Sony talks about the shift to digital distribution this generation

In Sony’s Investor Relations Day 2015 presentation, SCE President Andrew House talked about digital distribution and the shift away from physical retail occurring this generation.

House marked the improved network features of the PS4 over the PS3 as one of the drivers for the shift, along with easier and earlier access of digital releases now that download versions arrive day and date with retail copies and can often be pre-loaded. Being an investor relations day House also talked about the impact on profit, noting that regions will be affected differently based on technology and user preference but he curiously avoided answering the question of whether this leads to improved profits or not.

Anecdotally the new console generation has certainly marked a shift to digital distribution in my opinion. Pre-loading, more competitive pricing and day and date access are the big factors for me, plus the requirement of retail releases to install and often download day one patches negates the speed factor of retail purchases.

Both Sony and Microsoft have embraced flash sales and discounting of online products, while you will still see some baffling pricing (like Call of Duty: Ghosts special edition for $100 USD on the Playstation Store) discounts on recent releases are more common and as a result digital regularly trumps retail for pricing. In the last year I have purchased big recent releases such as Shadow of Mordor, Assassin’s Creed: Unity and the EA Sports games at massive discounts online or through the EA Access program. I don’t think it is technology driving this shift so much as the platform holders finally paying digital distribution the attention it deserves. Gamers will go where the cheapest games are, and that is now on digital, released on the same day as physical copies.

You can read the full quotes over at Dualshockers, or view the rather dry presentation on the Sony website.