PlayStation stops selling games in 2028.

Sony announced they won’t be making physical PlayStation games anymore. (e.g. on Blu-Ray discs). Now one could say that, wait a second, that doesn’t mean that Sony will stop selling games, given that most game “sales” are already “digital”, but I think it does.

While I have a collection of physical PS4 and PS5 games, the real issue with that decision isn’t really about the discs vs “digital”, but what it means for consumer rights. It’s not “selling” if people don’t actually buy it.

When consumers buy a physical game, they buy it. They can pass it on to someone else. They can play it offline regardless of whether the servers are online or not. They can And most importantly, they can keep the game even if Sony decides to not “support” it anymore for whatever reason.

With digital “purchases” on PlayStation, this is not the case. As Sony has demonstrated, they are able and willing to remove products from user’s libraries that they have “bought”. Regulations (like this regulation in California that forces companies to inform consumers that when they buy something under such terms they’re not actually buying it) won’t stop that, because consumers have no choice but to accept the terms when clicking “buy”.

The issue I have with the “digital” delivery isn’t that I can’t have a disc in my shelf. While that’s a bit sad, it’s also a silly thing to whine about.

The real issue is that I can’t buy games at all anymore, which would be totally possible even with digital delivery (e.g. gog.com). But Sony apparently wants to “sell” subscriptions with an unknown expiration date instead.

“[…]purchase of this digital product amounts to a license subject to the Software Product License Agreement.”

So yes, I don’t think it’s sensationalist to say that in 2028 Sony will stop selling games.