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They are not wrong tho
Its crazy how everybody got used to rental prices as high as physical copy.
That's why you should buy physical disks. In the worst case you can re-sell them to someone else.
Or buy games without DRM. Like on GOG.
Also wait until development of the game is really done. That way the game is better and cheaper and works on cheaper hardware.
GOG doesn't work on consoles.
Jussayin not everyone wants to maintian a PC so they can game...
My gaming PC takes the same amount of maintenance as my PS5. Both are computers with parts that can break. Other than that, install updates when they pop up.
Also, Steam Deck / Machine (or any PC with SteamOS) essentially can handle like consoles and run GOG games.
Imagine how well digital games would sell if they showed up in your cart like: 1 x Revokable License for God of War $69 See Terms and Conditions* [Confirm Payment]
- Terms: we will do whatever the fuck we want. Conditions: whenever we want.
There's a reason they say "Buy" instead of "Pay".
It's been going on for generations, but it's no less dishonest for all that. Software sellers write complex EULAs for which the only valid answer is "Agree" because the store won't take an open box back and the software won't install unless we pretend to agree, so even us legitimate software enjoyers are pirates in our hearts. Meanwhile normies don't even think about it that much. Fuck this whole system, but double fuck an online service that says "purchase" but will steal it back later. Fuck that.
If I don't own them, no reason to pay for them ever.
Nothing new. This is the same bullshit legal framework that underpins the entire software industry and extends back to the mid 90s. It's just front-and-center in games now because the industry has transitioned from a growth industry to a mature one wherein producers need to extract more revenue per user and predictably enshittify their platforms to do so.
I've basically decided that I will not buy any game that I cannot play offline. If I do a buy game, I will also pirate it to ensure continued access. If I can't pirate it, I won't buy it.
Fuck em.
If buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing.
I wish them luck, because if you can't buy it, you can't steal it.
Prove deez nuts biatchhhh
I think in terms of the subscriber access to Xbox GamePass or PlayStation Plus, this is valid. But not for game purchases.
The store purchases have always been about buying a game. If I go to Amazon and buy a thing, it gets shipped to my house and I own it - the experience of adding an item to a cart, viewing the cart, and checking out are the same across game stores, for online and brick and mortar, whether digital and physical goods are being purchased.
If I don't own the item I am buying on the PlayStation store, why the hell am I paying a premium for it? I thought it was because I will always be able to play that game without having to worry about the disc getting scratched and in both cases I would own the item.
If you buy a CD with software and it gets shipped to your house, you own the disc, not the software. It's always been this way, we are just now living in a world where the technology exists to take the software away from you after you paid.
Correct, I owned the license to it. It wasn't revokable though.
@Couldbealeotard @jsnfwlr sure, but you were also able to sell it eventually.
Hopefully their inquiry will lead to more clear definitions in market places. It could lead to having indefinite leases. For example you will see a button that says lease and below it there will be a time period which would be indefinite. I think that would be a fair portrayal purchase agreements.
Sony has trained me to pay my subscription fee and be extremely skeptical about “buying” any games, no matter how deeply discounted they are. I don’t play much on PC but I have no qualms buying a game on Steam.
This is true.
If it's a subscription, sure. But if I literally paid to own the game? What the fuck is the point?
Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn. Linux PCs will run the vast majority of games and the handful of exclusives that don’t run yet will run on an emulator at some point.
I’m so old school I still prefer OpenTTD and OpenRCT2
Lol Sony gonna Sony
If buying isn't owning... (just be careful not to get hit with malware if you do sail)
unless it is layed out plain in their TOS it aint gonna live long. if they place a revision of the TOS to reflect that, then john q public is thoroughly screwed
It’s a bolder than usual move for Sony to announce the end of physical media prior to a new console launch, and launch this “you don’t own the digital games you buy” campaign at the same time.
The usual easy strategy is first you end physical media sales, let people be content with the idea that they own their digital games at least so that the only thing people think about is the convenience of digital, then after you launch your new console, get everybody locked in, that’s when you launch the “Oh you don’t own these digital games btw” campaign.
The fact that they’re just doing all of this at the same time means they know they won’t lose any money over it because we’re sheep and the consumer just doesn’t care anymore
at this point, i have quite bleak view on anyone buying anything from sony. those people are effectively supporting this shit, which may spread elsewhere.
um yeah, that's not hard to prove, you can check my torrent history
you still own them more than a psn store enjoyer owns their games
does anyone know why Sony is so intent on ensuring that I never become a console gamer and give them money?
like how does this benefit them?
