By Standia Louis | Contributing Writer
For years, users have stored, bought, and sold physical games, making physical ownership an integral part of gaming, especially for those who couldn’t immediately afford a game when it was first released.
A physical copy could be shared with friends or purchased at a lower price, giving consumers more control over what happened to the product after they brought it.
In July of 2026, Sony announced that they will officially halt the production of physical game disks for new playstation releases and all future games will have to be bought through the Playstation store and retailers starting in January 2028.
Sony’s removal of physical disks for newer games inhibits the user’s ability to sell or buy the game they purchased with their own money, forcing users who brought the game to depend on online storage and account security to access their games.
The company’s transition to permanently halt the production of game disks exposes a bigger question regarding media ownership: If we, as consumers, can not physically own the media we purchase, do we truly own anything at all?
Although Sony’s transition to permanently halt the production seems to only focus on the future of gaming, this decision exposes a larger shift across entertainment and technology.
Movies, music, video games, and books have all moved away from physical production, some even go as far as stopping it entirely, and towards digital platforms controlled by companies to access the products through a paywall.
Although most may argue that we still have “ownership” of digital media as long as it’s under the user’s account, this doesn’t mean that digital media has the same protections and availability as physical ownership.
Purchasing a digital game only allows the user to have a license to play the game rather than owning it. This ownership of the digital license forces the consumer to entirely depend on the company to maintain its servers, protect their digital account, and continue to make the product available on the platform.
Unlike physical game disks, digital games can potentially disappear without the user’s interference. User profiles containing access to the games can be hacked if cybersecurity isn’t properly secured, accounts could be suspended causing game ownership to be taken away, and games can be removed from the platform entirely.
In these situations, gamers potentially spent money and an experience on a game that they can’t access anymore.
Sony’s announcement isn’t simply a transition to another form of ownership but a growing issue regarding the true definition of said ownership. As we continue towards our media becoming digital only, we must ask ourselves: Do we truly own anything anymore?
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The opinions presented on this page do not represent the views of the PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect the perspectives of contributing writers and/or university community members.
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