As far as publishers are concerned, the single greatest cancer they face is the resale market. When a store sells a new game for £60, the publisher makes about £20, and the store gets between £15-20, depending on how they choose to price it. The rest is the cost of manufacturing and shipping. (These are rounded estimates, it varies)
Then, a week later, when someone trades that game in and the store resells it for $40, they get all of that, and the publisher gets nothing.
From their perspective, that's basically theft, which is why they've been trying for decades to put a stop to it, which they can't, or at least make more money from secondary sales by bundling single-use codes for "bonus" content that really should be part of the main game, which people who buy preowned will have to shell out extra for.
So that's what getting rid of physical media is all about. If they get rid of the discs and cartridges, that market vanishes.
Please don't mistake this explanation as an excuse. All of the platform holders have had the means to kill off the retail market and usher customers onto their digital storefronts for at least a decade. All they had to do was pass on even a fraction of the savings they make selling digitally, which cuts out the manufacturing, shipping, and retailer costs, onto the customer. But they haven't. Games cost the same on the Playstation Store as they do on the Gamestop Shelf. Sometimes more!
They could have used the carrot, but pure greed means they're now opting for the stick.
5 Jul 2026 21:03
Gamestop has become TOO POWERFUL!
5 Jul 2026 21:18
They could have used the carrot, but pure greed means they're now opting for the stick.
By raising the prices for all their games, raising them again for physical copies, and allowing the use of game key cards, Nintendo decided the carrot or stick alone just wasn't profitable enough, and thus chose both.
5 Jul 2026 21:34
Steam very successfully destroyed the resale and lending of PC games and the same approach with digital rights management of downloads will do the same to the consoles.
5 Jul 2026 21:49
given who's running
that show these days, i wouldn't shed a tear if they got run out of business.
5 Jul 2026 21:58
single-use codes and 'activation' were around and gaining traction before steam came about. but steam did help dig the hole and put the some of the nails in the coffin.
5 Jul 2026 22:03
Fucking obviously...
Did people really just figure out their hate for discs was the hate for resellers and rentals?
Fucking hell man, next you're gonna tell us they sell consoles at a lost to trap consumers in their ecosystem of expensive games and not out of the goodness of their heart.
If you just fucking realized this, it's better than not.
But it doesn't mean you should be listened to, because everyone that actually cares enough to string two thoughts together figured this out fucking years/decades ago.
5 Jul 2026 22:09
Steam very successfully destroyed the resale and lending of PC games
What?!
You think before Steam people could resell and loan PC games like console?!
Why just make shit up? You know Steam ain't that old and people remember pre-Steam...
Right?
5 Jul 2026 22:11
I think steam might be older than BrightCandle.world...
5 Jul 2026 22:26
Please don’t mistake this explanation as an excuse.
Threadiverse does this often.
It even uses the “
worth reading” system as an incorrect way of saying “I dis/agree.” Can't wait for
pylova to become the norm.
trades that game in and the store resells it for $40, they get all of that, and the publisher gets nothing.
In some countries, resale laws exist to deter this. So this argument is kinda naught.
5 Jul 2026 22:39
That power up rewards card was more powerful than we all thought I guess.
5 Jul 2026 22:45
Not 100%, you can share your (almost) whole digital Steam game library via family share. There are very few games that block this feature.
5 Jul 2026 23:00
I'm new to Lemmy, so I literally don't understand your first point, but-
In some countries, resale laws exist to deter this. So this argument is kinda naught.
I don't see how. The only resale laws that I can find in the US, UK, Eu or even Japan refer to prohibiting Digital Resales. Even in Japan, publishers haven't been able to prohibit the reselling of physical games.
So no, the point stands; Publishers want to get rid of physical media in order to push people onto digital licenses, which are more restrictive and non-transferable.
5 Jul 2026 23:44
Used games held the console market in balance. You knew if you didn't like a game, you could trade it and get something back, or at least buy a cheap used copy if you weren't sure on a title.
The PC game market is kept in balance by constant discounting and availability. You manage risk by saying "I'll wait a few years and get it for $4.98 instead."
The presence of secomdary sellers (Fanatical, Humble Bundle etc) and even distinct markets (GoG, itch, service games that sell through their own accounts) means Steam still doesn't have the same market-defining power Sony will in a post-disc world.
6 Jul 2026 00:10
Lemmy
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