There has been a debate for years now about physical versus digital. On the video game front, it appears that companies — at least Sony — have taken the side of the digital crowd. In 2028, PlayStation will no longer release discs, so it’s going to be all digital from that point forward. This leads me to believe that the next PlayStation won’t have a disc drive, something that doesn’t even feel like a big leap since the PS5 Pro doesn’t have one. I think that will be a big hit to physical media going forward, because digital movies don’t really compete with physical media as of yet.

While I’m sad to see PlayStation make this decision, it’s a lot easier to understand, especially since I’m somebody who has their fair share of digital games. I see the appeal of digital games. You don’t have to get up and switch a disc, you get things with the click of a button, and perhaps most importantly, you can often find huge sales. At the time of this writing, the Steam Summer Sale is winding down, and that’s an excellent time for people to snatch up a bunch of games for cheap. Digital movies don’t tend to have sales like this. In fact, digital often feels like the most expensive way to find a movie. Sales are far rarer than they are with games, and I’m not sure if that will ever change. It’s one of the areas where I feel that physical is far better than digital.

Physical movies are quite cheaper

I don’t see this changing

Although storefronts such as Best Buy have pulled out of physical media completely, it’s not like there aren’t places for you to go and find things for cheap. We still have Black Friday, Cyber Monday, month-long Criterion sales, and Prime Day. There are many ways to pick up a movie for cheap, especially ones that have been out for a while.

Even without big sales, there’s usually something available on Amazon for pretty cheap, especially if you’re not dead set on getting a 4K Blu-ray. Both Blu-ray and DVD versions of a film are cheaper, and as we see from steady sales showing DVD still reigns supreme, a lot of people don’t have a problem with the drop in quality.

If I use the original Jurassic Park as an example, I can find a Blu-ray of this film on Amazon for under $10. Meanwhile, a version of it on Prime Video costs $15. That’s a common sight, and what people might not realize already is that most physical copies of a movie that you buy come with a digital version included. Renting movies digitally is a good middle ground, especially if you’re somebody who doesn’t watch things more than once and doesn’t necessarily care about owning them. I’ve rented my fair share of movies, so I definitely understand it from that point of view.

Browsing digital stores just isn’t the same

Hard to replace the physical feeling

One of the absolute cheapest ways to grab a physical movie is to do so at a thrift store or a yard sale. Not only can you find some harder-to-find movies this way, but you can also snag them for cheap. I like browsing through the storefronts on my Xbox, PlayStation, and PC as much as the next person, but it’s just not the same as flipping through things in a box or carefully scanning a store shelf for something I’m looking for. A lot of the fun in buying something comes from the chase. You don’t get that with digital because it’s just available in a store at all times, unless it’s delisted, of course.

I like tracking down something from years ago, and it’s even better when you randomly stumble across it at some hole-in-the-wall store. I’ve picked up quite a bit of my collection at used disc shops, and while they often come with difficult-to-peel-off stickers, once you get the cases cleaned up, they look as good as new. Even if you’re not a huge fan of physical media, you would have to agree there’s something special about holding something in your hands rather than just seeing it as an icon on a screen. When you couple that with the fact that you can also shave quite a few dollars off the price, it’s a recipe for success. I just don’t see digital matching this.

Physical video games are often in this boat, and that’s with way more frequent sales. It’ll be interesting to see what PlayStation does once discs are fully out of the equation, and they have no competition. We might be seeing fewer sales on the PlayStation Store, and that’s something to keep in mind in a fully digital world. Physical media remains competitive on pricing, and that’s part of the reason why I don’t want to ever see it go away.