LogFAQs > #944717678

ParanoidObsessive posted...

It's not really them, as much as it is the publishers. All-digital allows them to cut out production costs and retail middlemen without having to realistically lower prices, which allows them to make more profit off a single sale. It also makes used game sales almost impossible, which in turn means you have to pay the publisher directly if you ever want to play the game.

The console manufacturers don't really have a horse in that particular fight. They're mostly just going along with it as accomplices because they have a vested interest in keeping publishers happy.

With physical, there's material and production costs (putting it on the disc), there's transportation costs, and there's a middle man (store) that gets a cut of the sale.
With digital, the first 2 no longer exist and Sony/MS *is* the store.
Both have to release for the same price, $60....err....$70.
Sony and MS absolutely make more profit off a full priced digital sale than a physical one. And that's ignoring the "nuissance" (to them) of the used game market, which nets them no profit on a sale (and which MS infamously tried to "rectify" this gen). They absolutely would love to see physical game sales die, the only reason they don't just strangle it outright themselves is fear of customer backlash. Overpricing the consoles w/ disc drives to push people to digital is a more subtle form of the same tactic as Xbone's attempted used game resale surcharge, and they are at least as eager for the death of physical as the 3rd party studios.

It's foolhardy and will be a Pyrrhic victory, though. Once physical is gone, they've obsoleted themselves compared to just getting a PC.