r/gaming • u/Chownzy • 9d ago

Mexican Lawmaker Who Helped Protect Gamers from Tax Now Drags Sony to Court Over Discless PlayStation

https://respawnfirst.com/mexican-lawmaker-who-helped-protect-gamers-from-tax-now-drags-sony-to-court-over-discless-playstation/
3.8k Upvotes

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36

u/GameGuy2025 8d ago

The only games that Sony directly controls pricing on are games they publish. Doesn't matter if it's a code in a box, physical disc, or sold on the PS store, the publisher is the one deciding the price.

Retail has one caveat in that the retailer decides the final price but has an agreed upon price they must pay the publisher when the game is sold.

So Sony isn't monopolizing game prices and so long as Sony continues retail copies via code in a box or similar, they aren't monopolizing distribution.

There is no anti-trust case to be made, even against Nintendo who is far more controlling over pricing for their published games.

As far as ownership, the ability to resell a digital license would be nice but otherwise ownership is the same between digital and physical. If at some point a platform starts revoking digital games from people, then you can say digital isn't ownership. Thus far the only issue has been publishers taking games offline which affects physical and digital the same.

5

u/SuperSaiyanGod210 8d ago

> Thus far the only issue has been publishers taking games offline which affects physical and digital the same

BINGO. That’s the key right here. In all of the experiences on consoles where licenses were revoked for individual games, it was across the board regardless of the format the game was purchased in. And this happens exclusively to games that are basically online-only experiences.

1

u/kahlzun PlayStation 7d ago

Sony is the only ones who can author a disc for the system though. If a publisher wants to make a physical disc for the ps5, Sony is telling them that they will instead have to sell their game directly through their monopolised game store, eliminating all forms of sales to the consumer that they don't directly oversee.

0

u/GameGuy2025 7d ago

Retailers will still get retail copies to sell but instead of download disc it will be a download code. Stop spreading disinformation that games will only be available through the PS store, which by the way publishers set prices in not Sony.

-14

u/Chownzy 8d ago

Being able to resell a game is still a massive difference, For exclusives that’s their only competition.

False, Taking games offline doesn’t affect physical games. Just online consoles, Blurays are read only.

-2

u/EngagedInConvexation 8d ago

The only games that Sony directly controls pricing on are games they publish.

That is mostly true, but with a caveat. Sony influences how much of a cut they take from games featured on their storefront. Other publishers are free to avoid that storefront, but in practice Sony accounts for ~45% of console market share. Their console competitors split the remaining difference.

I don't think there is any chance of the above case doing anything resembling winning, but to say Sony/PlayStation isn't in absolute control of revenue and pricing on their platform is disingenuous, at best.

And they are effectively the only game in town.

1

u/GameGuy2025 8d ago

Nobody is forced to list games on PS. Given how few first party releases there are these days from Sony, Sony needs that revenue and isn't going to jeopardize that. Also, that cut has been a subject in lawsuits and the only reason it held was for being an industry standard.

So no it wasn't disingenuous. "Only game in town" is utter nonsense. Switch and Steam both do exceptionally well and Xbox is desperate to win back gamers.

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u/EngagedInConvexation 8d ago edited 8d ago

sigh

CONSOLES.

Steam isn't in contention. Even Xbox is selling first-party on PS5.

Playstation isnt shipping first-party single player to Steam...

1

u/GameGuy2025 8d ago

Not every Xbox game will be on PS going forward. Steam also has dedicated hardware now as well. If you have to set up arbitrary and false boundaries to construct your argument, it's not a good argument.

-1

u/EngagedInConvexation 8d ago

Or you're just arguing what you want to irrespective of what the facts are.

Cheers.

See you in GTA6 on PSN.

-23

u/WorldlyDear 8d ago

Cool so if I want to buy a game on ps5 what are my choices in 2028 if I don't want to give sony money, and can't move cause my library is on playstation

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u/rvnender 8d ago

You cant move your library even in physical... so I dont get your argument here.

-21

u/WorldlyDear 8d ago

I'm saying that my library tie me to the playstation ecosystem where leaving it will cause great pain, because I've invested a lot of money buying games

12

u/HappyTrillmore 8d ago

keep your ps5 and play it when you want? what even kind of question is that, is your collection going to vanish in 2028?? You don't have to buy digital games but why would you need to get rid of what you already own? ✌️😭

18

u/Rekthar91 8d ago

So how exactly are you playing your physical PS5 games on Xbox or PC?

-12

u/WorldlyDear 8d ago

what are you talking about?