Sony's decision to end production of disks for new PlayStation games in 2028 has met with extensive backlash from players online, and that backlash is starting to expand into larger consumer rights campaigns around the world. Lawmakers in Mexico and a consumer rights nonprofit in the Netherlands both say that effectively ending the physical games market will give Sony full control over how players buy games on its platforms.
"The end of physical discs removes the last place where a PlayStation game could still be bought and sold at a competitive price," according to a statement from Stichting Massaschade & Consument provided to Wccftech. "No discs means no second-hand market and no alternative to the PlayStation Store, so from 2028, Sony alone decides what a game costs and even how long you are allowed to use it. That is exactly the harm our Fair PlayStation claim is about: a price can never be fair when the buyer is left with no ownership and no alternative."
Stichting Massaschade & Consument is a Dutch consumer rights organization that's already taking Sony to task as part of its Fair PlayStation campaign. That campaign, which has already been ongoing for years, argues that Sony's digital marketplace can charge artificially high prices because there's nowhere else to get your digital games. If physical games go away, too, consumers will have no alternative to paying whatever price Sony and its third-party partners choose to charge.
This argument is a big part of why I'm so concerned over the end of physical PlayStation games, but for all intents and purposes, it's perfectly legal – which is why groups like Stichting Massaschade & Consument and Stop Killing Games have been pushing for changes regarding how digital purchases are regarded in the law.
Separate from those movements, federal representative Iraís Reyes and senator Luis Donaldo Colosio are set to file a complaint about Sony's move with Mexico’s National Antitrust Commission, according to a statement provided to LevelUp. This is a purely civilian process – the two lawmakers aren't yet advancing legislation to try and stop the end of PlayStation discs, but they are raising their concerns before the country's regulators.
"Sony would become both the referee and the player within its own ecosystem, and we know what can happen when a single company controls every part of the market," Reyes argues, echoing the concerns of the Dutch regulators. But this complaint covers several additional concerns about the end of physical media.
"Consumers would stop truly owning their video games," Colosio adds. "With digital distribution, you’re no longer buying a game in the traditional sense – you’re purchasing a license, which means access to the content depends entirely on the conditions established by the company." He also notes that access to reliable, high-speed internet – a requirement for using a digital game – isn't consistent across Mexico.
These are all arguments we've heard before, and both these efforts are local to their respective regions. But the backlash is expanding beyond the gaming community, and even if Sony has no intention on backpedalling its all-digital plans, changes to the law around digital ownership could solve most of the problems around the big pivot anyway.
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