demand” for digital is because they push it so hard and don’t put the effort into physical like we see with Doom

[Cockney]

At least research harder than the 1st pick from Google, on playstation its a 50/50 split between digital and physical, you should be embarrassed

[MetroidFREAK21]

So less choice is good now? Odd

[CrimsonWing69]

@Foxtrot

It’s not some campaign I’m pushing. I see an article about a shift in direction and see replies and just apply my experience to it for discussion.

It’s not going to war or any campaign.

But when I see things like, “Gaming would be so terrible if everything went digital 100%,” makes me question how do PC gamers make it? And why is the PC market growing?

Like, is this a complaint for 40 year old console only gamers who are obsessed with a physical collection? I mean, why do people not get this bent out of shape over movies and music? 🤷‍♂️

[CrimsonWing69]

@Cockney

https://www.statista.com/st...

“In the fourth fiscal quarter of 2024, approximately 80 percent of Sony Corporation's PlayStation gaming sales were generated via digital downloads. Digital downloads of full PlayStation games spiked in early 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, which led to users spending more time at home and foregoing traditional retail channels while also playing more games in order to stay entertained.”

…Your turn.

[andy85]

90%? Laughable. Stop reading the biased headlines. That's including mobile, PC (which is 100% digital) and I'm pretty sure it's including PS plus downloads. Take out all those 3 which shouldn't be added to the equation of physical vs digital and what's the percentage now? You'll find it's close to 50.

[Christopher]

***“In the fourth fiscal quarter of 2024, approximately 80 percent of Sony Corporation's PlayStation gaming sales were generated via digital downloads.***

1. It's 80%, which means your 10% figure was off in your original post.
2. It's 'digital downloads' which includes MTX for F2P games and the like. It's not just game purchases, but all digital game sales, which includes a ton of MTX. This means your 10% figure is even further off mark.
3. Do you truly believe that over 20% of the market buying physical isn't a sign of its importance?
4. Will you ever address the original topic which is that the PS5 boxes are not denoting that the disc only contains the game key and that people will need to download the full game? Do you feel the expectation of buying a game on a disc that can be played without patches is a thing of the past for the mass market? Heck, the box doesn't even denote that an internet connection is required to play the game. Why not? Your thoughts on this topic as it is the one being discussed by the author of the article.

[andy85]

@crimson people don't get bent out of shape for moves and music because people don't generally resell those. I'm paying 80-90% less to game than I would if I was stuck on digital. Massive difference.

[CrimsonWing69]

1. Yeah, it’s 80% for Q4 FY2023—thanks for confirming that digital completely dominates. Whether it’s 80% or 90%, the point still stands: physical is the minority now, and shrinking every year.

2. Sure, it includes MTX, DLC, and full game downloads—that’s the modern digital ecosystem. You can’t just carve that out because it doesn’t fit the narrative. That’s what physical is competing with, and clearly losing to.

3. Over 20% physical still existing doesn’t suddenly make it “important.” It makes it what it is—a legacy option that a shrinking part of the market still uses. Businesses aren’t going to reshape their entire strategy for the smallest chunk of users. That’s not how any of this works.

4. And yeah, I think boxes should clearly say when a disc is just a license or requires a full download. No disagreement there. But let’s not pretend this is some shady new trend. We’ve been watching this happen across the board for years. It’s not ideal for physical collectors or people that have limited internet access, but it’s where the industry already is.

[Christopher]

***Over 20% physical still existing doesn’t suddenly make it “important.”***

Ooof. That's just bad money making logic there.

***Businesses aren’t going to reshape their entire strategy for the smallest chunk of users. That’s not how any of this works. ***

Well, I mean, the smallest chunk is streaming/subscription. So, how's that logic of your working on that? Also, Physical sales haven't seen noticeable declines in years. The market reached those who are all digital.

[CrimsonWing69]

***Over 20% physical still existing doesn’t suddenly make it “important.”***

“Ooof. That's just bad money making logic there.”

I mean, I’m assuming they have data analysts and financial gurus making these decisions. I’m just giving the facts, Jack.

“ Well, I mean, the smallest chunk is streaming/subscription. So, how's that logic of your working on that? Also, Physical sales haven't seen noticeable declines in years. The market reached those who are all digital.”

Logic seems to be holding, chief.

Physical is not growing. Saying it “hasn’t declined” is just not true. Look at Sony’s own numbers: digital went from 62% to nearly 80% in a few years. That doesn’t happen if physical is holding steady. The market’s already shifted—it’s not a future thing, it’s right now.

