EU says it can't stop Sony from ending physical PlayStation game releases

[midian182]

A hot potato: Hopes that the EU could force Sony to abandon its plans to stop making new games on discs have faded. An EU commissioner said that companies are "free" to make games in whatever way they want, including killing off physical media and offering them in download-only formas.

Michael McGrath, the European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, was asked whether the bloc could intervene in Sony's controversial move toward an all-digital future.

McGrath said the issue comes down to commercial and contractual freedoms.

"Companies are free to offer games and services in the manner that they see fit, provided that consumer rights are fully protected," he told reporters at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

It seems that the EU's famously tough stance on technology companies doesn't extend to forcing publishers or platform holders to release games on physical media. As long as Sony complies with existing consumer-protection laws, the format in which it sells PlayStation titles remains a commercial decision.

Sony announced earlier this month that it will stop producing physical discs for new PlayStation games beginning in January 2028. Titles released after the cutoff will be sold through the PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only.

The company later clarified that it is not shutting down disc production completely. Publishers will still be able to reorder physical copies of games released on disc before January 2028.

McGrath also referred to the European Citizens' Initiative connected to the Stop Killing Games campaign. However, that movement focuses on ensuring that purchased games remain playable after publishers end support, rather than requiring companies to manufacture physical copies. The Commission recently declined to propose legislation mandating continued playability, instead favoring discussions with the industry over a possible code of conduct.

Digital distribution eliminates manufacturing and shipping costs, cuts retailers and the used market out of the equation, and gives Sony greater control over pricing. Recent data showed that physical PlayStation games can be up to 90% cheaper than their digital equivalents, with retail competition and secondhand sales driving prices down.

A petition calling on Sony to reverse the policy has attracted more than 285,000 signatures. But with the EU unwilling to interfere and Sony yet to show any sign of changing course, the death of new PlayStation discs still looks set for 2028.

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EU says it can't stop Sony from ending physical PlayStation game releases

 

[The Talking Tech]

Perhaps the government can't stop or won't stop Sony...BUT the consumer can absolutely do something about it.

Vote against Sony's terrible anti-consumer practices with your wallet unsubscribing from PSN, not buying their digital games, not even getting any additional PlayStation accessories. That's the way you can send them a strong message the next time they read their profits monthly reports.

They will get the memo for sure......

 

[Burty117]

If they go ahead with it, they've lost me as a customer entirely, goodbye Sony, goodbye PlayStation, you've been in my life for 32 years (although I was Xbox 360 for a large chunk of the PS3 cycle) and you've actively killed any goodwill over the past 10 years.

I do still think Governments should be pushing for more digital rights though, Stop Killing Games has the right idea for games being sunset.

If I do not own a copy of the game, then I shouldn't be given the option to "buy" anything, it should say rent, borrow, limited license etc... That's a policy that should have happened years ago, I’m sure once people are browsing Steam and they get "buy" for some games, but "rent" for others, gamers would naturally avoid games and publishers that seemingly want the right to take away the product at some arbitrary time in the future.

 

[Watzupken]

Personally, I think it is a matter of time before Sony and Microsoft pulls the plug on physical discs. Sony themselves already stopped making Bluray players. So unless there is specific game titles that one must play and only available on consoles, I generally don't see the value of buying bulky consoles like the Xbox and PS as prices keep increasing.

 

[rmcrys]

I already changed to PC gaming: I don't use physical disks but games work for many generations and hardware. With consoles, you buy a game for a generation and you need a new game for the next, in many cases.

 

[Endymio]

It's truly frightening to come to the point where the burgeoning authoritarian regime of the EU feels forced publicly state that no, it doesn't -- yet -- intend to force businesses to manufacture and sell products against their own wishes.

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

It's truly frightening to come to the point where the burgeoning authoritarian regime of the EU feels forced publicly state that no, it doesn't -- yet -- intend to force businesses to manufacture and sell products against their own wishes.

To be completely fair, the EU (and many other governments) already force many businesses to include features in their products against the wishes of the device manufacturer. Both the EU and the United States force auto manufacturers to include back-up cameras and screens in their vehicles, as an example. Its just for now they usually uses "Safety" or "Enviromental protection" as an excuse.

 

[dangh]

Pc do not have physical versions, Nintendo doesn't either, there is nothing surprising to see sony and ms doing same. People voted via wallet last 5+years and clearly shown they prefer the simplicity of digital version over physical. There is nothing surprising there. I buy my games on gog to keep as much control as I possibly can, but most people don't even do that and are happy with steam drm. People will continue to buy don't consoles without much of the thoughts.

