The rise of digital formats has demonstrated a shift in consumption patterns and has raised questions about the future of physical formats in video games. While gaming is not expected to completely abandon media such as discs, cartridges, or cards, their presence may decrease as sales percentages are dramatically declining. Of course, this also affects business models such as retail stores, and recently, the CEO of GameStop spoke about what could be done to prevent the decline.
GameStop CEO Makes a Comment Against Digital Consoles
Ryan Cohen, CEO of the video game and entertainment retail chain GameStop, stirred up the internet by suggesting that physical disc drives should be mandatory in consoles. It all started (via Tech4Gamers) with a tweet from Mark Gurman, a Bloomberg correspondent in Europe, regarding the order given to Apple to include a mandatory USB-C charger with its iPhone devices, establishing a legal framework for a consumer-friendly usage standard.
Big win for consumers.
— Ryan Cohen (@ryancohen) September 3, 2023
Consumers have also invested their hard earned money in to physical video games. Disk drives should be required on consoles.
In response, Ryan Cohen of GameStop stated that it's a significant victory for consumers. He then pointed out that gaming consumers have spent their money on physical format games, so players should be obligated to have disc drives in consoles since there is still a market niche that justifies it.
In recent years, Microsoft took a significant step toward digital formats with the release of the Xbox One S All Digital and later with the Xbox Series S, a console that can only run digital games due to the absence of a disc drive. Sony is not immune to this shift, and in their case, they released a PlayStation 5 without a disc drive that can only run digital games and is consequently cheaper. Furthermore, there are rumors that the next PS5 model might make the disc drive optional, allowing users to remove it from the hardware as they please.
Therefore, Ryan Cohen's idea suggests a similar situation in which authorities would force companies to have consoles with disc drives only if the market justifies it. However, there has been no such movement so far, and there are options available for those who prefer either of the two formats.
What do you think about this? Should consoles always have disc drives or some means to run physical formats?
Share your thoughts in the comments and stay tuned here at LEVEL UP.
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