Sony's own Black Friday sales confirm that a disc-drive is a must-have
Nov. 30, 2024These are barely discounts
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More games are being sold digitally than ever before, but theBlack Friday saleson thePlayStationStore are proof we need to hold onto physical media and disc-drives for as long as possible.
One Redditor noticed that while there are “a couple decent sales on some of the newer games like 25% offMetaphor: ReFantazio[…] 99% of the games are a lot cheaper as a physical copy.”
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6is currently £59.49 on the PS Store, 15% off. But you can buy a physical copy from Argos for £53.99. Then you could trade it in next year when the next Call of Duty comes out. Digital is easy, sure, because you don’t have to switch discs around, but it’s not cheaper even though it really should be.
With digital games, there’s no middleman, no distribution costs, justSonybeaming the game directly onto your hard drive, so why is it almost always more expensive?
The Redditor notes “You wouldn’t have to buy many games to justify buying a disc drive as you save a lot of money buying physical copies over digital.”
This could be Sony wanting more people to buy disc drives, or it could just be that it realizes it can charge more for the convenience of providing a download that means people don’t have to go outside.
ThePS5 Procontroversially doesn’t come with disc-drive, even though the console costs $699.99. Adding a disc-drive costs an extra $79.99, but considering that will let you play all your old PS4 games and buy physical PS5 games at a discount, it’s well worth the investment.
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I’ll always prefer physical media to digital. With an actual disc, I can reinstall a game no matter what happens to its digital copy. We’ve seen games be removed from storefronts and even digital libraries before,you don’t actually own your digital games. I’m much more inclined to trust something I can hold in my hands.
If you want a discount, check out thebest Black Friday gaming dealswe’ve found.
I’m Issy, a freelancer who you’ll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I’ve always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you’ll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I’m currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.
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