Xbox Strategy Could Force Sony To Delay Its All-Digital PlayStation Pivot
The calculus might be changing, though. Eurogamer Spain shared some scuttlebutt it got ahold of during last week’s Gamescom event, including indications that Sony might be backtracking on eliminating game discs.
The driver of Sony’s potential change of heart is that its biggest competitor, Microsoft, might use physical game releases as a selling point for its next generation consoles, dubbed Project Helix. It’s a strategy that might be appealing enough to fans of physical game releases that it could help Microsoft capture a bigger slice of the gaming market than it has managed with its current generation consoles.
“The word around here is that Microsoft is speaking internally with all publishers, stating that their next console will be “100% physical”, with the ability to convert your physical games into digital ones.” The latter part of this is already in motion, as Xbox insiders are previewing the disc to digital program now, that will eventually roll out to all Xbox users.
Moreover, there appears to be discontent among some publishers that could give Sony pause, as it relies on getting a cut of all games sales that happen on its platform to generate revenue. One of the “major” game publishers even went so far as to threaten not releasing future games on Sony’s boxes and instead opt to only deliver titles to Microsoft’s and Nintendo’s hardware.
While Sony might’ve been able to initially brush off criticism and bank on players just accepting it as time moved on, the company can’t quite do that with its publishing partners. If anything is going to give game discs a reprieve, it’s publishers and the money they bring to the table.
