Sony just announced that starting January 2028, every new PlayStation game will be digital-only. No more discs. Not a preference — a mandate.
Link: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/physical-disc-production-ending-in-january-2028-for-new-games-releasing-on-playstation-consoles/

This is a betrayal. In 2013, Sony mocked Microsoft on camera for trying to lock down game ownership with Xbox One DRM. Now Sony is doing worse: killing physical media outright, on top of the 30-day online check-in it already snuck in for digital purchases.

Here's what "digital-only" actually means: you don't own your games anymore. You're renting a license Sony can pull at any time — they've already done it, yanking Concord from people's libraries after launch. No reselling. No lending to a friend. No trading in. No shopping around for a better price. Just one storefront, total control, and your entire library at the mercy of Sony's servers staying online forever.

Sony already did this — with movies. Starting September 1, 2026, Sony is deleting 551 previously purchased movies (including Terminator 2 and Total Recall) from PlayStation libraries after failing to renew a licensing deal — with no refunds. Sony told customers straight up their purchased content would just be "removed." This is the same fine print that applies to your games. No disc means Sony can do this to your library next.

This is corporate greed dressed up as "consumer preference." Cutting discs saves Sony money on manufacturing — and they're not passing a cent of that savings to us. We just lose ownership so they can lock in profit.

We demand Sony:

1. Keep physical disc options available for new games past 2028.
2. Guarantee purchased games can never be revoked or delisted.
3. Kill the mandatory online check-in for digital games.
4. Whoever greenlit this decision needs to be fired. Immediately.

If our demands are not heard:

This will not end with an online petition. The petition is also about raising awareness among people who don't yet understand the importance of physical games to the console ecosystem. It brings together people who share the same goal of protecting consumer rights and game preservation.

If our concerns continue to be ignored, our next step could be launching a European Citizens' Initiative (ECI)  — an official EU mechanism that allows citizens to ask the European Commission to propose new legislation. With one million verified signatures from at least seven member states, the Commission is obliged to formally respond, and the European Parliament can take up the issue.

The European Commission has stated that, under the current legal framework, it cannot require companies to produce physical discs. An ECI addresses exactly that: if current laws do not protect physical media and consumer ownership, those laws can be changed.

The EU has taken similar action before. The Stop Destroying Videogames (Stop Killing Games) initiative gathered more than 1.2 million verified signatures, requiring the European Commission to review the concerns raised by citizens. The initiative has continued through discussions in the European Parliament, where lawmakers and consumer advocates have shown support for stronger protections for game preservation and digital ownership. However, no EU law has yet been passed requiring publishers to preserve games or keep them playable after support ends.
The EU has also shown that it can introduce consumer protection rules when voluntary industry solutions are considered insufficient. A clear example is the USB-C charging requirement, where the EU moved from voluntary cooperation to legislation that made a common charging standard mandatory for many devices.

Supporters of physical game releases argue that the same approach could one day be used to protect consumer choice, ownership rights, and access to games. While there is currently no EU law requiring publishers to release physical copies, future legislation could address concerns about digital-only markets, game preservation, and consumer control.

Our goal is clear: games must remain available on physical media, so that what you buy is truly yours — permanently, and independent of any server or storefront.