 

[m4a4]

Physical is a red herring. They can and have disabled physical copies already. They are just fancy digital copy storage with a license these days.
Meaning that if you don't like this because you think that physical was somehow guaranteeing that you could play a game offline (talking about this new generation of games), then you're focused on the wrong thing.

Gamer's focus should be digital rights, physical or not. As in, if you buy a game, you actually buy a game in the more traditional sense; a license that cannot just be revoked online or offline.


That is also why PC gaming is a lot more appealing than Console, you can more easily control your copy, or "fix" your copy...

 

[Axeia]

Physical gets you nothing ownership wise, people are mad for the wrong reason. What you need is something along the lines of stop killing games, some assurance that you can still play the game whenever the company decides "ehhh cba anymore".

Or in the case of Sony, something that lets you own your game. Whenever they decide to stop supporting the PS5 store and their servers for it that you can still run your game, preferably still download it somewhere but I'd settle for allowing you to copy it to local storage.

-

imo if you care about still playing your game years from now PC as a gaming platform is your best bet.
Almost every old console game can be emulated on it and even the earliest PC games can still be either played directly or emulated.

It might not be 'legal' in all cases and/or come with some odd caveats but there almost always is a way unlike with consoles.

To be completely fair, the EU (and many other governments) already force many businesses to include features in their products against the wishes of the device manufacturer. Both the EU and the United States force auto manufacturers to include back-up cameras and screens in their vehicles, as an example. Its just for now they usually uses "Safety" or "Enviromental protection" as an excuse.

Bad example.
Dunno about the US rules, but in the EU it's part of the rules/regulations regarding rear vision / giving a warning when people are detected behind the car (page 14 of this document). Camera/Screen has just become the cheapest way to achieve it. If you can achieve the vision part with mirrors, a-okay. If you detect humans using ultrasonic or wifi waves or something, fine as well.

If anything imo the US should consider doing this for front-vision as well. A lot of people driving over their own kids/pets in those SUVs with poor front visibility. A <1% increase of price on your vehicle can save you a lot of trauma.

 

[Vatossan]

EU doesn’t have a backbone to do anything lately, that is why the US is much stronger than all EU

 

[Vatossan]

Pc do not have physical versions, Nintendo doesn't either, there is nothing surprising to see sony and ms doing same. People voted via wallet last 5+years and clearly shown they prefer the simplicity of digital version over physical. There is nothing surprising there. I buy my games on gog to keep as much control as I possibly can, but most people don't even do that and are happy with steam drm. People will continue to buy don't consoles without much of the thoughts.

WRONG, Nintendo gives you an option to own physical or digital.

 

[Burty117]

Physical is a red herring. They can and have disabled physical copies already. They are just fancy digital copy storage with a license these days.
Meaning that if you don't like this because you think that physical was somehow guaranteeing that you could play a game offline (talking about this new generation of games), then you're focused on the wrong thing.

I have loads of PS5 games on disk, all of them work offline, it made the news last time PSN had an outage, people with physical copies didn't even notice, digital copies wouldn't even start.

A fair few people here don't understand how much is being lost, the ability to lend and borrow a game, re-sell, buy second hand, preserve games, there's loads of PS3 games I've bought on disc over the past year, why would I buy the digital versions, they're about to close the PSN store, the disc will always work.

Gamer's focus should be digital rights, physical or not. As in, if you buy a game, you actually buy a game in the more traditional sense; a license that cannot just be revoked online or offline.

I've been shouting from the tree tops about this for more than half my life, nobody seems to think government should be stepping in to force some actual consumer protection laws for digital purchases, I find it odd that everyone's happy with having rules for physical goods, but digital seemingly just gets away with being absolutely rubbish.

Physical gets you nothing ownership wise, people are mad for the wrong reason.

I'll repeat what I put above, my games work offline, even through PSN outages, the ability to lend and borrow a game, re-sell, buy second hand and preserve games, regardless if you think I own it or not, I seem to have MUCH more control with my physical copy than anything I’ve purchased digitally.

What you need is something along the lines of stop killing games, some assurance that you can still play the game whenever the company decides "ehhh cba anymore".

