The breakdown
Sony announced on 1 July 2026 that physical disc production for new PlayStation games ends in January 2028. The backlash was immediate — thousands of players flooded the PlayStation Blog post with criticism. Then came something with sharper teeth: a $457 million lawsuit.
Dutch consumer organization Stichting Massaschade & Consument filed the case on behalf of approximately 1.7 million PlayStation users in the Netherlands, arguing that eliminating physical disc competition hands Sony unchecked control over game pricing. The lawsuit centres on the 30% commission Sony takes on every digital sale through the PlayStation Store — a cut that critics have long called the "Sony tax."
The Case in Plain Terms
Right now, if you want a PlayStation game, you have options. You can buy a disc from a retailer — who competed on price, discounted excess stock, and priced based on the market. You can buy used. You can trade in a finished game and recover part of the cost. That $60 game you bought and sold for $20 effectively cost you $40.
From January 2028, for new releases, that changes. Every new game goes through Sony's store. Sony sets the price. No retailer undercutting it. No used copy to hunt for. No trade-in to soften the hit. The PlayStation Store becomes the only game in town — and Sony takes 30% of every transaction.
That is precisely what Stichting Massaschade & Consument is suing over: not what has already happened, but what becomes inevitable once discs are gone.
Sony May Have Destroyed Its Own Defense
Here is where it gets legally interesting. Sony has faced antitrust accusations before. Its standard defense? Physical retail exists. Used games exist. Disc-based competition exists. The PlayStation Store is not a monopoly because players have alternatives.
Andrew Ching, marketing chair at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and a researcher who has studied the video game resale market using Japanese sales data, laid it out bluntly in a statement to Fortune:
"By phasing out physical discs, Sony essentially destroys its own defense."
Once discs disappear, so does the competitive pricing structure retailers operate under. Physical retailers pay Sony a flat royalty based on copies manufactured — a model where they can discount, compete, and let prices fall naturally as games age. Digital is different: every sale goes through Sony's store, Sony takes its 30%, and the consumer has no leverage.
Ching notes that a buyer who expects to sell or trade a game for roughly $20 after finishing it is effectively paying $40 for a $60 release. In an all-digital ecosystem, that residual value disappears. "Their willingness to pay is going to decrease," he told Fortune, suggesting some players will either wait for deep digital discounts or simply buy less.
Sony Knew 15% Was Not Nothing
Sony has framed the disc phase-out as following consumer behaviour. Roughly 85% of PlayStation software sales are already digital. But Ching calls the remaining 15% "non-trivial." That is not a rounding error — it is a meaningful slice of the audience that actively values physical ownership for economic, practical, or personal reasons.
Rhys Elliott, games analyst at Alinea Analytics, put the business logic plainly: "Every resale and rental is value flowing to players and retailers instead of to the platform. Without discs, that converts into a fresh full-price digital sale or it doesn't happen at all — and both outcomes suit Sony better than a thriving second-hand market."
Sony has also made the reversal increasingly difficult. The company is reportedly converting its primary disc manufacturing facility into a plant that produces optical microlenses. The infrastructure for a U-turn is being actively dismantled.
What Happens Next
The lawsuit is ongoing. No judgment has been issued, and Sony has not been found liable. Dutch PlayStation users who believe they qualify are being encouraged by the consumer group to register their interest in the case.
What makes this worth watching beyond the Netherlands is the precedent. If Stichting Massaschade & Consument succeeds, the legal template it establishes could be adopted by consumer groups in the UK, Germany, and the United States — where antitrust regulators have already shown interest in platform gatekeeping and app store commissions.
Sony has not yet commented publicly on the lawsuit's specific allegations. Its January 2028 timeline remains in place.
“By phasing out physical discs, Sony essentially destroys its own defense. — Andrew Ching, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School”