Sony has told a California court that "reasonable consumers" already understand they are buying a licence to play a digital game, not the game itself, in response to a lawsuit alleging the PlayStation Store misleads buyers with terms like "Buy Now" and "Confirm Purchase". The case is significant because it comes as Sony prepares to stop manufacturing PlayStation discs from January 2028, meaning digital licences will increasingly be the only way to acquire games, intensifying scrutiny of how clearly platforms disclose this to customers.

Four plaintiffs brought the case, arguing that purchase language implies ownership rather than a revocable licence; Sony countered that its licence agreement explicitly states software "is licensed to you, not sold", and noted that Steam, Xbox and Nintendo use similar wording. The dispute is tied to a relatively new California law requiring "plain language" disclosures in digital sales and discouraging terms such as "buy" or "purchase". It follows an email Sony sent PlayStation users last week reiterating that they only license games, a message that drew attention given the looming end of disc production.