[ TRANSMISSION 003 ] - Sony Strikes again~
Sony’s Morning Dump: Final Fantasy, Half-Baked Discs, and the Death of Physical Media A PlayStation State of Play aired at 6:00 AM, which is Sony’s official timestamp for "we know this presentation is a snooze-fest, so we’re broadcasting while our core audience is still fast asleep." Nothing says high confidence like sneaking out a broadcast before the sun comes up—and naturally, they kicked off a video game show with... a movie trailer. Classic. The big headliner was Final Fantasy VII Revelation (or whatever subtitle Square Enix decides to slap on the next chapter), locking in an April 8, 2027 release date. The good news? We finally have a date. The bad news? Physical collectors are getting slapped in the face again. Here is the breakdown of what you get for your hard-earned cash: Standard Edition ($69.99): You get one disc containing roughly half the game, while the rest sits behind a massive day-one download. You aren't buying a game disc; you’re buying a $70 physical download key with shiny box art. Deluxe Edition ($99.99): A steelbook, an artbook, and half a game on a disc. Collector’s Edition ($350.00): A massive box, a statue, and still no full game on the disc. What are we actually collecting at this point? Dust and disappointment. Trilogy Collector’s Bundle ($500.00): All three games packed together, exclusive to Japan, because apparently North American and European money isn't regional enough. We can point fingers at Square Enix all day, but this has "Sony Corporate Greed" written all over it. Sony has been quietly cutting back disc manufacturing capacity, meaning publishers are forced onto single-disc prints just to save pennies on plastic—the exact same half-measure we saw with Crimson Desert. Meanwhile, Xbox is busy putting time limits on Game Pass tiers, forcing players to wait out a cooldown timer just to play what they pay a monthly subscription for. Don't laugh too hard, PlayStation fans—once Sony gets their next Amazon Web Services bill for all those half-game day-one downloads, you can bet PS Plus will be right behind them charging you a "bandwidth fee." Greed wins again, physical media is on life support, and we're paying $350 for plastic toys while the game stays in the cloud.