Not so strange, there is lots of money to be made by people not owning things anymore. Especially getting rid of physical second hand sells/buys will force consumer to buy the games straight from Sony again, who is the only store you will be able to buy Playstation games from.

But yeah, hopefully the community and ecosystem is aligned enough to massively fuck Sony over this, vote with your wallets people.

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tancop 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Xbox already lost one console war over plans to stop the second hand market so they know how important it is to players. Their new disc to digital feature is proof they are looking at Sony's mistakes and slowly moving in the opposite direction. It basically removes the most serious thing that made physical games less convenient.

If the PS6 is digital only and Xbox doubles down on discs it might be a slam dunk victory. Not all players understand or care about it now, but if they explain it well in the launch window and combine that with their back compat history I think they have a good chance to win.

Even Microsoft knows that gaming is a competitive market and pulling customers from PlayStation is better than trying to extract as much as possible from your existing user base. One Game Pass sub is worth more than marketplace fees from 3 extra games you would normally buy used.

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skrellm 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Especially getting rid of physical second hand sells/buys will force consumer to buy the games straight from Sony

That's what lawyers and other corporate drones think, but they are plain wrong.

The only reason why people want to buy a copy from second hand is because they can't afford the price of a new one. In reality these people will never ever buy straight from Sony, simply because it's too expensive for them. Simple as that. They much more likely to turn to free pirate copies instead.

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izzydata 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Especially not full price. The value of buying a license for a digital download can't be $60 if the value of owning the physical version is also $60.

Personally to me the value of a temporary license to a game is at best $10. Why would I rent a game for $60?

	▲	skrellm 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah, okay, I made the same mistake as Sony. I wrote "buy", but what I meant was "spending money" in a general sense (regardless if it's buying ownership or paying a license fee). Second hand customers simply can't afford (or willing to pay) the price of a new copy. Trying to force these people to the Sony shop is a really bad move and won't work. Otherwise you're right, it's absurd that license fee is the same as the price of an owned copy.

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sidewndr46 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Just wait until they manage to apply it to physical goods like cars and dishwashers.

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embedding-shape 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Cars you've been able to lease since before I was born probably. Dishwashers and other home appliances are possible to finance here too, effectively renting it until you "own it", in comparison with leasing.

Still, not as bad as the "digital licensing" hell we're in when it comes to video games, but there is zero ownership at the end of it.

	▲	sidewndr46 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I'm talking about removing the ability to own it, not leasing it. You can lease a toothbrush if you want to.

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skrellm 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Just wait until they manage to apply it to physical goods like cars and dishwashers.

This already happened... It's called subscription or mortgage loan.

Most households don't have that kind of money at once, they are already forced into a loan with regular payments. This means not the buyer but the bank owns the car until the last penny is paid.

And in some cases your car's on-board software needs a constant connection with the vendor's servers (meaning it must be up and you must pay for a license too). https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/02/what-happens-to-a-car-w...

It's even worse with houses. Most gen Zs will never ever own their homes, they are implicitly forced to rent only (no ownership in sight). https://fortune.com/article/gen-z-giving-up-on-buying-a-home...

Brave new world.