A Dutch lawsuit warns that Sony alone could set pricing for games like Grand Theft Auto VI with no used market or retailer competition once physical discs fully disappear in 2028.
A Dutch consumer group suing Sony over the disc phase-out warns that killing physical discs hands Sony "total price control" over PlayStation games like Grand Theft Auto VI.
The chair of Stichting Massaschade & Consument, which is pursuing a lawsuit seeking more than €400 million, shared in a statement with Wccftech that, with no discs, there is no second-hand market and no alternative to the PlayStation Store. So, from 2028, Sony alone decides what a game costs and how long you are allowed to use and even own it.
Just like that, Sony finds itself under legal fire all over the world, from France to Brazil and now, the Netherlands.
Right now, a physical disc gives you options. You can buy a used copy, sell yours when you are done, or shop around at different retailers who compete on price. The Dutch group's argument is that when discs disappear, everything vanishes. The PlayStation Store becomes the only place to buy the game, with no used market and no rival retailer to undercut it, which means Sony sets the price with nothing pushing back.
GTA 6's physical edition is already a case with just a download code. Not even spending more for the Ultimate Edition can give you a physical copy. Neither can waiting.
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So the game is a live preview of the disc-free future the lawsuit is worried about. For a $79.99 game with years of Grand Theft Auto Online spending ahead of it, it means no cheaper used copies, no reselling when you move on, and no retailer competition to bring the price down over time. Whatever Sony and Rockstar Games decide the game and its content cost to be, that is what you pay, with no external pressure to lower it.
Key Disc Phase-Out Concerns Raised by the Dutch Group
| Concern | Details | Potential GTA 6 Impact |
|---|---|---|
Price control | No physical competition allows unchecked digital pricing | Higher effective cost for buyers, no used-copy savings |
Access and retail | Fewer options in retail-reliant markets | Launch availability and collector concerns |
Consumer rights | Lawsuit seeks compensation for affected users | Precedent for digital ownership disputes |
The main warnings from the Fair PlayStation lawsuit and how each could affect a title like GTA 6.
This lawsuit is not actually new and it did not start because of the disc announcement. The Fair PlayStation case started last year in 2025 and its actual core is Sony's 30% in-store commission and the claim that Dutch players paid around 47% more for digital games than physical ones, in general, for over a decade. The disc phase-out did not create the lawsuit. It handed the lawsuit a powerful new piece of evidence, serving as added fuel to the fire.
We're telling you this to make you understand the gravity of the situation. This is not a knee-jerk reaction to a week-old announcement. It is part of a coordinated legal push against Sony's store model spanning multiple countries, including a much larger case in the UK.
The Dutch group has a genuine point about competition. Removing physical discs really does eliminate the used market and retailer price competition, and that really does leave the PlayStation Store as the only game in town, but it's an allegation unproven in court, and Sony is maintaining that its pricing reflects the value and cost of its platform. Whether a court agrees that this amounts to an illegal abuse of dominance is genuinely unsettled.
In the case of Grand Theft Auto, it's no secret that, before any disc ban, the vast majority of GTA purchases are digital. Grand Theft Auto V: Expanded and Enhanced and Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced did away with physical discs entirely. The vast majority of GTA 6 buyers are purchasing digitally as well and never touching the used market.
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For those players, nothing about the disc decision changes because they were already buying at full digital price. The people genuinely losing something are the physical-media holdouts, the used-game shoppers, and collectors, a real but shrinking group. So the lawsuit is defending a form of competition that most players had already stopped using.
Even so, the principle of having an alternative matters even if few use it, but it does mean the practical impact on the average adult buyer is smaller than the phrase "total price control" makes it sound. The threat is more about the long-term future than your November purchase.
Overall, the legal pressure is the latest saga in the broader mess Sony created for itself, from reportedly blindsiding its own partners with the decision to competitors like Xbox and GitHub ganging up on it while it stays silent.
What started as a disc announcement has snowballed into lawsuits, political attention, and industry fallout, all bringing to light the conundrum of how much control one company gets over what you paid for and what you get to keep or call your own when everything goes digital.
GTA 6 did not cause that question, but as the biggest game launching this generation, it has become the clearest test case for it.