Who Gets Left Behind In Sony’s All-Digital Future?

When Sony dropped the announcement that it was going to be ending physical disc production for PlayStation 5 in early 2028, I saw many posts on social media lamenting how this decision would have an outsized impact on certain groups and institutions. People without reliable internet, lending libraries, gaming tournament organizers, gamers in developing countries--how would the decision to move to download-only games affect these people?

I reached out to several folks, some of whom I knew while others I'd yet to meet, to ask them all the same question: How do you expect physical discs going away will affect gaming in your particular region or walk of life?

While I'd expected to hear many lamentations and concerns, the actual responses were surprising. If anything, the reactions seemed very mixed. Some had already anticipated the digital-only shift, some were, expectedly, annoyed, and others brought up factors and considerations that I wasn't even aware of. 

One of the most obvious areas of concern is access to games for people who live in rural areas with spotty local internet access. With game sizes ballooning, how are they supposed to download games reliably?

I asked gamer Shana Gardner, who is located in a rural area of Wisconsin, for her input. She said she had already switched to digital-only purchases upon getting a PlayStation 5. 

"I don't have much storage space for physical media and don't trade in games, so it made sense for me to switch to downloads," she said. 

However, the choice came with some downsides. 

"I have bought games that take multiple days to download over [a] DSL [internet connection], or preordered games with an early-download perk just so I could still possibly play on day one. I have spent evenings kicking everything else off the internet so I could download the bulk of a game overnight to minimize impact on my other online activities the next day."

What does she feel about the plight of other gamers in rural areas with physical discs? 

"I don't think that discontinuing physical media will necessarily disproportionately affect rural gamers; with the advent of services like Starlink, many of them have options for speeds greater than the 15Kbps I've lived with for way too long," Gardner said. "Patches already provide their own challenges with downloading, as do games that don't have physical media releases (though the latter are thankfully not prone to being enormous). We've already struggled with laggy online multiplayer games for years. Removing physical media entirely raises more concerns for me with the lack of ownership than it does internet speeds."

"Honestly, though, with enormous patches and DLC being increasingly common, even buying physical media isn't much of an advantage as far as accessibility goes."

Another big concern for some is how the lack of physical discs would affect public libraries. Much like other media such as movies and music, certain library systems also loan video games to patrons. Whether a library offers games varies widely depending on the city or county where it's located: My county's library system, the Multnomah County Library, doesn't offer video games for loan at all, while the nearby City of West Linn does.

I was surprised to learn that, alongside many libraries simply not handling games at all, many have already been scaling back their game offerings. Games are expensive compared to books and movies, and compared to other media, they're more commonly "lost" by borrowers, leading libraries to cut down on their purchases. Some libraries have observed dwindling popularity of game checkouts when compared to kids simply using the library's PCs and tablets to play games like Minecraft, Fortnite, and Roblox.

One person I asked about the situation was Colleen Kemps, who worked and volunteered at the libraries in Meridian, Idaho. She said that games were often theft targets, and also mentioned that most games were checked out by parents rather than the kids themselves. 

"Most teens and adults did not check out games because the library was slow to buy the newest games," she pointed out.

"Games only served a small section of the community," she continued. "Compared to DVDs and audio books, we had much less invested in games. Also, because of the various number of newer gaming systems that were constantly being released, the older games were outdated very quickly. The expense of buying new games wasn’t cost-effective for a limited (library) budget."

Overall, the feeling I got was that, while being able to check out physical games at the library is a great and cost-effective way for players to enjoy various titles, they also put a big burden on the systems through their high costs. Many library workers I spoke to who handled games wouldn't mind if their libraries pared down physical video game collections, since many children and teens seemed to prefer playing online games at the library anyway. 

Video games are a global hobby, but the gaming experience for those in developing nations is significantly different from those in North America. Many countries don't even have their own official PlayStation Store--they rely instead on making accounts assigned to other territories and using credit to purchase games digitally. So, how would discontinuing physical games affect gaming in those territories?

"I think that it will basically kill any gaming-specific shops, like BTgames (a well-known South African specialty retailer)," an avid gamer from South Africa, who opted not to have their name published, told me.

"Considering the limited spending power here, casual gamers will be pissed they can't swap games or trade them in for credit, while hardcore gamers will be concerned that they don't really own the game," he said. "I wonder if people here, particularly in lower LSMs (Living Standards Measure, a South African research term similar to the concept of socioeconomic class), actually rely on the used games market to get into gaming because they can't necessarily afford new systems or games. Even in my LSM, I look for used games and heavy discounts."

"I think most local gamers here are used to the always online mentality and the need to download updates," he continued. "I don't think there are tons of console gamers without at least decent internet connections."

Another gamer and business owner in Ghana, also unnamed, shared their perspective. 

