Thirteen years ago, Sony “won” E3 with a simple public service announcement that dunked on Microsoft’s controversial Xbox One DRM plans. All it took was 22 seconds for Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida and Adam Boyes to show how game sharing would work on the PS4, resulting in a huge PR win for the company. Fast-forward to 2026, and at the Tokyo Game Show, Yoshida and Boyes reunited to recreate that meme, but with a big difference: This time, there’s no disc to pass between friends.
The original video from Sony–which was infamously put together at the last second–showed just how easy it was for PS4 owners to share physical games, compared with the frequent DRM checks that were initially planned for Xbox One games. Boyes left Sony in 2016, while Yoshida said he was “fired” from his role as SIE worldwide president in 2019, and he departed in 2025 after several years of leading Sony’s Independent Developer Initiative.
Things have changed drastically since the two left, as Sony announced several months ago that it would cease production of game discs, an announcement that has not gone over well with its users and third-party partners. Sony’s reasoning is that with the lion’s share of game sales being digital, it can afford to move toward an all-digital future, which also has several positive knock-on effects for its business.
By making its PlayStation Store the only game in town, it can earn more from first-party sales and cut out the retail costs associated with physical games. There are fears that this could be a step backwards compared to a platform like Steam. Sony’s PlayStation Store typically offers no refunds on purchased games and lacks several other features that would help make the transition easier.
The other elephant in the room is that you’re not purchasing a game from its store, but a license to play it. Sony is currently arguing in a class-action lawsuit filed against it that it doesn’t mislead customers into purchasing digital game licenses, as it claims that it’s “not plausible” for consumers to think they own their digital products. In comparison, Microsoft’s disc-to-digital program has been received positively, as it allows Xbox owners to unlock a digital license for their physical games–but not all games, as some publishers haven’t joined the program.
