Physical PS5 Game Sales Plummet in US and UK Markets
▼ Summary
– Valve is using Steam OS and Proton to create a console-like ecosystem, directing users to its storefront while marketing the system as not a console.
– Valve eliminated physical PC games and now aims to replicate the ease of a console experience, knowing most users won’t use the system as a full PC.
– Valve’s closed storefront allows other stores like GOG, but only because it cannot prevent it in an open PC system, and it benefits from most users not using them.
– The author argues Valve will lock down its system once it gains enough market share, as it dislikes competitors like GOG and Sony equally.
– Consumers should support GOG or demand better rights, as switching between platforms only benefits companies, not gamers.
Physical PlayStation 5 game sales are taking a noticeable hit across both the US and UK markets, signaling a major shift in how players are buying their games. The decline in physical disc sales has been accelerating, and industry watchers are pointing to a combination of factors, from the rise of digital storefronts to changing consumer habits.
This trend isn’t happening in a vacuum. While Sony built its empire on the console-first model and later pushed toward digital-only releases, Valve has been executing a nearly identical strategy in reverse. The company started by making everything digital and is now building a console-like ecosystem around Steam. The Steam Deck and the earlier Steam Machines both run on Steam OS, a Linux-based system with a Proton layer that mimics console functionality. Valve markets these devices as “not consoles,” but the experience they offer is unmistakably familiar to anyone who has used a PlayStation or Xbox.
Valve’s approach is shrewd. They effectively eliminated physical PC games years ago, and now they’re packaging that digital ecosystem into a box that directs users straight to their storefront. The company knows that while many will claim their devices are still open PCs, the vast majority of owners will never use them that way. If people wanted to run Linux on a desktop, they’d already be doing it. Convincing someone to switch is, as one observer put it, like “slamming my head in a car door.”
The Steam numbers will continue to climb, partly due to population growth, but that doesn’t mean those users were ever potential console buyers. The real concern is what happens when Valve sees enough growth in its closed-loop system. They don’t like GOG any more than they like Windows or Sony. Once they can lock things down further, they will. They’re already marketing that vision.
What the industry really needs is better consumer rights and protections across the board. Jumping from one platform to another doesn’t preserve the values gamers say they care about. It just temporarily pads the pockets of the companies that profit from fragmentation. The moment Valve believes a fully closed system is viable, they will push for it. And if Sony ever allowed users to install games from another storefront, they’d already be ahead of PC in one key area. But that’s not happening either.
(Source: Push Square)
