Sony recently announced that it will end production of physical game discs for new PlayStation releases starting in January 2028, shifting fully to digital distribution thereafter.
The move has sparked backlash from gamers, with Dutch consumer group Stichting Massaschade & Consument incorporating the news into an existing lawsuit it had already been building against the company.
The group is seeking more than €400 million in damages (roughly $457 million) through its campaign, called “Fair PlayStation,” which targets the 30% commission Sony collects on everything sold through its store, a fee the group has labeled the “Sony tax.”
Although the case has been in the works since 2025 and predates the disc announcement by about a year, Sony’s decision has provided the group a much stronger argument to work with.
“No discs means no second-hand market and no alternative to the PlayStation Store, so from 2028, Sony alone decides what a game costs and even how long you are allowed to use it,” group chair Lucia Melcherts said in a statement to Wccftech. She added that killing physical media “removes the last place where a PlayStation game could still be bought and sold at a competitive price.”
Sony is facing similar legal pressure elsewhere. In the UK, consumer advocate Alex Neill, backed by law firm Milberg London, has brought a £2 billion class action dubbed “PlayStation You Owe Us” to trial this year. The suit raises the same core arguments, which are that the business giant’s 30% fee is essentially a monopoly on digital pricing.
Then there’s the PSN Digital Games Settlement in the U.S., where Sony has agreed to pay $7.85 million to resolve antitrust claims in the digital game market. If you bought eligible digital games, ones that used to come as vouchers between April 2019 and December 2023, you could be entitled to some of that money.
Renowned game developer Hideo Kojima, creator of Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding, chimed in as well. Speaking at the Il Cinema in Piazza film festival held in Italy recently, he warned that the disc move points toward a streaming-dominated future where consumers risk losing true ownership of games, per a translation by gaming journalist Genki.
Sources: PlayStation, IGN, Massaschade, wccftech, Milberg, UK PS Lawsuit, PSN Settlement, BGR