Sony's Push For Digital Only Media
Sony has officially announced beginning in February 2025, they will start the process of shutting down Blu-Ray Production, Minidiscs, MD data, and MiniDV cassettes. This sudden but unfortunately inevitable route is a huge blow to the physical media market. Sony is one of the biggest producers of Blu-Ray discs, and ceasing production will have severe negative effects on those still preferring to collect physical media. Like an episode out of Regular Show, we have witnessed a war, and it looks like the digital age has finally taken over.
Why should we worry about the loss of physical media? Well, there are quite a few issues to unpack here. To begin with, unlike physical media, which you own and can use until it simply stops working, digital media is not forever. Digital media distributors, especially gaming studios, have made it very clear both verbally and in their fine print of terms and conditions none of us own the product we have paid for. We are merely renting it from them for an indefinite amount of time until it’s pulled or the company no longer wishes to provide access to it. That’s right, you do not own the digital copy of that $70 game you purchased or $30 movie. The entire point of this push for digital over physical is not simply easier access or to save money on material; it’s to make sure when you want to watch or play the media again, you spend more money on it again. I mainly blame microtransactions, Netflix, and Microsoft for this ultimate capitalistic move.
We have also seen this from Ubisoft, who has been quite outspoken in this area in the past, even wanting to go as far as suggesting they charge hourly rental fees to play games at all. We have seen this with digital mergers like Funimation and Crunchyroll, or VUDU and Fandango, where subscribers and owners of digital media on said platforms lost movies they paid in full for before the merger, only never to see them again. For those of you not aware, in January of this year, California's AB 2426 law went into effect. Requiring sellers to disclose when consumers are purchasing a license to digital goods rather than the full ownership of those goods. The law applies to digital movies, music, books, video games, and applications. This is a move made specifically because of the deception when selling digital products. We never fully own anything we buy digitally.
The Start Of the Streaming Empire
In 1998, Netflix appeared, and for $4 per DVD or $15.95 a month for unlimited DVDs, it was a game changer (RIP Blockbuster). Of course, it wasn’t until 2007 they began offering streaming services. Jump ahead to 2010, when they dropped streaming subscriptions for $7.99 a month. In 2023, Netflix sent its last DVD. By that point, they had a massive hold on the digital media and streaming market for several years. People loved the ability to instantly and easily have movies and shows at their fingertips. Following Netflix’s success, we saw a rise in the business model of online subscription streaming. Over the next decade, we watched as Hulu, Amazon, HBO and many more started their versions of streaming services, pulling the plug on what would eventually be the end of physical media and owning vs renting for life.
Over in the gaming industry, up until several years ago, retail stores like GameStop had quite a hold on the market and made it clear they would stop selling any company games that sold them cheaper online than their current prices. This was important because it kept a “fair and competitive” market in place. So, what happened? Digital distribution from companies like Netflix and Microsoft. When Game Pass was first introduced back in 2017, it was only $9.99 a month to access all the games in the library. This is how the entire gaming market was undermined. GameStop and other retailers couldn’t say anything if games were still being sold for similar prices but were available as rentals on a sort of “Netflix” like feature. It only took a couple of years of this, for people to quickly and easily become addicted to yet another model of easy instant access and for the time being, a seemingly cheaper option.
With Blu-rays and DVDs finally getting the axe, and gaming practically already there, it’s safe to say owning physical media is about to be a thing of the past permanently. The thing is we did it to ourselves without ever realizing what we were doing. How? We were sold a lie we were unaware of via instant gratification and easy access with the illusion streaming services and digital purchases would stay in our inventory for life and stay affordable. The lie was we owned anything.
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