[gold_drake]

gurl the uk aint a major market. lets not kid ourselfs.

[andy85]

UK isn't a major market? 4th or 5th largest in the world. Pretty major

[VariantAEC]

@CrimsonWing69
It wouldn't matter if 99.999+% are buying digitally. If the game passed QA and is playable from beginning to end before subsequent patches, then that full game should be on the disc in its entirety and if it's too large to fit on a triple layer 75GB BD-ROM then the requisite number of discs should come in the retail box to finalize the installation on the target HW. This should be the rule for EVERY PUBLISHER, but especially where there is no mention on the packaging that the game's contents will not be included in full on the disc you purchased at retail.

I don't think lawsuits are out of the question.

[badz149]

this trend need to stop. if you don't want to do physical properly, please be honest about it and not hide it behind shady game key scheme like this! make it easier for me and other physical buying gamers to ignore your shoddy efforts and wait for it to go on sales on PSN if we really want to buy it!

THIS is exactly what the FCC should be fighting against!

[CrimsonWing69]

It makes you wonder how PC gamers deal with it.

[badz149]

@CrimsonWing69

There's nothing to wonder about when you have no choice. But try to look at it from another perspective. For example, PC games can't be resold or traded in towards new purchases. The death of 2nd hand market is a wet dream for all publishers - the ultimate goal! being able to do this has always been the big advantage for console gamers, despite being the bane of the publishers' effort for total control of their content and revenue stream. sure, console gamers are quickly moving to digital as well like with PC nowadays and that's exactly what these publishers want but doesn't mean we as consumers should be cheering for the quick death of physical, and by this I mean PROPER physical releases, unlike these scummy game key options!

Remember, with physical, the consumers control the market, but with digital, the market controls the consumers instead. That's why both forms continue to co-exist is what best for consumers.

[Levii_92]

Ahh so awful and i wanted to buy this game, i hate these companies and modern gaming man and it baffles my mind that people are okay with stuff like this. Bunch of institutionalized internet/digital only sheeps.

[repsahj]

No violent reactions to the others here who storm Nintendo articles about game keys?

[stupidusername]

Had the same thought. Game key discs is not anything new. But maybe it’s because Nintendo is stating it cleary on their physical copies. So now more people know that it is a thing, even though other companies have been doing it for a while.

[Tacoboto]

There was zero pushback when Hogwarts Legacy did the Game Key disc and went on to become the fastest selling single player game of the last decade.

People only complain when it's easy and inconsequential for them - Alan Wake 2 was thrown under the bus by the same gamers that celebrated Baldurs Gate 3 even before BG3 had a physical edition (that cost $100 and was a year late), or if Ubisoft does it, or Microsoft.

As soon as those gamers are faced with a game they want that's digital only, they cave, 100% of the time.

[Christopher]

This one is more specific about not letting the consumer know what is on the disc. Or, more specifically, what isn't on the disc.

[SimpleSlave]

Because this is nothing new. Remember when the Spyro trilogy came out and it only had 2 games in it? People were mad. Or Cyberpunk broken and incomplete ass game? People were pissed! How about Switch cartridges missing entire games? People were... kinda mad. Nintendo fans are betas like that. Or worst yet, Microsawft's disc for Halo War 2 not working on my XBOX One S, but somehow allowing me to download the entire game from the store? I was livid.

We've been here before and, sadly, we didn't got anywhere. Not to mention the pieces of shit Nazis were too busy whining and crying about black people, trans people, women with clothes on, and the lack of digital pussy to allow anything else to get attention. And while all that stupid inbred noise was going on, game publishers were busy training the next generation of gamers to expect a digital only future. And they won.

Enjoy.

[gold_drake]

i think the difference is, that nintendos games by definition, are not big in size.

nintendo purposely chose game cartridges of a max of 64 gb. so third party devs have no choice if their games exceed that. some even dont use physical for the switch 2 at all. im sure the cartridges are also not cheap to make.

thats where the hate is coming from.

[Profchaos]

Because it's a negative Sony article those guys are to busy trying to find negative Xbox or Nintendo articles or positive ones to troll

[Pyrofire95]

Too many people seem to give them a pass cause nintendo is a family friendly brand and make greatly designed games, despite their business side being so cruel. There's the case of cartridges being more expensive to produce which might temper people but that seriously doesn't excuse that it defeats the purpose of getting a real game cart.

