Yesterday, Sony stunned the games industry by announcing that it will no longer produce discs for PlayStation games starting in January 2028, citing “consumer preferences” as the reason for the shift towards an all-digital future. We’ve already seen plenty of community outcry about the decision, heard rumours that Xbox will be following suit, and speculated about what this means for the PlayStation 6.
The news has, understandably, shaken the games industry: Sony’s move away from physical media represents what many see as a death knell for on-disc content and permanent ownership, with many gamers fearing anti-consumer tactics may start to become more common. Dynamic pricing, suspension of licenses, and the PlayStation Store becoming a monopoly are all valid complaints people have been raising over the past 18 hours or so.
Predictably, then, frustrated gamers have been flocking to PlayStation’s legendary anti-DRM video from E3 2013 – you know, the one where former president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Shuhei Yoshida, and VP of third-party relations and developer technology, Adam Boyes, deliver a short message about how easy it is to share your PS4 games in a “step-by-step how to lend games to your friends” instructional video. This involves handing a disc to someone – it’s as easy as that.
The comments on the video now read very differently to how they once did. “You’ve become the villain you mocked,” says today’s top comment. “This is like watching the wedding video after the divorce,” says another. One commentor asks: “Please make a video on how to share games on PS6 as well,” whereas another riffs on PlayStation’s infamous motto by saying “Play does have LIMITS after all”.
One highly upvoted comment says: “RIP PLAYSTATION 1994-2026,” a common sentiment I’ve seen online since the news broke yesterday. This decision has proven to be hugely unpopular for Sony. Granted, the video above is 13 years old, but I think it represented something important for PlayStation: back then, in 2013, the company very much positioned itself as ‘on the side of the gamers’, taking a stand against Microsoft and Xbox and its overly-corporate push into the gaming space, where players were treated as investment opportunities rather than people. It’s no surprise to see frustrated and angry gamers flock to this video – representing a watershed moment in Sony’s overall strategy over the past few console generations – to air their dissatisfaction.
At least this isn’t the end, wholly, for physical media: even yesterday, we heard that the Switch 2 version of Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition is getting a physical release – and Oblivion on Switch 2 is getting the same treatment, too. For now, at least, Nintendo appears to be fighting the physical battle single-handed.
