340
Sony's Disc-Free 2028 Plan Hands it Total Price Control, Dutch Group Warns in Exclusive Wccftech Statement as €400M Lawsuit Escalates (wccftech.com)
submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by popcar2@piefed.ca to c/games@lemmy.world
79 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Apparently some lawsuits have started on Sony's potential price-fixing of all games on their platform since they're now the only retailer. Before anyone gets excited, these are probably going nowhere, but it's neat that something is happening. The idea seems similar to the Epic vs Apple/Google lawsuits.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top new old
[-] Katana314@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago

This is a valid observation, but also much more widespread than just Sony.

Xbox, Google Android, Apple, Oculus; there’s probably others. Many electronics companies have made devices that can only interface with their own App Store, in a digital fashion.

And that’s not me excusing it. A perfect world should probably have alternatives - but it does also make one worry that in that future, manufacturers wouldn’t have any incentive to sell their consoles under manufacturing costs.

Something the lawsuit may have to deal with is whether Sony can be aggressively forced into building a disc reader into consoles, in a world where many devices have no such thing.

[-] justsomeguy@lemmy.world 55 points 4 days ago

The worse part is that Sony is already using adaptive pricing in their online store. Every user has a profile and the prices are based on previous behavior. Users who spent a lot and impulsively buy games no matter if they're on sale will pay more.

Greed is a demon.

[-] nuko147@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Is this even legal? EU legal?

[-] warmaster@lemmy.world 22 points 3 days ago

Sony:

[-] MeatPilot@sh.itjust.works 29 points 3 days ago

I foresee a future of jail broken PlayStations and games on flash drives. Raise the sails me mateys!

[-] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

They've longed lobbied for anti-circumvention legislation and the corrupt politicians in the US and the rest of the World (with the EU Comission as a notable mention) have made sure it was implemented everywhere, exactly to avoid such a future.

The entire rotten edifice of Intellectual Property in the present day is literally the product of decades of corrupt politicians stealing more and more from the Public Domain to extend and protect this entirelly artificial kind of "property" for the benefit of the ultra-rich - as Digital became more and more important, laws were made or changed to take more and more rights away from common people in order to make the wealthy wealthier, which is why the richest people in the world right now are mainly in Tech.

I was there in the 90s when this corrupt destruction of the "commons" started limiting what could be done in the Digital domain and saw how we Techies lost that war, which is how we ended up with two decades of every more and ever more enshittified "closed garden" setups for all kinds of digital things.

Without shit like anti-circumvention legislation run of the mill people would have easy access in their friendly corner store to China-made devices doing things like what you describe or, for example, break your iPhone out of Apple's closed garden.

The shit low-innovation (certainly when compared to the 90s) World we live in right now is the product of decades of this purposeful transforming of the digital and intellectual commons into a Feudal system.

[-] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 16 points 3 days ago

I foresee a future of jail broken PlayStations

To be fair, that future is now. People are already hacking PS5's to turn them into Linux machines

[-] GoatSynagogue@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

That only works for launch machines that have never been updated though.

[-] despoticruin@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago

Up to firmware 12.70 which isn't quite as bad as just launch consoles, but still. Give it time, motivated hackers make some insane things happen.

[-] dance_ninja@lemmy.world 21 points 3 days ago

If we can't choose to buy physical games, we need to have the option of where we can digitally buy them.

load more comments (9 replies)
[-] Deconceptualist@leminal.space 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

What if we find a compromise? Instead of getting rid of discs entirely, perhaps Sony could make them smaller. Like some kind of... mini-disc? 😛

[-] MeatPilot@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 days ago

We just need to return to these bad boys.

[-] kuiskaaja@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 days ago

AY YO THAT'S THE SAVE ICON!!!

[-] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

I have some blank floppies I use as coasters. Seriously, though, just changing the physical format the games are distributed on would be a very smart move.

Nintendo not just keeping physical media but going back to cartridges with the Switch and now the Switch 2 has been a fantastic move for them. They increased the price of their console, same as MS and Sony, but it hasn't gone up nearly as much since the system has barely any storage space in it. And it doesn't really need the storage because games don't need to install to compensate for the relatively low optical drive read speeds. Sure, games are the same price or even a bit higher so total cost of ownership after a few years is probably comparable, but the lower buy-in cost has caused them to rapidly gain market share.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] ModernRisk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I hope people will just stop playing on PlayStation (or any console for that matter) and go over to PC with Steam (and 🏴‍☠️).

Consoles, the game prices and the practices of these corporations ain’t worth the money, time and effort.

EDIT: Since Timothy user seems to be trying to bait and refuses to actually debate, I have blocked the person. So I’m unable to comment back when someone else is commenting on my own comments towards him. Checking his Mod log, a few scrolls downwards and he got banned a lot for trolling.

