There is a growing trend among younger generations, particularly Generation Z, to move away from digital products in favor of physical media. Likewise, they’re returning to physical movie theaters instead of Netflix and other streamers, and locking down offline music they can access when the internet (and Spotify) are unavailable. As the saying goes, the truth comes out of babies’ mouths, and Sony is proving the wisdom of Gen Z’s aversion to digital media.
Sony recently announced that it was removing more than 550 digital titles from users’ PlayStation accounts following a content licensing deal with Studio Canal. Studio Canal, part of the Canal+ group owned by parent company Vivendi, is a French film production and distribution house with one of the largest cinema libraries on the planet. Although users will no longer have the option to purchase new media on the PlayStation platform since 2021, the decision affects fully paid content, including a number of major film and television titles.
Renewing the debate between physical and digital media
Affected titles include critically acclaimed films like the Academy Award-nominated “The Big Sick” and Academy Award-winning films like “The Deer Hunter,” “The Graduate,” “Traffic,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” “Moonlight” and many others. There are also a number of hugely popular blockbusters on the chopping block, like “Paddington” (and its sequel, “Paddington 2”) and “Bridget Jones’ Diary.” Affected TV series include “American Gods” and the Jude Law/Diane Keaton miniseries, “The Young Pope.”
Sony’s abrupt announcement reignited online debate about what ownership means in the age of digital media. Reddit users were quick to point out a Valve policy that states that while games can be removed from the company’s massive video game storefront, Steam, they can never be removed from the libraries of the users who purchased them. Many have praised physical media such as Blu-rays and DVDs, which can also be ripped to extract digital versions of the media they contain. One user pointed out the delightful (and tragic) irony of Amazon removing users’ access to the dystopian novel “1984” in a similar move.
Unsurprisingly, few commenters came to Sony’s defense. Instead, many have advocated illegal piracy in response to massive rights holders like Sony purging content from their customers’ libraries. While we don’t condone piracy in any form, it’s perhaps not a surprising reaction when Sony moves to make digital ownership more like a lease.
