‘Reasonable’ consumers know they don’t own digital downloads, Sony says

The company was responding to a suit accusing it of violating California law.

As PlayStation players prepare for an all-digital future after January 2028, Sony is making no apologies to anyone confused about what that means for game ownership (or lack of it). In fact, the company has told a Californian court that no “reasonable” consumer would be silly enough to think that purchasing a game digitally means that it actually belongs to you.

When you buy a game from the PlayStation Store or any other digital storefront, despite often having to click buttons with words like “purchase” and “buy” written on them, you’re really only obtaining an ultimately revocable license to play it. This is the depressing reality, but a class-action lawsuit filed in June alleged that Sony doesn’t make the nature of these transactions clear enough.

As well as the aforementioned language it uses implying ownership, the lawsuit claims, it also alleges that PlayStation “fails to clearly and conspicuously disclose to consumers at the point of sale that these transactions do not convey ownership of the digital games.” The plaintiffs argue that Sony opts to instead “relegate” this information to disclaimers or separate agreements that consumers aren’t requested to acknowledge before completing a purchase.

The lawsuit, which was filed on June 18, says Sony is breaking California law by failing to make its current disclosures clear enough, an accusation Sony disputed in its response on August 21. As first reported by The Game File, part of Sony’s argument is seemingly that digital purchases are inherently different to physical ownership because many people can buy a digital copy of the same game from a digital storefront. This makes it impossible for them to own that game, and differs from buying a disc.

“As plaintiffs admit, Section 1 of the SPLA likewise explains that ‘the Software is licensed to you, not sold’,” Sony said in its filing. “This makes sense. In the digital age, it is not plausible to allege that reasonable consumers believed they were obtaining ‘ownership’ of a digital game […] Were that the case, then Plaintiff Edward Heycock would not have been able to obtain the game Resident Evil Requiem on February 25, 2026 for $69.99 from the PlayStation Store after Plaintiff Jason Mendoza had obtained Resident Evil Requiem on February 14, 2026, because Mr Mendoza, not Sony, would have owned it then.”

It remains to be seen whose side the court will take, but Sony did take the time to email all of its reasonable (or otherwise) customers last week with a reminder that digital games are licensed rather than sold. The company also recently reiterated its commitment to ending physical game production in 2028 despite widespread backlash.