This week we saw Sony announce that game releases starting in 2028 will no longer be sold in physical format. From that point on, every game released will only be available in digital format, and you’ll only be able to buy them through the PlayStation Network store.
Goguma, I only buy digital anyway. Why should I care?
You should care, and a lot. If you have a console with a disc drive (it’s ridiculous that in this day and age I even have to clarify that) you know how easy it is to buy used games. Better yet, any friend or acquaintance can lend you a game to enjoy for a few days. With this move, that’s over. On top of that, you’ll only be able to play the games Sony decides you can. You own nothing.
Come on, Goguma. I bought the game and it shows up in my store. I don’t see what the fuss is about.
Like I said, the game was never really yours. We live in an absurd world where “buying” doesn’t mean buying. It’s a usage license they can revoke whenever they want. It’s not like before, when a physical game went out of print and you just had to hustle to find it secondhand. Now they can make a game disappear whenever they want, and absolutely no one will ever play it again, even if they paid for it.
Look, right now I can grab F1 97 or Gran Turismo 2 from my house, pop it into my PSX, and play a round whenever I want. Sony has no say in this at all. Nobody can stop me, there are no downloads or nonsense involved. The copy of the game is mine, period. Splitting hairs, the game was never really mine either—it’s always been a usage license.
Nowadays almost all games are digital and nobody’s died from it.
That’s true, but the problem isn’t just that they’re digital. The real problem is the power these platforms hold over the games they sell you.
In the PC world, for example, Steam is king, holding the vast majority of the market. That’s because up until now it’s taken great care of players—you can even burn a game to DVD so you don’t have to redownload it. But if you don’t like Steam (which, at the end of the day, is still an anti-piracy system) you have plenty of other options, like GOG, which sells games without copy protection, or the Riot store. In other words, it’s an open system without monopolies. A console is a different story. All consoles are closed systems that don’t allow third-party stores to be installed. That lets the manufacturer do whatever it wants, including taking your games away if it feels like it.
A bad precedent this week
And to prove my point, you don’t have to look far. It seems Sony took the opportunity to announce everything at once, revealing it will delete 551 movies from its catalog in Europe and the UK. Pay close attention to this: if you bought those movies digitally, they will disappear from your library. In other words, you paid to (in theory) own a product forever, and they took it away from you. All perfectly legal. This is exactly why they want to kill physical media. Honestly, I hope someone sues them. And that’s not the only thing that’s happened on this front.
Goguma, is there more?
As if that weren’t enough, Sony has announced it will shut down the PS3 and PS Vita stores between August 2026 and July 2027. Now imagine if you didn’t have a disc drive: if they delete a game, you lose it. Even if you “bought” it. In other words, physical format is a lifeline for game preservation and for consumers, since it allows the secondhand market to exist. They want gaming to become like the mobile market: use it and throw it away. This could be really bad if we let it happen.
I’m furious, Goguma. What can we do about this?
In my opinion, besides complaining loudly and often, the only thing we can do as consumers is refuse to put up with it and stop buying products from Sony or anyone else who applies these kinds of policies. I also imagine there will be class-action lawsuits over this, so if you’ve been affected and have the time (and the will), you might want to look into joining one of these efforts.
What’s clear is that buying something digitally—unless it lets you make a copy of the content that works without any kind of launcher—isn’t really buying, it’s renting.
So, what do you think about all this? Did you know they can take away a digital product even after you’ve bought it? Will you buy the future PS6? Let me know in the comments.
Well pointed out!! I also don’t like this nowadays game system. As you said we don’t own our games even if we purchased the games in Steam. It’s still in Steam. I don’t like the concept too. You cannot own the game you like. What a pity. I think not only games and movies but also in general, many things like electronics, cars, are subscription. Rental system. This makes people to be tied to this new commercial system. Becoming slaves for platforms.
Muy mal! 🙁