Sony’s plan to phase out physical PlayStation 5 discs by January 2028 has moved from a public relations problem to a legal one.
Dutch consumer group Stichting Massaschade & Consument has filed a $457 million lawsuit on Tuesday on behalf of 1.7 million Dutch PlayStation users, arguing Sony’s 30% PlayStation Store commission will inflate game prices once physical alternatives disappear.
This comes amid backlash to Sony’s move to get rid of physical games, with thousands of gamers flooding Sony’s Playstation blog announcement to vent their anger—ranging from disappointment to threatening to stop supporting Playstation altogether. This is because Sony now has control because without physical discs, there won’t be a resale market that puts money back in gamers’ hands or lets them get games more cheaply.
How killing discs undercuts Sony’s own legal defense
But that control is exactly what makes the disc phase-out riskier than Sony may have anticipated.
