If you’re interested in both photography and gaming, then you’ve likely heard the ongoing controversy about PlayStation ending disk support in 2028.
PlayStation sparked major controversy by announcing plans to phase out physical disc production for all new releases starting in January 2028. Transitioning to being digital only where boxed products will contain download codes rather than physical media. This instantly angered collectors, game preservationists and anyone who understands that physical games are often cheaper than those offered digitally through the PSN store. The decision has also ignited heated debates over digital licensing versus true game ownership, the loss of the pre-owned market, and forcing consumers into an ecosystem where Sony maintains absolute control over game pricing. Despite consumer pushback, Sony’s market dominance since the PS4 era remains practically unrivaled. Driven by its first party exclusive games like God of War and The Last of Us, the PS4 outsold the Xbox One two to one, establishing deep momentum that has kept the PS5 ahead as the undisputed leader in traditional home console gaming.
At this point you may be asking what this has to do with photography, well, a lot.
One of the biggest advantages of the Sony E mount ecosystem has always been its openness to third party lenses. While other brands like Nikon and Fuji initially restricted a lot of third party autofocus lenses, Sony utilized these companies to build out their lens options from the start. You even have Canon who still don’t allow any third party autofocus lenses for their full frame RF bodies which is the reason why I decided to swap back to Sony after using the Canon EOS R6 for a few years.
This can be very location dependent but at least here in Australia, there can be quite a significant difference in pricing between first party lenses from Canon and Sony. I found that at least back in 2022, I could get brand new first party Sony G or GM lenses for the same price or cheaper than older Canon EF alternatives. Then when you taken modern first party lenses into consideration, Sony becomes even more better value.
For myself at least, I felt Sony offered much more value to their customers then what Canon did so I decided to swap back to Sony which I have stuck with the past 4 years.
You may question how Sony can be so for the consumer when it comes to their alpha cameras but so anti consumer when it comes to PlayStation and it’s likely one simple thing, competition. Recent shipment statistics show that Canon is still dominating the industry in a distant first place at 45.7% market share with Sony lagging quite far behind in second at 24.6%. So it doesn’t take a genius to see that Canon has a huge advantage for which they have had for more than a decade now. Compare this to gaming and you’ll see Sony selling significantly more consoles than Xbox. Recent sales estimates place PlayStation 5 lifetime sales near 94 million units, compared to roughly 35 million units for Xbox Series X|S which gives Sony a strong grip on the gaming market as it doesn’t have any significant competition which is likely why we’ve seen them start to act against what’s best for the customer.
Compare that to photography where Sony is the underdog, so they have to compete to increase their market share and win over photographers, which it wouldn’t do by keeping its system closed and pricing out a lot of people. You do have a portion of photographers that think “I don’t use third party lenses, so this doesn’t affect me” but the reality is by having third party options, this creates that competition which can only help when it comes to pricing of first party gear. It’s for this very reason that as a Sony shooter, I really hope that Canon continues to dominate in the photography world so I can continue to see the E Mount offering great options in terms of bodies and lenses.