[-] TimothyOilypants@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

Yeah, stick to the companies that really care about the consumer like Intel, Gigabyte, and NVIDIA! 🤡

[-] ModernRisk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 days ago

Yeah, stick to the companies that really care about the consumer like Intel, Gigabyte, and NVIDIA! 🤡

I understand your point but I rather build my own PC, pirate and pay for indie games than buy from Sony, Xbox, or Nintendo. In this life, we got to choose which of the corporations gets our money. At least with a PC, I can choose with which parts I want to build it, how good I want it to be, and how much I want to pay for it or wait it out.

If you know the instance I'm on, you probably know how I get my games, software, and eBooks. I myself can decide whether I want to actually pay for it or not at all. PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo users can’t do that. They are forced to pay hefty prices for their games and then still get locked out of their games (movies, TV shows, etc.) when the company decides to pull everything.

Trying to act all ''clownish'' just makes you look like a really bad debater, though.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 5 points 3 days ago

All resistance is futile, unless (the vast majority of) people will not buy it at all. But they, as usual, will do that anyway, no matter what.

Most people seem to not see the longterm implications of things or just don't understand or care.

[-] TimothyOilypants@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

There are an estimated 3,600,000,000 active video game players worldwide...

Why does it never occur to anyone in these threads that YOU might just be an insignificant but vocal minority?

[-] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago

That was my point. Just revisit this thread in 10yrs and see.

[-] TimothyOilypants@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

And see what, that no one has physical media and no one cares?

[-] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago

Yes. That another consumer - right got slashed completely. The poor are forced to just rent houses, apts, cars, appliances and even fucking books and games. I drown in money and see a big cultural problem here, I don't know why you don't care. Because YOU can afford it? Or YOU don't care about owning stuff you paid money for?

[-] TimothyOilypants@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Because >20,000 children have died in Gaza since 2023 as a direct result of the same exploitative capitalism, and selective outrage over video games seems ignorant, performative, and wasteful of my energy...

Because every moment spent advocating for the "rights" of 1st world consumers is an affront to millions of lives lost so you have the comfort and privilege required to care about something so fucking stupid and selfish...

[-] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 0 points 2 days ago

Every day people die due to capitalism. Why should i explicitly care for some islamic state in some remote region i don't remotely care about? In a playstation-thread in a community about gaming?

Big words, but what have you done lately to help people less fortunate than yourself? I'm a non-exploiting capitalist. Every employee of mine had excellent double-above-average salary, a come-and-go-as-you-please-work-ethics, shares in the company and free food and drinks. I donate tons of money to people (no stupid organizations), i work for free in a shelter and i don't buy shit noone needs to impress people i don't like. Scale doesn't matter btw, one can help even being piss-poor. If everyone else, and especially some billionaires, would too, everything would be nicer. But we don't.

So please spare me the dying children (as if the adults wouldn't matter) someplace. Children here are dying too, and way too many not by natural causes. Homo homini lupus est.

[-] TimothyOilypants@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

...non-exploiting capitalist.

Did you read that term in a fairytale? 😂

Is your business structured as a worker cooperative or are you the owner?

If you take home a single penny more than the other people in your company, you are an exploitative capitalist and a labor thief. Take your market fundamentalist virtue signaling somewhere else...

Your "gotcha" reply just killed any credibility you might have argued on this topic. You are no better than the companies you're criticizing, you're just less successful at it.

I don't need to advertise my contributions to strangers on the internet, and rationalize my behavior to satisfy a guilty conscience... The people in my community know what value I add.

Do better.

[-] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 day ago

I don’t need to advertise my contributions to strangers on the internet, and rationalize my behavior to satisfy a guilty conscience… The people in my community know what value I add.

What i thought...big words from behind a keyboard. And I surely don't need a lecture from you about what capitalism is. Using a phone or a computer, using a car and whatnot and probably working somewhere while being in it and exploiting the poor chinese who made your devices. Stop partaking in it or change something. Call me when you made it, i'd happily give up my wealth to live in a better society.

you’re just less successful at it.

yes i am, that was the point. Was not so hard to grasp.

Anyhow, I see where I am at now and hence withdraw from this "conversation"

[-] TimothyOilypants@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

BAAAA!

[-] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 day ago

Your wits are only matched by your eloquency :)

[-] TimothyOilypants@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

As soon as you said you have employees, your perspective and respect lost all value.

You are not a part of the future of humanity; you are an opponent of it.

[-] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 day ago

If dumdums like you are the future of humanity, I'm happy to be dead by then. People like you make it hard to be nice to people. Now go back to work so i don't have to.

[-] TimothyOilypants@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

You better keep your promise.

load more comments (21 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2026
340 points (99.7% liked)

Games

49525 readers
1682 users here now

Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.

Rules

1. Submissions have to be related to games

Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.

This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.

2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil

No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.

We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.

3. No excessive self-promotion

Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.

This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.

4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts

This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.

We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.

5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW

Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.

No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.

6. No linking to piracy

Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.

We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.

Authorized Regular Threads

Related communities

PM a mod to add your own

Video games

Generic

Help and suggestions

By platform

By type

By games

Language specific

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
Dremor@lemmy.world
JonsJava@lemmy.world
Dremor@jlai.lu
PerfectDark@lemmy.world