News Sony faces class action over expensive digital game and DLC prices — ‘Sony tax’ means digital games cost ‘an average of 47% more’ than those on dis...

[TheyStoppedit]

Because Sony tied their hands (in some cases) by selling a digital only product, available at launch, before this price difference could be observed.

All digital edition PS5's have a seperate disk drive add on you can buy

 

[spongiemaster]

Ok, either this is incredibly badly worded or they asking for something that doesn't make any sense.
Digital PlayStation content will only be sony stuff and they are not going to be selling it any cheaper to other providers for those other providers to then be able to offer them cheaper.

The way I read it was that they want other vendors to be able to sell digital Playstation licenses to compete with Sony's monopoly. So Valve could have a competing Steam for Playstation store front on your PS5. It won't make any difference for 1st part titles because Sony isn't going to sell their game licenses at a steep discount to competitors, but it should make a difference for 3rd party games. You're trying to limit digital content to Sony alone, but the Playstation store sells all games for the console, not just ones from Sony 1st party developers.

 

[spongiemaster]

It was supposed to have an add-on kit, but wasn't available at the time of launch. Did that ever ship?

There's no special Pro addon disc drive. It's the the same addon disc drive that was sold for the regular PS5 digital version before the Pro was released. When the Pro was announced people started snatching up all the drives and scalping them, but they somehow missed that they were available direct from Sony. After not finding them anywhere else, I was able to buy one at MSRP before the Pro launch without issue from the Playstation Store.

https://direct.playstation.com/en-u...us-en:web-pdc-accessories:buttonblock-buy-now

 

[bit_user]

There's no special Pro addon disc drive. It's the the same addon disc drive that was sold for the regular PS5 digital version before the Pro was released.

Huh, I figured the Pro's distinct case would make it incompatible with the standard disc add-on.

FWIW, I got the disc edition of the original and prefer the look of that. The add-on disc drive looks like a wart, IMO.

P.S. maybe what I'm remembering they didn't have at the Pro's launch was a bundle pack that included the disc drive?

 

[abufrejoval]

Europe tends to be pro Sony.

I wasn't aware and I live there.

BTW are you talking about the people or the various social aggregates and policy bodies including the EU?

When consumers tend to make any company their preferred choice it allows and encourages said company to take advantage of their "market advantage". Apple isn't any different. The Chinese market gets discounts on their iPhones while the US market sees ever higher prices.

You're not afraid of bold statements, are you?

I'm sure you meant to say something reasonable, but if you only share the final conclusion of your thinking, it's hard to reconstruct that.

Want to elaborate?

 

[Minarum]

Ya I don't think they know how things work. It'll most likely get thrown out. Wait for a sale, plus you don't own anything digital.

 

[Minarum]

The console business model might be nearly obsolete. Nintendo doesn't sell at a loss, hardware costs are not getting cheaper year on year like they used to, console lifecycles are shortening with mid-generation upgrades, and consoles are no longer bespoke hardware with capabilities beyond PC.

Nintendo is the only company that sells for a profit. Been that way forever. Sony and Xbox take a hit for each system sold. Console life cycles are 7 years minimum, but up to at least 11 in sony's case. And the hardware thing was 20 years ago or so. But you could say there's still games on console that look and play better than their pc counterpart. That's mostly because big games are made for console, then ported over to pc.

 

[Minarum]

Huh, I figured the Pro's distinct case would make it incompatible with the standard disc add-on.

FWIW, I got the disc edition of the original and prefer the look of that. The add-on disc drive looks like a wart, IMO.

P.S. maybe what I'm remembering they didn't have at the Pro's launch was a bundle pack that included the disc drive?

Umm... besides digital only ps5s at launch. All ps5s since the slim have the capability to upgrade with the disc drive. The ps5 pro with the disc drive looks awesome. So not sure what you're talking about 😆.

 

[changemeimfamous]

This seems like a very different case though. Phones are closer to computers in their functionality these days... where consoles aren't. They are computing devices, but hyper-locked down to do a very specific thing. Epic's case I thought was more geared towards payment practices, because they were tired of paying Apple part of their profits.

Also I can't see any way this would be possible without massive changes to the PS5 Operating System and functionality, and I could see Sony completely pulling out of the Dutch market before they spent money dealing with this... there is zero chance they allow a third-party store on the console.

Xbox on the other hand does seem to be moving towards making their next console a Windows machine though. We'll have to see how that turns out as it looks like they're possible allowing game installation from third party stores (not sure you'll be able to buy directly on the console though).

Jeez, so you don't think phones are hyper locked down but that the PS5 is? You think that a phones functionality is closer to a PC than a console is?
Mate, do you understand what PC means? Personal Computer. Both devices compute.
The PS5 (and xbox) uses an X86 - 64bit architecture - do you know what else uses x86-64 architecture? PC's. Do you know what doesnt - phones, they use Arm.

There's no legitimacy behind your assertion that the Playstation OS will need massive changes... that's utterly ridiculous.

You're making up stuff and calling it fact.
The issue/class action as about a monopolistic business model that is costing people too much money and its unfair. That's it.

 

[spongiemaster]

Nintendo is the only company that sells for a profit. Been that way forever. Sony and Xbox take a hit for each system sold. Console life cycles are 7 years minimum, but up to at least 11 in sony's case. And the hardware thing was 20 years ago or so. But you could say there's still games on console that look and play better than their pc counterpart. That's mostly because big games are made for console, then ported over to pc.

