A pair of Mexican lawmakers have filed a lawsuit against Sony for its controversial decision to end disc-based games from 2028 onwards.
Mexican senator Luis Donaldo Colasio and federal representative Iraís Reyes came together to file a complaint with Mexico’s National Antitrust Commission to raise concerns about ownership in the digital age, they announced yesterday.
“Starting in 2028, PlayStation will stop producing physical games,” Colasio outlined on his Instagram (translated to English). “Its digital store will become the only channel in Mexico: the price will be set by Sony, the conditions imposed by Sony, with no ability to resell, lend, or trade. And what you buy digitally isn’t yours; it’s a license that can be taken away. This already happened in Europe in 2022, it’s happening with over 500 movies, and it will happen with the PS3 and PS Vita stores. You pay the owner’s price. You’re given tenant rights.”
Last month, gamers filed a petition called “Don’t Kill the Disc” in an effort to persuade Sony to keep physical games on PlayStation. It doesn’t appear to have moved the needle much at all, despite its 360,000 or so signatures.
“There are various reasons we made this decision, the biggest being that the digitalization of content overall has been progressing, that’s the big factor,” Sony CFO Lin Tao said during an earnings call last week. “It’s not just for PlayStation, but for all kinds of content, digitalization is progressing. And so when we think about the future—and we put in a lot of thought and time, and we cautiously considered this—and we came to this conclusion, and we’re going to cautiously move this forward.”
While Tao did not outright say that the decision won’t be reneged, realistically, it seems like the plans to go all-digital have been in motion for some time and no amount of outcry will make a difference, especially since there hasn’t been a noticeable impact on the company’s bottom line yet.
“At this point in time, we are not seeing any impact on our business, as of now… a large part is already digitized,” Tao said. “And therefore as a result the discontinuation of discs, we don’t see that there will be any negative impact on our business.”
Colasio and Reyes, meanwhile, have joined some other politicians around the world (like French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon) in speaking out against Sony’s move, so it will be worth keeping tabs on whether or not the pressure continues to mount and actually forces a change.
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