"Europe can do nothing about the end of the disc": what the law actually says

Petitioned by players after the announcement that PlayStation disc production will end in January 2028, the European Commission has replied, and its answer made headlines: "Europe cannot go against PlayStation's decision". Legally, that is correct. But stopping there misses the real story. Here is our analysis.

What was actually said

Questioned by reporters at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in July 2026, Michael McGrath, the European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, stated:

"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."

In plain terms: the Commission will not intervene, and will not propose any law forcing Sony (or anyone else) to keep a physical format alive. The decision falls, in his words, under "commercial and contractual freedoms".

Why, as a matter of law, he is right

• Freedom to conduct a business is a fundamental EU right. Article 16 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights protects the freedom to conduct a business, which includes choosing one's products, formats and distribution channels. Forcing a manufacturer to keep pressing discs would be a direct interference with that right, requiring a solid legal basis and a proportionate public-interest justification.
• Consumer law governs how things are sold, not what companies manufacture. The main texts applicable to video games (Directive 2019/770 on digital content and services, Directive 2011/83 on pre-contractual information and withdrawal, Directive 93/13 on unfair terms) impose obligations of conformity, transparency and contractual balance. None of them imposes, or allows anyone to impose, a distribution medium.
• No EU competence covers this case. The Union harmonises the internal market and protects consumers; it has no legal basis to dictate the product format of a private company that otherwise complies with the law. Neither the DSA (Regulation 2022/2065, which targets platforms) nor the DMA (Regulation 2022/1925, which targets gatekeepers) applies to this question.

On this point the case is clear: those hoping Brussels would "block" Sony's decision were expecting something that current EU law simply does not allow.

Where the answer deserves to be turned around

The interesting part of McGrath's statement is not "companies are free". It is the condition: "provided that consumer rights are fully protected". Because that is exactly where things fall apart. Which rights, concretely, protect the buyer of a 100% digital game?

• You are not buying a good, you are accepting a licence. Revocable, non-transferable, modifiable, as every EULA that nobody reads makes clear.
• The second-hand market disappears in practice. French courts have definitively refused the resale of digital games (Paris Court of Appeal, 21 October 2022, upheld by the Court of Cassation on 23 October 2024, UFC-Que Choisir v Valve, appeal no. 23-13.738). As long as discs existed, there was still a market for resale, lending and passing games on. The end of the disc extinguishes that market without any legislator ever deciding it: a purely industrial decision produces an effect no law has voted. See our full analysis on resale.
• Preservation is not guaranteed. Legal deposit schemes cover digital games poorly and server-dependent games not at all. When a store closes or a server shuts down, a game can vanish, even one "bought for life".

In other words: the end of the disc is legal, but it shifts the entire weight of your rights onto a digital framework that largely remains to be built. Saying "consumer rights are fully protected" in the present tense describes a body of law that protects the act of purchasing, not what players mean by owning, lending, reselling and preserving.

The real battle: the Digital Fairness Act

It is no coincidence that this statement comes one month after another missed appointment: on 16 June 2026, the Commission answered the Stop Destroying Videogames European Citizens' Initiative (nearly 1.3 million signatures) by declining any legislative proposal, favouring an industry dialogue and a code of conduct instead. Our detailed analysis is here.

But the case is not closed, and this is the part the "Europe can do nothing" headlines systematically leave out:

• On 9 June 2026, around 45 MEPs from across the political spectrum (EPP, S&D, Renew, Greens, Left and non-attached members) wrote to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen and Commissioner McGrath demanding a "concrete legislative proposal", warning that a failure to act would "send a catastrophic signal to all EU citizens".
• Since the 16 June refusal, the movement has refocused on amending the Digital Fairness Act, the upcoming EU text on digital fairness currently in preparation at the Commission, to include game preservation and end-of-life obligations.

McGrath is telling the truth: under current law, the EU cannot prevent the end of the disc. But law is not a state of nature, it can be changed. Nobody is seriously asking to force Sony to press discs in 2028. What is at stake is something else: that the all-digital era finally comes with rights equivalent to those the physical medium gave us by default, in the spirit of the "6 guarantees" proposed by GamerGen: transparency before purchase, regulated resale, end-of-life obligations, heritage preservation.

Key takeaways

• Yes, Sony is within its rights: commercial freedom is protected by Article 16 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
• Yes, the Commission is telling the truth: no European text allows anyone to impose a distribution format on a company.
• But "consumer rights are fully protected" describes the right to buy, not the right to own: resale has died in court (Cassation, 2024), preservation is guaranteed by nothing, and the licence remains revocable.
• The lever is therefore not banning the end of the disc: it is securing, in the Digital Fairness Act, digital rights that genuinely replace what the disc guaranteed in practice.

The Commission says it cannot save the disc. Nobody was really asking it to. What we are asking is that the rights the disc carried do not die with it.

Also read: PlayStation ends disc production in 2028 · Our analysis of the Commission's response to Stop Destroying Videogames · Reselling digital games: laws, contradictions and remedies

References

• Gamekult, "L'Europe ne peut pas aller contre la décision de PlayStation" (July 2026, in French)
• GamesRadar+, Commissioner McGrath's statement (original quote)
• TechSpot, "EU says it can't stop Sony from ending physical PlayStation game releases"
• Directive (EU) 2019/770 on digital content and services (EUR-Lex)
• European Parliament, Digital Fairness Act legislative train file
• Court of Cassation (France), 1st Civil Chamber, 23 October 2024, appeal no. 23-13.738 (UFC-Que Choisir v Valve)