Sony and MS may sell for loss at launch, but they are selling for a profit within a couple years. Slim versions usually increase profitability further.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/4/22609150/sony-playstation-5-ps5-loss-profit

 

[dalauder]

So...can't you just NOT buy a Playstation if they're really expensive?

 

[spongiemaster]

Huh, I figured the Pro's distinct case would make it incompatible with the standard disc add-on.

FWIW, I got the disc edition of the original and prefer the look of that. The add-on disc drive looks like a wart, IMO.

P.S. maybe what I'm remembering they didn't have at the Pro's launch was a bundle pack that included the disc drive?

Sure, but if you want the Pro, you only have the option of the add on. There was never a bundle that included the drive.

 

[JTWrenn]

It really is crazy how much they just don't lower prices over time. Old games still sell for $49 or more for seemingly no reason, often while the same game is available for $15 on Steam. IN the end the whole idea of a closed app store type market for devices is just horrible for consumers.

 

[Lantis660]

Okay, so they are complaining about digital games being over priced, okay tell that to Nintendo and the games they are putting out being $80 to $90 in the US. With the digital version being 80 and the physical being 90 and if you by the physical copy you still have to download it all you bought was a key to unlock the game and download.

 

[bit_user]

The ps5 pro with the disc drive looks awesome. So not sure what you're talking about 😆.

Okay, I used the wrong word. It looks to me like a tumor, not a wart.

The original disc edition is sleek and has swooping lines.

Playstation 5 base edition with controller
​

The disc add-on for the Slim/Pro is like a cancerous growth and ruins its silhouette.

​

 

[bit_user]

Sony and MS may sell for loss at launch, but they are selling for a profit within a couple years. Slim versions usually increase profitability further.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/4/22609150/sony-playstation-5-ps5-loss-profit

I wonder if DRAM prices have caused them some trouble, since they haven't been decreasing as sharply as they used to, in prior decades/generations.

That's one of the aspects I find most intriguing about the next gen consoles: what will they do about DRAM? Will they continue to use unified memory, or will they go back to dedicated CPU and graphics memories? Either way, I think they're unlikely to use more than 24 GB of GDDR7. If they want any more DRAM than that, it would be another 8 or 16 GB of DDR5 or LPDDR5.

 

[bit_user]

Okay, so they are complaining about digital games being over priced, okay tell that to Nintendo and the games they are putting out being $80 to $90 in the US. With the digital version being 80 and the physical being 90 and if you by the physical copy you still have to download it all you bought was a key to unlock the game and download.

With the PS5, do you still need to have the game disc in the drive, in order to play it? I hated having to swap discs, in my PS3. That pretty much killed physical copies, IMO.

 

[TerryLaze]

Okay, so they are complaining about digital games being over priced, okay tell that to Nintendo and the games they are putting out being $80 to $90 in the US. With the digital version being 80 and the physical being 90 and if you by the physical copy you still have to download it all you bought was a key to unlock the game and download.

They will, after epic successfully suing apple and with this one happening, nintendo will be next.
The problem there is that the best selling games on nintendo are nintendo games so even if they are forced to let other companies sell other games on their store, nintendo will still charge whatever they want for their own games because only they make nintendo games.

With the PS5, do you still need to have the game disc in the drive, in order to play it? I hated having to swap discs, in my PS3. That pretty much killed physical copies, IMO.

That's the copy protection, or at least part of it, otherwise you could buy one disk and have 100 (indefinite) people play the game at the same time for free.

 

[bit_user]

That's the copy protection, or at least part of it, otherwise you could buy one disk and have 100 (indefinite) people play the game at the same time for free.

Right. I didn't really see how else it could work. Unless each game disc came with a unique code, in which case the disc would just save you the trouble of having to download it, like if you had very poor connectivity.

 

[rambo919]

Right. I didn't really see how else it could work. Unless each game disc came with a unique code, in which case the disc would just save you the trouble of having to download it, like if you had very poor connectivity.

I both hate and miss those days at the same time somehow.... typing them in could be a PITA but somehow its nostalgic now

 

[fiyz]

Europe tends to be pro Sony. When consumers tend to make any company their preferred choice it allows and encourages said company to take advantage of their "market advantage". Apple isn't any different. The Chinese market gets discounts on their iPhones while the US market sees ever higher prices.

If consumers want lower prices, the most effective tool is........."restraint". Don't buy from them or their products and watch as prices drop. The closest example in the US was the original Nintendo 3DS. It was originally priced too high and consumers sent Nintendo that message. Nintendo later dropped the price permanently, as gamers weren't buying the product.

I want to agree, but if restraint was all that was needed, why is gambling and recreational drugs illegal?

 

[atomicWAR]

I want to agree, but if restraint was all that was needed, why is gambling and recreational drugs illegal?

Extreme but fair.

 

[TerryLaze]

I want to agree, but if restraint was all that was needed, why is gambling and recreational drugs illegal?

Because everything fun has to be illegal....
Also gambling is extremely legal all over Europe, and so is alcohol and weed.
Weed might not be legal all over europe, but for sure in large parts.

 

[rambo919]

I want to agree, but if restraint was all that was needed, why is gambling and recreational drugs illegal?

Difficult to tax.

 

[Atom Symbol]

You can buy a disk drive add on for that

Theoretically: Yes
In practice: It is out of stock