Sony will end the marketing of physical games from January 2028. In response, two Mexican parliamentarians will file a complaint against the Japanese company for anti-competitive practices.
After announcing the end of the marketing of new games in physical format from January 2028, Sony has adopted a strategy of silence. The company did not communicate further for several days, hoping that the anger of the players would fade. Since then, she has resumed her announcements on video game news, while refraining from returning to the end of physical games. The anger of the players does not seem to be fading, for the moment. Sony therefore acts as if nothing had happened and hides the dissatisfaction of the players. But in Mexico, two parliamentarians now want to bring the case before the courts and hold the company accountable.
Two Mexican parliamentarians will file a complaint against Sony
Congresswoman Iraís Reyes and Senator Luis Donaldo Colosio will file a complaint in the Federal Court of Mexico against Sony for a practice they consider anti-competitive. Luis Donaldo Colosio believes that the end of physical games will have a double impact. On the one hand, this implies the end of video game resale stores. On the other hand, a completely dematerialized market will allow Sony toimpose your priceswhere the resale system made it possible to find games at low prices.
The senator specifies: « Retailers like Liverpool, Sanborns and GamePlanet (Mexican video game resellers) would no longer compete to sell new video games, and the second-hand and commercial games markets, which are huge, would also disappear. Consumers would stop truly owning their video games. With digital distribution, you no longer buy a game in the traditional sense of the term; you purchase a license, which means that access to the content depends entirely on the conditions established by the company ».
Europe will not intervene
If these two Mexican parliamentarians hope to take the matter to court, Europe says it is powerless. Indeed, Michael McGrath, European Commissioner for Consumer Protection, specifies: “ This falls under commercial and contractual freedoms, and companies are free to offer games and services in any way they see fit, provided that consumers’ rights are fully protected in accordance with national and European law “. For EU, Sony therefore does not harm to consumer rights by stopping the production of physical games.
For his part, Jean-Luc Mélenchon promised to open a legislative project in 2027, the year of the presidential election, to save the physical format. In reality, the complaint filed by the two Mexican parliamentarians has little chance of success. Nevertheless, this is a concrete action, which coupled with other actions, such as petitions, could encourage Sony to make a gesturesuch as reducing the prices of digital games (publishers will make more profits by going 100% dematerialized) or putting in place a ban on publishers removing a game from the players’ library.
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