[Jingsing]

Agree, Microsoft is just trying to have their cake and eat it. So they can remove their content from PlayStation if the situation demands it, Microsoft don't want people to have a disc version of their games, very anti consumer. I'm not buying Microsoft products. Sony really owe it to protect their customers on this one.

[ravens52]

I agree. Sony should definitely step in when it comes to that. If you don't so it with your own software you shouldn't let other publishers do that.

[Eonjay]

Sony probably wasn't aware as no one was. Still now that they are aware they should apply pressure on Microsoft to make the change. And of course it shouldn't just apply to Microsoft but it should be across the board.

[Abear21]

If consumers bought more physical discs more companies will continue to support physical media. Instead, people want to pay for subscriptions and never actually own anything. They scream on forums like these how great the sub model is—Now they cannot have an opinion on this because that’s being a hypocrite.

[anast]

Sony should take Steam's approach, just put a sicker on the games and move on.

[jznrpg]

Ubisoft and some studios that MS owns (CoD Indiana Jones Doom the games I know of for sure) are the two companies I know of that don’t put the full game on disc. Nintendo will have the same issue because of the cartridges they use. We will see how bad their situation is.

It would be nice for Sony to put pressure on them but the alternative may be to not have those games on their platform and I’m sure they don’t want that.

We need to put pressure on the companies choosing to do it. MS & Ubisoft are the worst offenders at the moment.
The only way I’ll buy games that aren’t on disc is used or super bargain bin. There are some games I wanted to play but I skipped because of this, recently AC Shadows and Indians Jones.
The good news is there are plenty of games on disc so I can wait for those games not on disc to be dirt cheap used or just skip altogether.

[originaljohn]

Nintendo 1st party games will all be complete on game card.

[gold_drake]

sony has no say in what third party devs do tho.

if third party devs want to do that they can and have unfortunately.

its a scummy move and tbey should be held accountable for it

but not sony.

[PRIMORDUS]

Just linked that article on Bethesda's twitter account with this reply: "Fucking disgrace. I don't have a PS, but you can bet your life once Denuvo is removed I'm torrenting the game on PC. If buying isn't owning piracy isn't stealing and again FUCK YOU BETHESDA!"

[badz149]

this time around, I will cheer you on. F this scummy move!

[Fonsecap]

We're not buying games, we're buying a license to play a game, even when we buy physical copies, I don't know when this change happened but it happened so we have two choices, boycott or live with it.

[badz149]

so...boycott it is!

[Profchaos]

Yeah absolutely this should be stopped if consumers want to buy a disc then put the game on the disc it's not that hard we've been doing it since the 90s when disc based gaming took off

I've started skipping games that pull this crap I'll be skipping doom despite being a fan and I've skipped a number of games in the last 12 months that did this

[lawox]

Why is this being put on Sony? Microsoft is publishing the game like this. The disc is empty on Xbox too...

I can't even believe that the blame for this is on Sony and Microsoft the actual party responsible for this barely even gets mentioned even though this isn't even the first game they have done this on.

This reminds me of the hypocrisy over needing a PSN account to play PlayStation games where they were dragged over coals yet Microsoft and other companies have been doing this for years and never received nearly the criticism. People have needed a Microsoft account to play Minecraft since shortly after Microsoft bought them and there was never any media pushback.

Or cross play where Sony had it since PS3 yet Microsoft who had blocked it the whole time leading to them missing games was able to get the media to run a smear campaign on Sony.

The bias is so obvious yet somehow people can't see the trees in the forest...

[lawox]

RCJvg,

Microsoft would just release the game digitally only.

Microsoft is the publisher, they decided to put nothing on the disks for both PlayStation and Xbox. PlayStation published games have the whole game on the disc.

This is 100 percent on Microsoft, they made the choice to put nothing on the disc. This is what happens after they fired their whole disc publishing division.

[gigoran8]

xbox have been doing it since last gen, put half or even a small part of the game on the disc. so yeah its a valid point. this isn't a one company problem. now nintendo is getting in on the action.

[gigoran8]

The Xbox one says hello from last gen

[jarek98]

While far from ideal, the big difference is that on PS5 all games are installed to SSD before they can be played anyway. You don’t save any storage space if 100% of the code is already on the disk. The only difference is the installation time.
With Switch 2 and its meager storage, the story is vastly different.

[Pyrofire95]

Ew. Put the game on the disc. There's a reason they bought the Disc, and it wasn't so they wanted to wait longer to play a new game or they like driving to a store.