Sony's lawyers walked into a California courtroom and argued that "reasonable consumers would not be misled" into thinking they own the digital games they buy. Moments later, the statement hit the internet and people heard it as Sony saying, "you are an idiot for believing your games are yours." Neither is wrong, which is what makes this entire situation so uncomfortable.
The argument comes from a proposed class action accusing Sony of hiding the fact that a PlayStation Store purchase is a license behind a "Buy Now" button and a wall of fine print. Sony's response was to shove the case into private arbitration, and insist that they didn't fool the consumer in the first place. Because a digital game is not a finite object, many people can buy the same one at once, so no single person can "own" it the way you own a disc. However, this is were true, this would mean that only one person on Earth could ever buy a game like Grand Theft Auto VI.
Legally though, Sony is right. Every digital storefront works and has always worked this way. We've paid money for a revocable license for years. It doesn't matter if it's on PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam. The same language has set in the terms and conditions of these platforms for a long time. Sony didn't cook the scheme. It's the boring legal reality of digital distribution, finally said out loud.
Unfortunately, Sony using this logic the same year it confirmed it will stop pressing game discs in 2028, a move that comes down to fatter margins, and it is doing so into a loud and unrelenting backlash, doesn't paint it in a good light. Reportedly, it even emailed customers the same week to remind them they own nothing
This is the perfect example of the phrase, "just because you can, doesn't mean you should."
This is also where Grand Theft Auto gets dragged in, and where Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive can choose to become part of the problem or the solution. The most anticipated game in years is launching digital-first. The $100 Ultimate Edition is digital-only, its "physical" copies are largely a code in a box, and roughly 90% of pre-orders are the digital version with no physical edition coming. None of that makes Rockstar or Take-Two the villain, and they are doing the same thing pretty much every one else is doing, but it does mean that when you drop a hundred bucks on a digital copy of GTA 6, Sony's courtroom argument is describing your purchase too.
You are merely paying for a license to enjoy Vice City and Leonida. To make it worse, you aren't getting any physical proof of it unlike with Grand Theft Auto V, something that smaller publishers have found a way around.
What you actually buy: disc versus digital
Aspect | Physical disc (ending 2028) | Digital copy |
|---|---|---|
What you get | A copy you own | A personal, revocable license |
Resell, lend, or gift | Yes | No |
Can be taken away | No | Yes, via a ban, delisting, or shutdown |
Survives the store or servers | Yes, it lives on the disc | Not guaranteed |
The GTA 6 version | A code in a box, mostly | The digital-only $100 Ultimate Edition |
The ownership gap Sony's own argument spells out, and where GTA 6 sits in it.
Get your account banned over a chargeback or a rules dispute, and the games go with it. Sony delists a title, or loses the rights to something inside one, and it can quietly leave your library. Switch off the servers a decade from now and there is no disc in a drawer to fall back on. You can even lose access to your entire video game library if you haven't logged into your account for years. This is exactly why we argued that the digitalisation of gaming is bigger than losing a disc.
For years, the disc was your insurance policy. It meant that you owned the game you bought. The world could end today and as long as you had the disc, the gaming platform, and a display, you could enjoy the game. GTA 6, for most buyers, will not come with any.
So Sony is telling the truth. You never owned your games, and you will not own GTA 6 either. The uncomfortable part is watching a company spend the biggest launch in gaming history making sure you never can, then arguing in court you were foolish to expect otherwise.