Circana’s Mat Piscatella reckons that PlayStation might go fully digital after the PS6, if trends over the last few years are anything to go by. Xbox is already leading the way, with Microsoft steadily pulling away from physical releases. Piscatella — who is well versed in industry trends and sales patterns — thinks that Xbox players should expect a fully digital future sooner rather than later.
Will PlayStation and Nintendo follow Microsoft into a digital future?
Piscatella offered his thoughts on a digital future in response to a tweet from Limited Run Games, which reveals that there won’t be any “traditional” retail release for Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Collector’s Edition on Xbox.
Indeed Microsoft has been moving away from disc releases, and in some cases, Xbox Series X discs have only contained game keys, requiring a full download to play.
As for Sony, the company has previously revealed that its consumers are increasingly shifting to digital downloads, and in recent years, the sales breakdown between its digital and disc releases has been heavily tilted towards the former.
Piscatella reckons that PlayStation players have one more gen of discs whereas Nintendo players have at least two.
Will PlayStation 7 be completely digital? Time shall tell!