Sony recently announced that, starting January 2028, they won’t produce physical PlayStation games anymore. After that, everything shifts to digital only.
A few days before that, GTA 6 fans found out the “physical” edition of the game isn’t actually physical. It will be a download code sitting inside a case.
This isn’t just about gaming. People are tired of thinking they own something they actually don’t.
With digital content, players are purchasing a license to use the game, on Sony’s terms, for as long as Sony decides to let them.
The Concord video game is a prime example of this. Sony pulled that game entirely, weeks after people paid for it, because it wasn’t performing well, in both sales and quality. Even though people paid for the game, they can no longer play it. Thankfully, they were refunded.
You don’t own your audience on social media, and you don’t own the algorithm’s decision to show your content to people or bury it.
It’s the same thing happening on every platform you build on. You’re renting attention from a company that can switch up the game at any time.
I know this because I’m on both sides of it. I’m building on platforms I don’t own and I’m watching the rules shift constantly. Adaptability is key but it is difficult to keep up with all of the platform changes.
To work with this, I’m also building things I actually control: an email list, a website, services, and products. I’m realizing that these are things I can control and no one can change it.
Here’s the thing: the backlash to Sony this week isn’t just about games. It’s about ownership.
Let’s zoom out for a bit. People are cancelling subscriptions they don’t use, in favor of CDs, DVDs, vinyl, physical games. People are furious about the “physical” version of GTA 6 not coming with an actual disc.
Ownership is not a trend, it’s a foundational belief. Ownership allows people to take the power back.
At the end of the day, this is the exact tension every creator and small business owner is dealing with right now.
You can keep building on rented land, chasing whatever the platform rewards this month, and hope the rules don’t change on you the way they changed on Concord players.
Or you can build the thing that’s actually yours: the email list, the newsletter, the website, the product or service. The brand people will follow even if the platform disappears tomorrow.
Sony didn’t create this shift. A lot of people have become more mindful of how they consume music, movies, games, and the platforms creators build their businesses on.
Are you building something you own, or renting from someone who can change the terms whenever it benefits them?