How killing physical discs might lead to Steam on Playstation.
Why this is happening: Corporate telos, Price floor manipulation and Abusing Loyalty
Sony is a corporation. Its sole purpose is generating profit for shareholders. There is no moral component to this; they are simply executing their purpose. By eliminating physical media, they transition to a closed ecosystem where they exercise total control over every transaction on their platform. This is not about convenience for the user; it is about eliminating the middleman and securing a complete monopoly on sales.
The existence of physical media creates a natural market pressure on digital prices. Retailers have limited shelf space and need to clear inventory, which forces price drops and fuels the second-hand market. Removing the physical disc eliminates this competition. Without it, Sony can maintain a price floor—keeping games near launch prices years after release—because there is no outside force to undercut them.
Sony is utilizing dynamic pricing to exploit their user base. Their data allows them to profile consumers based on purchasing habits. If the algorithm identifies you as a "loyal" user—someone who spends money frequently on their platform—it can display higher prices compared to a casual or "passive" user. In this model, loyalty is not rewarded; it is used as a metric to determine how much you are willing to overpay. And consumers confirmed they are willing to overpay. Sony knows that a vast majority of users are now loyal customers who will accept the digital monopoly. The data is clear. This is a big reason why it is happening now.
What might happen: EU vs Sony Digital rights clash
I expect Sony to face EU scrutiny via the Digital Markets Act (DMA) around 2029. The long-standing argument that a game console is a "specialized device" or a niche product will no longer hold up in court. With tens of millions of units in the EU, PlayStation has evolved into a major digital gatekeeper. Once the physical alternative is gone, the EU will likely categorize it as a platform that must be opened up, similar to how they approached Apple and the App Store.
The current industry practice of selling empty plastic cases containing only a digital voucher is a deliberate legal maneuver. It acts as a defensive shield against antitrust regulators. Sony needs to maintain the appearance of physical retail participation so they can argue that they are not a monopoly and that the user still has a choice in where they purchase their software. It is a strategic façade, not a genuine commitment to physical media. Whether this holds up under EU review is doubtful, but it is their current line of defense.
The potential FAFO: Steam on PlayStation ?
If the EU forces Sony to open up the platform, the entry of third-party marketplaces is a logical business consequence, not just fan theory. Publishers like Epic Games and Valve have already spent years fighting Apple and Google specifically to avoid the standard 30% platform tax. The moment a console is legally reclassified as a gatekeeper platform, these companies will immediately deploy their launchers.
While there might be massive architectural and operating system barriers of running PC software on PlayStation’s proprietary OS, Valve has already built the technological solution for this and it's called Proton. Originally developed to make Windows games run seamlessly on Linux for the Steam Deck, Proton proves that Valve possesses the translation layer technology necessary to bridge disparate operating systems. The technical hurdle is already halfway solved; the only real barrier left is the legal one. Once the EU removes that barrier, the arrival of alternative storefronts becomes a massive commercial inevitability.
Bonus Point: The Macro Strategy - Pivot to Premium
This digital lockdown aligns with a broader shift in Sony’s corporate philosophy. For over a decade, Sony attempted to compete on a wide, mass-consumer level across multiple divisions (smartphones, televisions, hardware) and failed miserably, incurring massive losses outside of entertainment. Their modern profitability was achieved by abandoning the mass market to serve high-end, niche segments.
The PlayStation division, which historically relied on subsidized consoles sold at a loss to capture mass volume, was in direct philosophical opposition to this corporate ethos. The announcement that they will no longer subsidize hardware signals that PlayStation is finally being integrated into this premium strategy. Sony already executed this blueprint successfully with their audio division; their high-end headsets achieved both market dominance and premium pricing simultaneously. They are applying this exact model to gaming, repositioning PlayStation not as a cheap mass-market utility, but as an elite product that the mass market will covet and save up for. They have little choice in the matter, as manufacturing realities dictate that the upcoming PlayStation 6 will likely cost upwards of $1,000 USD MSRP.