... For everyone one of "us" on this thread, there's 10,000 that will shrug and conform.
You and I are not the target demographic. Clearly - look at where we're having this conversation :)
Ipso facto we need to make sure that we support those that support us (Indie devs, FOSS etc). Let Sony do Sony things.
Untio the first 250 USD game hits the market and it's a choice between homelesness, starving and getting a digital product you don't own.
The smaller the customer base, the less money they rake in.
Sony's history of security breaches also doesn't give much confidence. Games like Concord and Marathon also prove nobody is too big to fail.
Games are a luxury good that need to thread a fine needle.
With roughly fifty years of back catalog to draw from, free engines, and endless other distractors, a $250 game would need to be an epoch-defining masterpiece - or have true AGI baked in - to get my attention.
Then again, I'm not the target demographic: I built my own retro console from office e-waste and play retro games, older AAA and indies.
in the short term? It doesnt benefit them at all. it may actually hurt them.
in the long term? Bandwidth is cheap. especially at the scale that companies like Sony, Steam, Microsoft, etc, use it. So sell 6 million copies of a game, 10 extra bucks of profit thanks to no physical media/boxes/shipping/etc, per game.. Thats 60 million dollars in free money.
Plus, because you no longer own anything, they no longer have to invest in storage to keep old games up and running. So as new games release, they delete old games from their servers and from your accounts, So thats less investment they have to make in infrastructure, which is again more free money for them.
I wager Sony would love the day when people pay 100 dollars for a game that gets deleted in 6 months, that they have to rebuy again at full price to play again.
Cause remember, with no physical media, you have nothing but sony's closed garden marketplace to buy games.. Which means no competition for sony, which means no incentive for sales, no lower prices (not that 70+ dollars is a low price for a game 🙄 ), no nothing but take what sony offers you, and liking it.
I wager Sony would love the day when people pay 100 dollars for a game that gets deleted in 6 months, that they have to rebuy again at full price to play again.
Oh, you wanted to play [AAA game]? Too bad, it's shut down and gone. But you can buy the almost-identical sequel [AAA game 2] for just $90!
This will also affect history badly. Entire games will be lost to history forever.
I worked for the major streaming company when the service was launched in Japan. Sony (among others) said that streaming would never take off in Japan because Japanese consumers are too tied to physical media. This was probably 2014. It's probably been the slowest place in the world to change, but it has changed. Sony understands the consumer preference for digital media as well as anyone. They just know that resistance and opposition will fade over time.
They are a fairly adaptable company (as Japanese tech companies go), and if they get it wrong, they will pivot, but there is nothing pro-consumer about the company. They didn't put Blu-ray players in PS3s because it was good for consumers, they did it because it was good for Sony's entertainment business. And people often forget that part of the Blu-ray spec was mandatory internet connectivity so that the content licensor could revoke content licenses. We haven't "owned" physical media since DVDs.
This is the company that brought you Memory Stick after all. They've been anti-consumer ever since the Walkman was a huge success. It benefits Sony by making people buy more copies of the same thing. You might not buy any, but if the optimization is right, enough people will.
I take personal offense (on Sony's behalf). How could you possibly frame innovation and progress as anti-consumer behavior? The reality is that the industrial mega-corp is providing the services and products consumers actually want. If they didn't capitalism would be sure to punish them and they'd die an economical death. Children's entertainment is funded via their parents and neither child nor parent is choosing to buy physical media. You can't blame Sony for holding on to stock that no one wants to buy. 'Gamers' can have their emotional outburst, but things will continue as normal and they'll have forgotten about it after nap time.
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if buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing.
Soon the game files will be on the cloud and the client on your computer is just a launcher. Then piracy will be over as well
Piracy isn't stealing either way. It's just copyright infringement.
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granted limited access to software that can be revoked at any moment.
If it is that, then it may not be called a purchase. Simple.
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Going to court to prove they're arseholes. Nice.
If you want to stop it, write to your representatives. EULAs do not override local laws.
If I don't own, I won't buy. Good luck.
Already lost my PS4 collection for not logging in 3 years.
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this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2026
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