Gamers Are Furious About Sony Ending Physical PS5 Discs — Here’s Why

Sony’s plan to stop selling physical PlayStation 5 discs by January 2028 has landed the company in legal trouble, with a Dutch consumer group filing a $457 million lawsuit on behalf of about 1.7 million PlayStation users.

The core complaint is simple: once physical discs disappear, digital downloads sold exclusively through Sony’s PlayStation Store become the only option, and consumer group Stichting Massaschade & Consument argues that could mean fewer choices and higher prices. The lawsuit follows a wave of criticism from players after Sony’s original announcement, many of whom pointed out that ending physical games also kills the second-hand market for buying and reselling titles.

Andrew Ching, marketing chair at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, told Fortune that Sony’s 30% commission only applies to digital purchases — physical retailers instead pay a lower manufacturing royalty, which is why used games can sell for less as their resale value drops. He noted the irony: Sony has previously used competition from physical and second-hand sales as a defence against antitrust claims. ‘By phasing out physical discs, Sony essentially destroys its own defense,’ he said.

Sony points out that roughly 85% of PlayStation sales are already digital. But Ching said the remaining 15% still matters, and that resale value changes how much gamers are willing to pay upfront — a $60 game resold for $20 effectively costs $40 to play. Games analyst Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics told GameSpot that killing resale value simply pushes more purchases toward full-price digital sales, which ‘obviously suits Sony better than a thriving second-hand market.’

The shake-up could open a door for Microsoft, according to Ching, who said Sony’s move gives Xbox a chance to court disgruntled PlayStation owners by reaffirming its commitment to physical media — though Xbox’s own gaming business is currently working through a restructuring involving roughly 3,200 job cuts.