Jacob Navok, ex-Square Enix business development chief, suggests that Sony’s move away from physical discs on PS5 could lead to lower prices on the PlayStation Store, driven by increased publisher competition in digital sales.
Jacob Navok, the former head of business development at Square Enix, has argued that Sony’s shift away from physical discs on PS5 could ultimately push PlayStation Store prices down rather than up. His view is that once boxed copies disappear, publishers will compete more directly on the digital storefront, much as they do on Steam, where discounting is routine and prices often move more aggressively in response to rival offers.
Navok said digital pricing is still shaped in part by the economics of physical release, which helps keep the two channels aligned. He pointed to Final Fantasy XVI on Steam as an example of how direct competition can force prices lower. In his view, the PlayStation Store functions primarily as a marketplace in which publishers set prices, while Sony oversees the platform rather than acting as the main retail seller.
That argument is unlikely to settle the wider debate over the end of discs. A study cited in Dutch court proceedings found that PlayStation digital games were, on average, 47% more expensive than disc versions, a finding that has strengthened claims that a move to all-digital distribution could reduce consumer choice and increase costs. The Dutch consumer group Stichting Massaschade & Consument is suing Sony over its planned discontinuation of physical game discs by 2028, and the campaign has been backed by Stop Killing Games, which says the issue goes beyond convenience and into consumer rights.
The broader market is already moving towards downloads. Square Enix has said that digital accounted for 90.11% of its game sales across its major regions, underlining how far the industry has shifted away from retail shelves. Sony’s own PS5 Digital Edition is also cheaper than the disc-based model, but it comes with clear trade-offs: no used-game market, no resale value and a greater dependence on broadband access. That makes the likely effect of disc removal harder to predict. For some players, it could mean lower digital prices through competition; for others, it may simply remove the last alternative to Sony’s online storefront.
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