Sony’s announcement overnight that PlayStation games will be released in digital formats only from January 2028 has the Book Hero office buzzing - and not in a good way! As big fans of physical books and physical media in general, we have thoughts…
Our team here at Book Hero is made up of readers, gamers and movie lovers - I guess you could say, lovers of entertainment products in general. We’re also collectors, fans and to some degree the books we read, the games we play and the movies we love form a part of our identity and how we choose to present ourselves to the world.
Sony’s announcement is not welcome news. For the gamers among us, this feels like hearing publishers are going to stop printing physical books.
Disaster!
Here’s our case for physical products:
➤ They make fantastic gifts. Whether it’s gifting your favourite book to a friend, watching your child unwrap their favourite videogame on Christmas day, or gifting a signed copy of your favourite album - there’s nothing like the thrill of handing over a gift you know someone is going to love.
➤ They are forever. The books, games, movies and CDs/vinyl you collected over the years stay with you forever. Years later you can pull your favourite movie off the shelf, re-read a life changing book or replay a game that meant something to you. Great stories don't expire - but digital libraries sometimes do. We’re already seeing movies mysteriously drop off the iTunes store and Amazon dropping support for older Kindles.
➤ They say something interesting about you. Walk into someone’s house and browse the books on their shelves, their CDs, Vinyl and video games and you instantly know something about them - what they love, what they enjoy. They spark conversations and create connections between people.
➤ They belong to you. Physical products are yours to lend, gift, sell or keep forever. None of us have unlimited resources, especially when we’re younger, and we all remember buying and selling games, movies and music to simply afford our latest obsession.
➤ Surviving an Apocalypse. Remember the movie Leave the World Behind? One of the characters spends the entire film desperately trying to find out how Friends ends after the internet and TV stop working. She only gets her answer when she stumbles across the DVD box set in an underground bunker. This could legitimately happen.
Book Hero is proud to be supporting the growing trend back toward bookshops, physical books, reading and a renewed appreciation for the physical world. Last year the New Zealand print book market grew 10%, and it’s widely reported that physical book stores are having a renaissance with the number of independent bookstores in the USA growing 70% in the past five years.
The gamers amongst us sincerely hope Sony reverses this decision and we can continue to look forward to proudly displaying our favourite games alongside our favourite books, Blu-rays, vinyls and other forms of physical media that we love.