"There's actually a growing e-gaming industry, so I don't know if digital games and connectivity are as big a deal as they used to be.Secondhand games aren't really a thing because here, [and] lots of people pirate games. You're more likely to get a free hand-me-down than have to buy a discount title. Also, you can pirate a disc for about $15 or pay someone to install them on your console for a similar price, instead of getting the full-priced version. Loads of pirated discs are on the market."

It might seem, then, that going strictly digital might be a way for Sony to combat piracy in these markets, but that might not be the case, either. 

"With digital games, (the pirates) basically log on with their accounts, download and install your requested games onto your console, and switch accounts again. All it costs them is the internet bandwidth," they said.

One Kenyan fan, a public relations manager, seemed more concerned about the future of gaming accessibility in their country. 

"From a Kenyan perspective, I think a move to all-digital could make PlayStation gaming less accessible for a lot of people," he said. "There is definitely a secondhand market here, not just for consoles but also for physical game discs. Many gamers buy used PlayStations and then exchange or resell games once they're done. For a lot of people, that's the only affordable way to keep playing new titles."

He seemed a bit less concerned about internet availability, however. "On connectivity, it's a bit of a mixed picture. In Nairobi and other major towns, internet connectivity is generally good, with fibre and 4G/5G widely available. The bigger issue is the cost of downloading games. Modern AAA titles can easily be 80-150GB, and not everyone has an unlimited home fiber connection. Large downloads can still be expensive, especially outside major urban areas."

"The affordability aspect is probably the biggest factor," he continued. "Buying a physical disc gives you something you can lend, sell, or trade. If everything becomes digital, you're locked into the PlayStation Store and its pricing, which removes the secondhand economy that many Kenyan gamers rely on. Digital gaming is definitely growing among wealthier gamers who own the latest consoles, have reliable home internet, and can buy games online using international payment methods.

"Console gaming itself is still relatively niche in Kenya compared to mobile gaming, (and) tend to be concentrated in urban centers, and many people first experience PlayStation through gaming cafés rather than owning a console. Those cafés also often rely on physical discs or shared game libraries, so a fully digital future could change how they operate as well.

"Overall, I think an all-digital strategy makes sense in markets where broadband is cheap and disposable income is high," he concluded. "In Kenya, affordability and the ability to buy, share and resell physical games remain important parts of the gaming ecosystem."

As a fighting game player, being able to go to local and regional meetups and tournaments is very important. Many of these events are run by individuals or groups of local tournament operators (“TOs”) who volunteer their consoles to be used during the events. This often requires having many copies of games to run. After seeing some speculation online that gaming tournaments could be hurt by the digital-only mandate, I wondered, does not having discs as an option make running tournaments harder?

In truth: not really. 

Tabby is a frequent TO and event volunteer who helps run the Just Block tournament series for the Pacific Northwest fighting game community. She said that discs going away  wasn't a big deal at all. 

"Discs are an extra thing to be misplaced or stolen at events, and don't actually allow you to run the game on more consoles than current digital offerings," she said. 

Discs can also be one more thing to worry about during event setup and teardown.

"(Games going digital) currently doesn't affect most TOs, especially as you scale up," she continued. "The only thing that will affect them greatly is if Sony breaks the workarounds people use for consoles having multiple shared accounts." 

She described a method she uses to boot the same digital copy of the game on two separate consoles for offline play--a critical workaround for multiple setups and a lifesaver for budget-conscious TOs who often have to run events out of pocket. There currently isn't a program for small-scale or local tournament operators to buy multiple digital game licenses at a discount.

Digital games do need to "phone home" every so often by connecting to the internet to verify their licenses, but Tabby said that isn't generally an issue for TOs, either.

"(Previously) there was a pretty long window … you could get away with (being offline) for months, but I think they just changed it so that purchases need to be connected to the internet every 30 days to check licenses. For your average local TO running monthly events, it shouldn't be an issue."

So will the end of physical PlayStation discs completely disrupt certain gaming communities? Going from these responses, the answer seems to be "not really," but this is a very small look at a very large topic. Regardless, it seem as though many have started to begrudgingly embrace an all-digital future, even if it's inconvenient for them. Others are finding ways to get around some of the restrictions the digital DRM imposes on them, or even just turning to outright piracy. Some expressed a bit of relief of not having to worry about discs being lost or stolen anymore. But, notably, not even the people who found discs a hassle seemed keen on the decision to kill consumer choice.

Even if this decision doesn't lead to friction between gamers and actually playing their games, it still reflects concerning views on ownership. Digital media feels impermanent, no matter how it's consumed, since it can be snatched away at a whim. And as convenient and profitable as digital media may be--and no matter how much companies push global consumers in that direction--the satisfaction of owning something tangible is something that cannot be replaced.