Written by Kyrie Jenkins, Staff Reporter
On July 1, 2026, Sony announced that production of physical disks for new game releases will be stopped in January of 2028. This announcement sparked outrage by a portion of their fans and the debate of physical vs. digital media grew. However, this debate and issue have been around for well over a decade. Music apps, eBooks, and streaming services are three common forms of digital media that people debate, asking if it’s better than the physical counterparts of records, books, CDs and DVDs. While people have preferences for either, the reality is that, in a world of increasing technology, we are becoming slaves to a digital world and losing more and more autonomy in terms of ownership and freedom.
The biggest proof we’re unable to escape digital media is seen most heavily with streaming services like Netflix. Movies and shows on Netflix are constantly being added and removed due to contracts and legal issues that aren’t important for this specific topic. However, what does matter is that these now removed movies or shows are then added to a platform you might not have access to or, in some cases, it’s not removed from Netflix but is no longer available to watch in the US specifically. I have had issues with this happening to me. Over the summer, I was showing my friends the Hunger Games movies and agreed to watch two movies one week and the remaining two movies the following week. Within that week between us watching the first and second half of the main films, the film had moved from being available on Hulu to Netflix. Another example is from a year ago when trying to show my friend a film that was on Hulu just a few days prior. The day I tried to show my friend the movie it had been moved off Hulu and onto Prime Video with the requirement of being rented in order to watch.
Why does any of this matter, exactly? It matters because we, as people paying money for the services, have no say over whether or not services remove what they have available or hide them behind a pay wall despite already paying for the platform. This is the same issue people have with Sony removing physical disks, they have no control over whether or not Sony removes a game because they don’t physically own the game. What’s being owned is a license that can be revoked at any point without any argument. This goes for all other media: movies, shows, books, music, where items can be taken away from us and we have no choice but to accept it as is.
Digital media removes ownership and any control we have over products, yet we have no choice but to continue using it due to matters of convenience or because the physical copy we might want to play, watch, listen to, isn’t produced anymore, leaving no choice but to buy it digitally. With Sony declaring to stop producing physical disks, who’s to say other businesses and companies won’t later fall in their footsteps, removing our sense of choice altogether?
