As monumental as Sony’s decision to abandon PlayStation discs by 2028 is, it isn’t surprising one bit . The move feels like the culmination of industry trends dating back over a decade, and it recalls one egregious business practice--one that took aim at the used-game market, whether companies would admit it or not--that caused a brief uproar before fading away into the depths of our collective memory. There was a period at the end of the 2000s and start of the 2010s when big publishers including EA, Ubisoft, and, yes, PlayStation implemented an “online pass” for games that included a multiplayer component. When attempting to justify the presence of an online pass for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 in 2010, then-EA Sports senior vice president (and current EA CEO) Andrew Wilson said that the company “made a significant investment” in its online services and that it wants to reserve those features for “people who pay EA to access them.” Sony used similar reasoning when explaining its PSN Pass, with Uncharted 3 director Justin Richmond explaining in 2011 the need for server maintenance, adding that “at some point, you know, games have to make money.” It was a similar sentiment from a Battlefield 3 producer, who was a bit more explicit when stating: “We would rather have you buy a new game than a used game because buying a used game is only a cost to us; we don't get a single dime from a used game, but we still need to create server space and everything for you.” Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception But consumer backlash was quick and brutal, and the practice was phased out by 2013.
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GameSpot