Sony’s All Digital PlayStation Plan Faces Antitrust Resistance in Mexico

Sony Interactive Entertainment’s decision to end physical disc production for all new PlayStation games from January 2028 is no longer generating opposition only from players, collectors, developers, and retailers. The transition is now facing political scrutiny in Mexico, where 2 legislators believe the company’s growing control over PlayStation software distribution could create an antitrust problem.

According to Mexican publication Ovaciones, Movimiento Ciudadano senator Luis Donaldo Colosio and federal deputy Iraís Reyes plan to submit a complaint to Mexico’s National Antitrust Commission. The legislators want regulators to investigate whether eliminating physical PlayStation releases and concentrating future software distribution around Sony’s digital ecosystem could constitute monopolistic conduct.

Sony officially confirmed through the PlayStation Blog that physical disc production for new PlayStation games will end in January 2028. Games released before the deadline will not be affected, while future titles will remain available through the PlayStation Store and retailers in digital formats. However, Sony has not fully explained whether those retail products will use download cards, redeemable codes, collector packages, or another digital distribution model.

Colosio and Reyes argue that removing discs would leave Sony with significantly greater control over the pricing and commercial conditions of PlayStation software. Physical games can currently be sold by competing retailers, discounted independently, lent between players, collected, exchanged, or resold through the second hand market. Once those alternatives disappear, players could become more dependent on Sony’s storefront, account infrastructure, licensing terms, and continued platform support.

The legislators also warned that the policy could affect Mexican retailers including Liverpool, Sanborns, and GamePlanet. These businesses would lose the ability to compete through the sale of new physical PlayStation games, while customers would lose access to used copies and independently priced retail inventory. Mexico’s uneven access to reliable high speed internet adds another concern, since a fully digital ecosystem assumes that every player can download increasingly large modern games without significant technical or financial limitations.

The complaint arrives as Sony already faces legal scrutiny over the closed structure of the PlayStation Store. A Dutch collective action alleges that Sony’s control over digital distribution prevents competing stores from operating on PlayStation and contributes to higher software prices. Related proceedings have also emerged in the United Kingdom and the United States, although Sony has not been found liable in those cases.

This wider legal context explains why the physical disc debate extends beyond nostalgia or collecting. Removing discs would not simply change the format used to deliver games. It would also eliminate an independent retail market that creates pricing competition outside the PlayStation Store and gives consumers greater control over lending, resale, preservation, and long term access.

Political intervention may still have limits. European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection Michael McGrath told the Irish Mirror that European authorities cannot prevent Sony from discontinuing physical games solely because players prefer discs.

"Companies are free to offer games and services in the manner that they see fit, provided that consumer rights are fully protected."
— Michael McGrath

McGrath’s position does not necessarily resolve the separate competition concerns being raised in Mexico and the Netherlands. Regulators may not be able to force a company to manufacture a specific product format, but they can examine whether the resulting marketplace restricts competition, harms consumers, or gives one platform excessive control over pricing and distribution.

Sony has the commercial freedom to move PlayStation toward digital distribution, but eliminating discs also removes the only mature alternative to its controlled storefront. Retail competition, used game sales, lending, and physical preservation currently place practical limits on how much control Sony can exercise over the PlayStation economy.

The decisive regulatory question is therefore not whether Sony should be required to manufacture discs forever. It is whether PlayStation can become an entirely digital platform while Sony remains the primary gatekeeper for software distribution, commercial access, licensing, and pricing. Mexico’s proposed complaint could become an important test of where platform ownership ends and unlawful market control begins.

Should regulators require Sony to support competing digital stores and external game code sellers once physical PlayStation discs disappear?