Staff Writer: Brett Hamilton
In 2013, multiple technological innovations were announced to the public, mainly involving video games. At E3 2013, Microsoft revealed the Xbox One, but not without restrictions. Microsoft planned strict digital restrictions on physical game discs that would block or heavily limit trading, reselling, and sharing.
As a marketing tactic, Sony, the creator of the PlayStation, released a satirical “Official PlayStation Used Game Instructional Video” featuring the head of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, simply handing a PS4 game disc to another person, with the tagline, “This is how you share your games on PS4.” The advertisement was simple, but it had major effects as it went viral as a massive PR blow against Xbox’s anti-disc policies.
Due to the controversy and advertisement, Microsoft was quickly forced to walk back on its plans, abandoning strict restrictions on physical game discs. With Sony’s initial response to Microsoft’s ideas, you would think the phrase “This is how you share your games on PS4” still applies to this day, right? Well, it does…for now.
On July 1st of, 2026, PlayStation announced that it will stop producing physical game discs for all new releases starting in January 2028, with the reasoning that they are moving forward to more favored consumer preferences, stating that consumers prefer digital media over physical.
However, with a simple Google search, you can discover that that claim is false, as according to yougov.com, “New YouGov data shows that 51% of console gamers generally prefer discs or cartridges, compared with 32% who prefer digital purchases.” Another statistic surrounding the PlayStation 5 itself, quoted by https://insider-gaming.com states that “82% of the lifetime sales of the PS5 are those with a disc drive.
That puts digital-only consoles at just 18% of the total sales.” So, despite PlayStation’s claim, statistics prove otherwise. Therefore, what is the real reason behind PlayStation’s decision to rid its consumers of physical media?
It’s actually quite simple: profit and control. With the shift of physical media to strictly digital distribution via the PlayStation Store, Sony allows itself to control pricing, eliminate retail middlemen, as well as phase out the “used/pre-owned” market that provides Sony with no profit. Essentially, without retail competition or alternative storefronts offering discounts on physical copies, Sony gains a direct monopoly over digital game prices. In addition, PlayStation also believes that customers don’t have ownership over their products.
That’s right: as if it couldn’t get worse, with Sony forcing its consumers to purchase only digital products in the future, Sony stated in a court filing that customers do not own the digital games they buy on PlayStation, but instead only purchase a limited and REVOCABLE license to access them.
Basically, even if consumers purchase products from the PlayStation Store, at any moment, for any reason, they can be removed. Sony even argues that true digital ownership is implausible because if one person owned a specific digital copy, Sony could not sell that same game file to another player later.
If this statement sounds familiar, it’s because this isn’t the first time a company has discussed consumer ownership of their products. Back in 2025, Nintendo updated its End User License Agreement, making it clear that consumers only purchase a limited, revocable license to use their products rather than outright legal ownership of the software.
As of now, gaming is in a complicated spot: with the rise in RAM prices leading to an increase in console prices, as well as companies trying to claim consumers lack ownership, it’s difficult to be a gamer. As a gamer myself, I, along with others, can think of possible solutions to counter these claims, because in all technicality, if buying isn’t owning, then piracy isn’t stealing!