This has nothing to do with physical vs "digital" (CDs are digital anyway), but with owning. CDs can have DRM and only work with keys from whitelisted systems that might even have to authenticate online or trigger a time bomb and wipe their keys and downloads can be in a DRM free format that can be copied, archived and played on any capable device forever.
People don't understand the difference. They talk about preservation, without acknowledging that a PlayStation can refuse to play a disc if servers say so.
How're they gonna do that to an offline system like the PS2 or NES? Why should I simply just give up the rights I had on those systems because Sony and Microsoft want more money?
Modern disks are not the same as PS2 and NES disks. The difference between owning something and not owning it is not whether it's on a dedicated physical medium. The PS2 disks are irrelevant to Sony's decision to discontinue disks for future consoles.
Disks with games you own have already been discontinued. Arguing about the format (disk vs downloads) is a distraction.
That's a compelling argument (or for how it should be but I bet it isn't) for local play I suppose, but surely the volume's in online multiplayer, where physical media really doesn't save you because you're reliant on server etc. anyway.
(And arguably why not download the game assets or whatever if you're going to necessarily play connected anyway.)
Remember 15 years ago PSN was down for between 24 and 76 days (depending on region). But that stuff will never happen again. Nope... never ever again! It is bullet proof just like everything else online.
That PS thing is so dumb. People really have trouble letting go of the illusion they've been living under for a long time now. Those disks might as well be random hunks of garbage. It be hilarious if PS starting shipping old AOL CDs from a dump instead. They'd probably be more useful and help reduce landfills.