Or in the case of Sony, something that lets you own your game. Whenever they decide to stop supporting the PS5 store and their servers for it that you can still run your game, preferably still download it somewhere but I'd settle for allowing you to copy it to local storage.

I was with stop killing games way before it existed, I completely agree with everything you've said here, I don't understand why no rules ever seem to get through.

imo if you care about still playing your game years from now PC as a gaming platform is your best bet.
Almost every old console game can be emulated on it and even the earliest PC games can still be either played directly or emulated.

It might not be 'legal' in all cases and/or come with some odd caveats but there almost always is a way unlike with consoles.

I mean, I can still put a PS1 game into my PS1, and it plays exactly as it did 30 years ago, I can also put that same game into my PS2 or PS3 and it plays perfectly, same with PS4 games in the PS5.

I understand that the hardware will eventually age and die, there's a surprising market out there for keeping old consoles alive though, my PS3 has had the Frankenstein mod done it it, plus the capacitor replacements etc... it'll probably go another 20 years without much maintenance needed.

PC is the best alternative to consoles, but it's still pretty damn compromised, I can't re-sell or buy second hand games, there is the possibility of a game just being removed from my account, you can't even lend a game to someone unless you pretend they're a family member and share your entire library with them, and that's only on Steam, no other store lets you even share with family members.

A serious shake up of consumer digital purchasing rights is in real need of legislation, if I bought God of War digitally, and I got the files to keep forever, lend it to a friend, sell it second hand, sure, I wouldn't miss physical discs, since I don't think that'll ever happen, we are genuinely losing some basic rights with physical media being phased out.

 

[dangh]

WRONG, Nintendo gives you an option to own physical or digital.

Many of the so called switch 2 physical games are just key cards. This includes pokemon pokopia, street fighter 6, yakuza 0, Sonic shadow generations (and that even with theoretically physical cartridge). This number is going to increase, because Nintendo not only sells more games digital only, but they made cartridges digital only in certain cases.

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

Sony is so deeply entrenched in the EU economy in many businesses such as manufacturing, R&D, sales, entertainment and film, etc. that the Government will not go beyond a certain point. Last I checked Sony brings in about $16 billion (U.S.) per year. I sometimes think Government will choose which sector to punish and fine to keep damage to a minimum.

 

[m4a4]

I have loads of PS5 games on disk, all of them work offline, it made the news last time PSN had an outage, people with physical copies didn't even notice, digital copies wouldn't even start.

A fair few people here don't understand how much is being lost, the ability to lend and borrow a game, re-sell, buy second hand, preserve games, there's loads of PS3 games I've bought on disc over the past year, why would I buy the digital versions, they're about to close the PSN store, the disc will always work.

Don't get me wrong, older games and older consoles should still be fine.

But I think you're still missing the point (the red herring); any of this generations physical games could still be taken away from you if an inconvenient update gets pushed. And any new game could also require you to go online before playing. Just look into Crimson Desert, how early physical copies (even offline) didn't work. And then Sony just revoked digital movie licenses. Do you trust the gatekeepers? Because even physical discs can become useless.

Which is where we agree that rights management should be that we don't need to worry about that regardless the medium.

 

[Axeia]

PC is the best alternative to consoles, but it's still pretty damn compromised, I can't re-sell or buy second hand games, there is the possibility of a game just being removed from my account, you can't even lend a game to someone unless you pretend they're a family member and share your entire library with them, and that's only on Steam, no other store lets you even share with family members.

GoG (good old games) is what you want, you buy a game there, you own it, including the option to download a offline installer. No DRM, no nonsense.

Understandably their offering is a lot slimmer than steam as not all game developers are comfortable with that concept

 

[Northy]

EU totally nails it again on consumer rights.

 

[LordVile95]

If it was Apple they’d write new legislation to stop it

 

[LordVile95]

GoG (good old games) is what you want, you buy a game there, you own it, including the option to download a offline installer. No DRM, no nonsense.

Understandably their offering is a lot slimmer than steam as not all game developers are comfortable with that concept

No you don’t own it, that’s not how software works. It’s still just a licence

 

[godrilla]

To be completely fair, the EU (and many other governments) already force many businesses to include features in their products against the wishes of the device manufacturer. Both the EU and the United States force auto manufacturers to include back-up cameras and screens in their vehicles, as an example. Its just for now they usually uses "Safety" or "Enviromental protection" as an excuse.

The part where they want all media to go through one centralized network where they control is the name of the game. They can't control Sony Is because they love the end result.