Experts say Sony's reported 2028 disc exit would hit low-income gamers hardest
In brief
- Sony will stop producing physical game discs from 2028, Decrypt reports.
- NYU Stern's Joost van Dreunen said poorer players lose retail access and discounted used sales.
- PlayStation Network is officially supported only in South Africa, Bijetic founder Isa Muhammad said.
- GTA 6 would cost a Nigerian gamer $80, plus $25 to over $60 in data, Muhammad estimated.
Used discs are the budget option
Experts told Decrypt that players at the bottom of the income spectrum are the ones who lose the most when discs disappear. Van Dreunen teaches at the NYU Stern School of Business and has written books on the video game business. He said that without physical discs, some lower-income players lose access to retail distribution and discounted used sales. He also said the hit won't immediately show up in major game makers' financials.
Hardware isn't getting cheaper either. Sony raised PS5 prices in March, citing "pressures in the global economic landscape," and the next-generation Xbox was expected to cost up to $1,800, according to Fortune (as cited by Decrypt). A spokesperson for UK advocacy group Gamer's Voice said the move would likely affect people on lower incomes more.
Bandwidth becomes part of the price
Van Dreunen said roughly one in four rural American households has no wired provider offering 100/20 Mbps. At 10 Mbps, he said, a 50GB download takes about 11 hours.
It's a bigger problem elsewhere. Muhammad, whose Bijetic platform covers Africa and the Middle East, said speeds across the region vary widely (very fast in Dubai, unreliable in Iran). He said he recently paid 75,000 NGN (about $55) for a 450GB broadband bundle, which he said is more than Nigeria's minimum monthly wage.
GTA 6's pre-load file was expected to be 212GB. Muhammad estimated a Nigerian gamer would spend $80 on the game, then anywhere from $25 to over $60 in data just to download it. At Nigeria's median download speed of 36.77 Mbps, per Speedtest by Ookla, that download would take nearly 13 hours.
The account problem
Muhammad said the PS5 is already out of reach for most Africans, and that those who do own a console rely on the second-hand games market to afford to play.
Digital isn't a simple fallback, either.
He said PlayStation Network is officially supported in only one African country, South Africa. A gamer in Nigeria who wants to buy digitally has to register a U.S. or UK account and pay with foreign gift cards or a dollar card, according to Muhammad. In his reading, Sony's terms require users to register in their country of residence, which puts those players on the wrong side of the rules from the start.
"So every Nigerian or Egyptian on a US or UK PSN account is breaking the rules from day one."
Frequently asked questions
Why would ending PlayStation game discs hurt low-income gamers?
NYU Stern professor Joost van Dreunen told Decrypt that without physical discs, some lower-income players lose access to retail distribution and discounted used sales. A Gamer's Voice spokesperson said the move would likely affect people on lower incomes more.
Why is buying PlayStation games digitally difficult in Nigeria?
Bijetic founder Isa Muhammad said PlayStation Network is officially supported in only one African country, South Africa. He said Nigerian gamers who want to buy digitally must register U.S. or UK accounts and pay with foreign gift cards or dollar cards, which he said breaks Sony's country-of-residence terms.
How much would it cost a Nigerian gamer to download GTA 6?
GTA 6's pre-load file was expected to be 212GB. Isa Muhammad estimated a Nigerian gamer would spend $80 on the game plus $25 to over $60 in data. At Nigeria's median speed of 36.77 Mbps, per Speedtest by Ookla, the download would take nearly 13 hours.
