Over the years, consumer protection agencies under the EU and other international government organizations have initiated lawsuits or issued warnings against various companies over disputes related to consumer rights, and have even blocked specific acquisition plans. Following PlayStation’s recent unexpected announcement that it will cease production of physical game discs in 2028, many players believe that the EU and other major government organizations will impose countermeasures. However, according to one EU commissioner, they may be powerless to intervene.
While attending a European Parliament session in Strasbourg, France, Michael McGrath from the EU’s Committee on Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection was asked about the EU’s view on PlayStation’s digital strategy. In response, he stated that as long as it is legal, gaming companies do have the right to decide how to make their games available to consumers.
“After all, this ultimately comes down to commercial and contractual freedom. Businesses have the right to provide games and services in whatever way they deem appropriate, provided they fully protect consumer rights in accordance with national and EU laws. At present, we do need to consider a European Citizens’ Initiative on whether games should remain playable after new versions are released,” he said.
It’s worth noting that the European Commission also officially responded last month to the “Stop Killing Games” campaign initiated by players, stating that they will not use legislation to mandate that game developers must keep their games playable after ceasing operations.
Earlier this month, Sony suddenly announced that they will completely cease production of physical PlayStation game discs starting in January 2028, meaning PlayStation games released after that date may only be available in digital versions. This also led many fans to believe this is paving the way for an all-digital model for the PS6 console. Unsurprisingly, this news sparked criticism from physical media supporters, and a petition was even launched online calling on Sony to reconsider the policy, which has currently gathered nearly 300,000 participants.
Besides venting their frustrations directly online, some PlayStation players are also calling on other members of the community to cancel their PS Plus subscriptions, hoping to get Sony to take their opinions seriously. However, according to market analyst Dr. Serkan Toto, even if players resort to this form of protest, Sony is now unlikely to reverse this decision.
I feel for players who love physical media, but Sony will absolutely not reverse this decision. They of course already anticipated the online backlash, and now all they can do is let it cool down and wait for this storm to pass,” he said.
He emphasized that PlayStation has 1.2 billion active players globally, and assuming 50 million of them are subscribed to PS Plus, if 500,000 players decide to cancel their subscriptions during this controversy, it would only result in approximately 1% churn for Sony. Compared to the revenue improvements digitalization can bring, this level of attrition is negligible to them.
Source: KOCPC Chinese