According to Mashable, some Xbox users were not only deprived of electronic features, but were not even able to play pre-installed games on their devices. As for PlayStation users, they may face a similar problem in the future, especially after Sony confirmed that it will stop manufacturing PlayStation game discs after January 2028.
The recent disruptions have turned into a clear lesson in the cost of a complete transition to the digital gaming model, and in return, into a reminder of the importance of the survival of discs and physical games.
For most of the history of gaming consoles, buying a game meant owning something tangible: a disc or tape that you put in the device and the game worked. The game could be sold later, loaned out, or kept for years, without fear of a server downtime or digital license expiring.
But this model began to decline with the development of games. Discs are slower than modern processing requirements, and may cause lag or stuttering during gameplay. Therefore, companies began to rely on installing game files on hard disks inside the devices, rather than playing them directly from the disk while playing.
As games have grown in size, pre-installation has become a more stable technical option. But the real problem is not only related to the speed of the discs, but rather to the question of ownership: What does it mean to buy a game if you no longer own a physical copy of it?
Mashable likens what happens in games to what happened in the world of music and video streaming. Services like Netflix and Spotify do not sell the user actual ownership, but rather give him access to content that could disappear at any moment if its license expires or the platform decides to remove it.
This problem is not new. In 2009, Amazon removed George Orwell’s novel 1984 from some users’ Kindle devices due to a rights issue, an incident that became a famous example of the fragility of digital ownership.
The same thing happens in the gaming industry. Companies can remove digital games that users have purchased from their libraries due to rights disputes or the expiration of licensing agreements. It is also possible to close the servers of a game that no longer generates sufficient profits, making it unplayable, especially if it requires a permanent Internet connection.
Mashable notes that Sony, in addition to its plan to end disc production in 2028, also revealed that it will close PS3 and PS Vita stores in some countries starting in August. Although the company said that users would still be able to download previously purchased content, it used a loose phrase: “for the foreseeable future.”
Here lies the problem. When the servers are not running, there is no local copy left that can be referenced, no disk that can be inserted into the device, and the player has no choice but to wait.
The report provides the example of the game The Crew from Ubisoft. The game, which was released about a decade ago, required a constant Internet connection even in single-player mode. When the company decided to stop it in 2024, it removed it from stores, withdrew licenses, and closed the servers, so players were no longer able to play it.
Ubisoft provided compensation only to those who purchased the game within the last 14 days, according to its usual refund policy.
Gamers responded by establishing the Stop Killing Games campaign, launched by YouTuber Ross Scott, to demand that companies be banned from making a paid game completely unusable after you purchase it. The campaign collected more than one million verified signatures through the European Citizens Initiative, and also contributed to pushing a consumer lawsuit in France against Ubisoft.
Until now, Sony is still making discs, and is not withdrawing games that users have purchased. But after 2028, if the plan goes ahead as announced, purchasing PlayStation games will be digital only.
This means that players will become more vulnerable to any server crash, a legal dispute over licenses, or a business decision to close a game because it is no longer profitable.
Ultimately, Xbox and PlayStation crashes don’t just reveal a passing technical issue. It raises a deeper question: When you buy a digital game, do you actually own it, or do you only have the right to use it until the company decides otherwise?
