A Year and Half of Gaming was Ruined

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In the past month, every news regarding games was overshadowed by the physical media controversy. Nothing says that the next eighteen months won't have the same fate.

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Traduzido porRomeu

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There is no more fitting word to define the last month in the gaming sphere than "desolate." In early July, PlayStation took its most techno‑feudalist measure yetlink outside website by announcing the end of physical media starting in 2028. It faced resistance and had to keep quiet for weeks, but the outcry soon turned into apathy.

Apathy, however, is not conformity. While conformity stems from social pressure and adapting to a status quo, apathy is a state of emotional and mental exhaustion that leads to indifference or acceptance despite dissatisfaction. Apathy often comes from abuse, for example. When repeatedly exposed to a situation, the individual eventually accepts it as reality, even when it bothers them. If your lunch was stolen every day at school, you eventually gave up and started handing it over voluntarily.

For those following technology, recent years have been a kind of exposure to abuses that end up leaving us apathetic. The end of physical media almost seems like a minor issue compared to, say, the fact that our cognitive perception has been shaped and manipulated by algorithms for over a decade, or that job openings for a portion of society are threatened by the advent of artificial intelligence—which we did not ask for and whose benefits we have not yet collectively experienced. And as in PlayStation's case, our right to "own" is being replaced by "paying for permission to use" the services of a few platform holders.

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As we become more aware of the risks of unregulated technological advances and poor digital environment regulation, we tend to agree on the desire not to live in a Cyberpunk 2077, or whatever techno‑fantasy is in Marc Andreessen's or Peter Thiel's heads. But we are being pushed toward it without the ability to offer resistance. The European Union, for example, confirmed it cannot prevent Sony or any other company from ending physical disc production.

Apathy is born in this moment. When there are more powerful forces you cannot fight or resist, all that remains is to be carried by the tide. Even if you contest in posts, they offer a comforting vent rather than practical solutions. The gaming community now stands at this threshold. Until it accepts the new reality, every release will carry a bitter reminder of the larger issue.

Between July 2026 and January 2028, any game released for PlayStation will exist within the context Sony established for profit, without asking permission or offering counterpoints or benefits to the consumer. Every relevant release in this period will, in some way, be framed within the broader debate about what it means to own a game compared to having access to a paid product and where the industry is heading when it decides physical products are no longer necessary or have become luxury items.

Sony's announcement established a preemptive grief in the community, and it will inevitably accompany every discussion about games in the coming months or years. Every game, regardless of genre or hype, will sound like a silent farewell if it has discs, or an ill omen of the future if it lacks that option.

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Ironically, Grand Theft Auto VI would be a title with enough cultural capital to exist outside the debate. However, the physical media discussion began shortly before Sony, with the news that GTA VI would also not be released on discs. Over a decade of speculation and theories culminated in a trailer with a release date announcement that moved the press worldwide.

The trailer was overshadowed the next day by the debate over the "download code" inside the box. The most anticipated release of the decade was no longer mentioned in news outlets and gaming channels for its hype, but rather to make room for discussion about what that "box with a code" represented: the normalization of a business model where the consumer pays for access.

If even the game with the biggest spotlight in the gaming industry cannot exist without being used as an example or battleground for the physical media debate, no game will. GTA VI, the best possible pioneer of this "new old model" of codes, will be used as evidence for all sides of the argument, whether before November 19 or after.

The title's scale and its history in the industry will always amplify the debate. Take, for example, Final Fantasy VII. In 2027, the third and final game of the episodic remake, FFVII Revelation, may arrive with physical media, although game director Naoki Hamaguchi has not confirmed this possibility. In an interview during the Final Fantasy XIV FanFest on July 29, Hamaguchi even joked that fans will "kill him" if Final Fantasy VII Revelation comes out without a physical edition.

It did not take long for the community to use it as one of the melancholy examples of the end of an era. FFVII arrived on three discs in 1997 for the PlayStation One, marking the franchise's debut outside Nintendo and becoming one of the most cited titles when discussing RPGs. Final Fantasy VII Revelation will close the lifecycle of physical discs for the franchise.

Several other titles and events will, in some way, pass through this subject. It is inevitable to imagine someone at The Game Awards touching on this debate. If Sony announces the PlayStation 6 in 2027 and it lacks a physical media drive, social media will be flooded with this topic, and regardless of how much hype a new title may generate, the absence or inclusion of discs will be part of the discussion.

Absolutely everything about games will be "tainted" with this subject for at least eighteen months. That does not mean titles will not be evaluated under the same criteria that have always defined whether a game is worth the player's time. Mina the Hollower, Pragmata, and Crimson Desert were some of the best new releases of the semester, and that does not change because of Sony.

Other future games will also be evaluated by their qualities and flaws, but with a slightly bitter aftertaste. The historical context in which they exist has changed, and there is a difference between releasing a game during a cultural peak or releasing it at the closing of an era. Every physical disc will exist with the awareness that it is one of the last, and every box of a work released after 2028 will bring to mind what it represented in another time.

Image: Dereck Strickland
Image: Dereck Strickland

There is already a consensus among experts and major outlets that this decision will not be reversed, since it is hard to argue against when 78% of game sales are already digital, and profit per digital sale doubles compared to physical products by eliminating manufacturing and distribution costs. No article will convince Sony to recalculate, and political pressure around the issue is still scarce or, admittedly, unable to intervene. By 2028, physical media will likely cease to exist on PlayStation. And apathy will be there again.

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