While gamers are seriously worried about losing their right to own digital copies and the disappearance of physical discs, the industry’s transition to “pure digital” may bring unexpected benefits. Jacob Navok, former director of business development at Square Enix, said the refusal to produce cartridges and discs, as well as fierce competition among publishers in a single digital space, will result in games becoming cheaper.
Navok noted that prices on digital platforms are determined by publishers themselves, not stores. As the PlayStation Store goes fully digital, companies will be forced to compete more fiercely for audience attention through frequent sales and flexible dynamic pricing similar to Valve’s Steam system. In addition, the preset elimination of production, logistics and transportation costs for physical media lays the foundation for a reduction in publishing base costs.
However, experts admit that this is little consolation to collectors and supporters of physical preservation of video games, who will be completely deprived of the usual disc versions in the future.