Xbox veteran stresses Sony’s all-digital future would compromise game ownership: ‘Digital is convenient until someone else decides you’ve had enough’
- One of the original Xbox founders, Laura Fryer, suggests Sony is stripping away game ownership via an all-digital future
- It comes after PlayStation announced physical game discs won’t be produced starting from January 2028
- Fryer claims Sony let Rockstar ‘take the heat’ by announcing a digital-only GTA 6 first
Sony is still under fire after its latest announcement of a future all-digital future for PlayStation games, as physical game copies are due to be axed — and not only are consumers livid, some gaming industry veterans are too.
As reported by Notebookcheck, Laura Fryer, one of the original founding members of Xbox, has recently condemned Sony’s announcement ending physical game discs for future PlayStation games, and highlights the threat the move poses to game ownership.
The announcement from Sony has since resulted in major backlash regarding game ownership from thousands online, including a slight pushback (or support for physical media) from indie game developers like Astrolabe Games.
In this case, Fryer hasn’t been shy about noting just how dangerous the end of physical game discs will be once 2028 arrives, especially since rumors suggest Microsoft may follow in a similar direction with its next Xbox console.
“Digital is convenient until someone else decides you’ve had enough, and there are some games and movies where I will never have enough of them,” Fryer stated, which is arguably a valid statement since Sony recently removed over 500 purchased movies from users’ libraries.
It’s worth noting that Rockstar Games recently opened GTA 6 pre-orders, with the announcement that there won’t be a physical copy of the game, which Fryer highlights as an important step to Sony’s latest plans, stating: “Sony waited for Rockstar to make the first move, take the heat, and now they’re going all in to make this the new normal.”
Fryer even references Don Mattrick’s infamous statement regarding an ‘always online’ Xbox One console experience, as she suggests that this is what Sony, Microsoft, and, frankly, Hollywood are doing today.
“When was the last time you put a disc in and the game just worked without a big download? All the major players, Sony, Microsoft, even Hollywood, they’re all aligned here. Digital kills the used market, and it stops your old library from competing with new games on the next console.”
That ‘always online’ future is closer than it ever has been, and with Sony also shutting down PS3 and PS Vita stores in 2027. That means whenever the PS6 (or future PlayStation consoles) eventually becomes a retro console like the PS3, there will be no way to play games on the system unless it’s via digital means — and that directly eliminates game ownership completely.
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