Sony says ‘reasonable consumers’ know they don’t own the digital games they buy
It’s “not plausible” to suggest people believe they’re “obtaining ownership”, it says
Sony has told a court that “reasonable consumers” are fully aware that when they buy a digital game, that doesn’t mean they own it.
In June, four players sued Sony Interactive Entertainment for allegedly breaking California law by not making it clear on the PlayStation Store that players are buying licences to games, not actually owning the games.
The argument made was that because the PlayStation Store uses terms like “Buy Now” and “Confirm Purchase”, players are under the impression they’re buying a copy of a game that they then own, rather than a licence to access the game which can be revoked by Sony at any point in the future.
Now, as reported by Game File, Sony recently filed its response to the lawsuit, claiming that customers are not only told “your purchase of this digital product amounts to a licence”, but that “reasonable consumers” already understand this anyway without having to be told.
Sony’s argument is that because digital copies of games are not a finite resource, and that because multiple people can buy a digital copy of the same game, that means nobody actually ‘owns’ it – if they did, nobody else would be able to have it.
“As plaintiffs admit, Section 1 of the SPLA likewise explains that ‘the Software is licensed to you, not sold’, Sony’s filing reads. “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.”
Last week Sony emailed players who had PlayStation accounts, reminding them that when they signed up the Terms of Service they agreed that “when you purchase or download a digital product from the PlayStation Store, you buy a personal licence to use digital products for private use”.
The lawsuit comes at a time when Sony is facing backlash from players over its plans for an all-digital future, having announced that it will no longer be releasing physical discs for new games starting from January 2028.
