Just because PlayStation customers “purchased” video games on the console doesn’t mean they actually own the games, or so says the gaming console’s parent company Sony.
The Japan-based electronics, movie and gaming giant is facing a class action lawsuit filed in California’s Northern District Court in June, in which four customers allege that the technology giant did not properly disclose that paying for a downloadable game does not grant permanent ownership or access to it. The lawsuit claims Sony’s disclosures violate a 2024 California law AB 2426 that requires a warning that ‘states in plain language that ‘buying’ or ‘purchasing’ the digital good is a license.”
Two of the plaintiffs bought Resident Evil Requiem, per the motion to dismiss. Sony argued that because two of them purchased the same game just 11 days apart, that means no reasonable consumer can assume they owned exclusive rights to a digital copy, given how anyone could buy the same “copy” at any given time.
The company’s filing states it’s simply “not plausible” that customers believed they owned the games outright.
In the motion to dismiss, Sony argued it made it clear in its terms of service and end user license agreement that its digital games are purchased, not owned.
“A reasonable user would have seen the terms of service above or directly below the action button, the user unambiguously manifested assent to the terms of service, including the arbitration provision, and the terms and arbitration provision were valid and binding,” the motion said.
Sony isn’t the only video game seller responding to AB 2426. In January, GameStop customer Jake Weber sued the gaming store for allegedly violating the California law. The complaint includes a screenshot of a store page for Pokémon Legends: Arceus, noting that the page does not include information about customers purchasing a license for the game, and not the actual game. The lawsuit is ongoing. Online PC game marketplace Steam, on the other hand, began including a warning on its shopping cart page telling customers they are buying a license to a particular game that could be revoked in the future.
Sony did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
More digital media, more problems?
The ability to truly own the product one is paying for has increasingly become a point of contention for video game fans, and part of a growing trend of subscription fatigue that has consumers second guessing monthly fees for digital products while instead flocking to “analog islands” of physical media.
Tech companies like Sony were once champions of physical media. PlayStation uploaded a viral YouTube video in 2013, in which former PlayStation executives Shuhei Yoshida and Adam Boyes passed a game box from one to the other.
“This is how you share your games on PS4,” Yoshida said.
The clip was lauded by video game fans. It was in stark contrast to Microsoft’s rollout of digital game ownership on the Xbox One that year, restricting the trading on pre-owned games and requiring internet access to play the console’s new titles, a move Microsoft quickly reversed.
Now, Sony has continued to lean into digital product models, announcing in a blog post in July it would cease physical disc production in January 2028 for all new PlayStation games, which can run at about $70. Rockstar Games similarly confirmed in June that its highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 would only be available for digital download.
“This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs,” Sid Shuman, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s senior director of content communications, said in the post. “This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.”
Gen Z’s analog islands
Despite Sony’s observation that more video game fans are going digital first, a growing number of young people are turning to physical media for the express purpose of being able to own entertainment that they purchase. The Recording Industry Association of America found that revenues from vinyl record sales grew 7% year-over-year to $1.4 billion, making 18 years of consecutive growth. A survey of 2,000 young people in Great Britain from potato chip brand Pringles found that 24% own a vintage gaming console, such as a Game Boy, which was first released in 1989.
Part of the appeal of owning media is that you can be sure you own it, according to Atlanta, Georgia-based Rudy Ramirez, a 38-year-old medical IT worker. Others might agree. According to a survey by Civic Science conducted between December 2025 and January, 37% of Gen Z said they cancelled subscriptions to at least one streaming service because of subscription fatigue. Another 87% said they felt a form of fatigue from the digital subscription economy.
“Anything that’s digital is never yours,” Ramirez told Fortune. “Amazon’s not going to come into your house and take your DVD movies. They’re yours forever.”
But these analog islands may not be spreading to the broader population. Despite physical copies remaining the preferred medium for console gamers, the promised convenience of digital games may just be too appealing. In 2024, just 3% of PlayStation’s sales came from physical games, according to Sony.
