Speaking in European Parliament in Strasbourg, Michael McGrath, the EU commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, claims that Sony actually asked him about EU repercussions on the decision way back in 2018.
As reported by our colleagues at Irish Mirror Online, McGrath says that there’s ‘not much that can be done’ to stop Sony from axing physical discs from its game offerings in 2028.
McGrath says: “It does come down to commercial and contractual freedoms, and companies are free to offer games and services in the manner that they see fit, provided that consumer rights are fully protected in line with national and EU law.”
“At this time, we did have to consider a European citizens initiative on this question of whether games should continue to be available after a new edition of the game has been brought forward.”
That’s not good news for those that feel strongly about Sony continuing to provide physical versions of its games past its 2028 deadline. As it stands, Sony is stating that only PlayStation games released in 2027 will get physical disc copies – that includes God of War Laufey, by the way.
However, the EU’s disposition on Sony’s decision isn’t surprising given its previous stance on game preservation topics. Last month, the EU made the decision not to enforce video games to be kept playable after their servers went offline, hampering the ‘Stop Killing Games’ initiative.
