This will hopefully backfire. As soon as there are no more physical copies of games available, Sony will run into the same situation that Apple is currently, which will make them a Gatekeeper in the EU. That will eventually mean that they need to open their platform for third-party-vendors. But, yeah. It will be bad for a few years at least, I'm afraid.

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jwitthuhn a day ago | parent [-]

Why would physical copies matter for this? All physical games have to be signed by Sony anyways so it's not like a third-party can produce them.

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MrGilbert a day ago | parent | next [-]

That doesn’t matter. It’s about the end-users perspective in that case. You can sell physical copies in physical stores or online on competitive pricing. The main point is that the customer has a choice. As soon as the physical discs vanish, they won’t. And that’s where gatekeeping starts.

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raro11 a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

They'll be forced to embed alternative stores in the PlayStation.

I won't wait for it though. After 28 years of always having a Sony at home, it ends here for me at the age of 35.

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overfeed a day ago | parent [-]

> They'll be forced to embed alternative stores in the PlayStation.

Steam Summer sales on a PlayStation? I want that today.

If this decision somehow ends up with Steam and Proton for PlayStation, it will be well worth it. Gaben, please get some lawyers to write to the EU posthaste, and start porting Proton to iOS & PlayStation

	▲	potwinkle a day ago \| parent [-]
		Technically already possible (and works surprisingly well!) if you have a PS5 with old enough firmware. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhnLdFYR2-s

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testfrequency a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Retailer exclusion. Monopoly behavior. Total market control of goods.