Sony's announcement that it will cease physical game releases after next year has ignited widespread calls for piracy on social media, with many labeling it a 'moral imperative' for game preservation. The decision, which has drawn near-universal backlash, is prompting gamers, developers, and preservationists to openly advocate for illegal downloading as a solution to the loss of ownership.
Piracy as preservation
Across platforms like X and Bluesky, users argue that piracy is essential to keep games playable. One user, Zhakaron, stated: 'We live in a world where console platform owners can just remove games from your library on a whim... Physical copies, pirated or not, are more important than ever now.' Another, Barnacules, said they 'used to be critical of piracy but that’s changing now that the industry keeps moving forwards a future where we pay more than ever and own absolutely nothing.'
Author Laura Elliot added: 'If it’s impossible to fully own a game you’ve paid for then pirating a game is simply the natural solution until companies start to respect their customer base.' YouTuber Dead Domain called piracy 'a moral imperative for video game preservation,' noting that 'entire chunks of the history of the medium would be either prohibitively expensive or outright lost if not for it.'
Developers and preservationists weigh in
David Szymanski, developer of Iron Lung, stated: 'I’d prefer if you paid money for my games, but if that’s not going to happen... I’d rather you pirate one of my games versus never playing it.' Frank Cifaldi, director of the Video Game History Foundation, criticized the industry's lack of preservation alternatives: 'If platform owners are deciding to eliminate physical media... we’d also like to see... meaningful solutions for archives and museums to legally preserve digital-only content.'
A petition urging Sony to reconsider physical releases has garnered over 9,000 signatures, arguing that 'a disc is a real game you own,' while digital licenses can be revoked. The petition states: 'You do not own it. You are renting access that can be revoked.' Despite the backlash, Sony has not indicated a U-turn, though analysts predict a potential compromise like limited physical releases or an add-on disc drive for the PlayStation 6.
