The Problem Isn’t Digital Games. It’s Calling Them Sales.

Sony announced recently that they were going to cease releasing video games on physical media after 2027. No more game discs - they will be purely digital downloads that you purchase from an online store. This announcement angered many a YouTuber - pretty much everyone I like listening to. They’re all in an agreement - this sucks. PlayStation is killing ownership and they’re killing the resale market, and this move is incredibly hostile to customers.

Perhaps that’s true. I bought a PlayStation 5 with a disc drive (just in case) but I never once used a physical disc. The added convenience of the digital download meant more to me than the idea of ownership. As the disc goes away, though, it’s interesting to imagine what a perfect system of digital ownership would look like. I imagine, companies like Sony would sell you a digital file that is yours to download, in a file format that could be reverse engineered so that other manufacturers could make consoles that would play it (as they have for the old game cartridges). It could survive Sony, and Sony could never take it away. They would have to compete on the quality of their consoles, but perhaps there would be a period where no other console makers would be allowed to make competing consoles. Sony handles the cutting edge while other companies handle the retro market.

Of course, there are problems. Corporate greed is a thing, so I won’t belabor that point. However, even as a perfectly ethical business that is just out to make a reasonable amount of money, you unfortunately can’t trust your consumers. If you don’t prevent it, people will copy and distribute the file. So now, you have a system where corporations sometimes make questionable choices, while also trying to make money from a consumer base that, to some degree, contains people who would readily steal from them if given the chance. So yes, there is a perfect system. It just requires everyone to be honest forever.

Give up all hope now.

The simplest answer in light of this is that video game companies in particular stop talking about digital sales. Call it a long-term rental or lease, guarantee a specified number of years of access, but never call it a sale. If I can’t use the file without their continued cooperation, don’t refer to it as ownership. Even if you do sell discs, but they require ongoing support, it’s not a sale. People wouldn’t like it, but it’s more true to reality.

Would people participate in that system? It’s what we do now, only with correct labels. They would be mad, but I think it would eventually smooth over. Much of this problem stems from the inherent weirdness around selling and owning digital products. It’s not just that there are bad actors, but that the entire model doesn’t conform to reality. We may indeed need a better model, but we also need to be honest about the one we have.