PlayStation today announced that in January 2028 due to trends and where the industry is going, they will no longer be selling discs for their games. This has made a lot of people mad. There is a fan base that loves physical media. VHS and vinyl have become somewhat popular in recent years. Blu-Ray and DVDs still sell, but the majority of content consumed is all digital. Unfortunately when you buy digital, it doesn’t mean you actually own it.
Digital LicensesBuying a digital game or movie means you are buying a license for that media. This also means that the license can be revoked. Sony has recently said about 550 movies and television shows distributed by StudioCanal will be removed from people’s libraries due to licenses expiring. Months ago, users on Reddit complained that delisted games on Xbox were then removed from their library and unable to be redownloaded. One of the biggest complaints against services like Game Pass and PlayStation Plus is that you’re renting the games, but that argument goes out the window when you are only buying digital, as you are only renting a license for that game. It can be revoked at any time.
Digital ConsolesPlayStation and Xbox both have all-digital consoles this generation. Sony released an add-on disc drive that can be used to play physical media on their digital PS5. Microsoft went even further, releasing an all-digital white Xbox Series X alongside the discless Xbox Series S, leaving the disc drive only in the black Series X models. Microsoft has made no effort to bring a standalone drive to the all-digital consoles, though rumors of one have circulated for a few years now. There was also a rumored disc-to-digital transfer program that would have converted a physical copy into a digital one, but so far nothing like it has released.
Next Gen ConsolesProject Helix is supposed to be released next year. The PlayStation 6 was also rumored to be releasing next year as well. Both consoles will more than likely not have disc drives. Sony could be announcing the end of physical media now so that when they show off their next console, and it’s without a disc drive, people won’t be mad about that, since the anger would have subsided by that point.
I hate the fact that they can revoke the license at any given time, but I do love the convenience of digital content. PC has been mostly digital for at least ten years now. Most of my library is digital and if I want to buy a game at 3AM, I don’t need to wait for it to get delivered, I just need to download or stream it. I do buy physical games though, especially if I cannot get digital copies of them. I bought The Peanuts Movie: Snoopy’s Grand Adventure and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on disc when I couldn’t get them digitally, so while I love the idea of all digital, I hate the limitations that it puts on us.
