Piracy is good, actually

1 July 2026

You wouldn't steal a car. What if you could only use the car you purchased when the manufacturer gave you permission to use it?

Is that unrealistic? Maybe. When it comes to games, not at all. Playstation is winding down production of physical discs. This is probably the worst thing to happen to modern gaming, period.

You are no longer allowed to own your games.

Once you are no longer able to buy physical games, there will be no way to acquire them without purchasing them through Sony's digital storefronts and are subject to their anti-consumer terms of sale.

I will happily continue playing my PS3 and refuse to support Playstation's disgusting business practices. Even if they go back on this, which they won't, this only serves to demonstrate how little they care about their customers.

A lot of people argue that there's no difference between platforms such as steam and other digital storefronts like Playstation. While this is technically true in terms of their rights as the vendor, I trust Valve far more than I trust any other company in its industry. Personally, I've never even seen anyone unhappy with their practices or customer support - I would be happy to receive an email if you have any evidence of the contrary - which isn't something I can say for many other businesses.

I have about 400 gigabytes of archived console games, the majority of which I do not own physically. While they are not all Playstation games, a lot of them are as I'm quite fond of the PS3. I will continue with piracy until I'm dead and gone. The only games I even purchase these days are visual novels and indie games from people I like.

Stop killing games.

• Keiran