The user account becomes the key to access the video game library in the event of the loss of the physical

PlayStation has announced its intention to launch new video games exclusively in digital format, which will make the user account in the game library access keyas long as it remains active or else it will be completely lost.

The entertainment industry tends towards the digital to the detriment of the physicalin line with the consumption habits of players, or so PlayStation sees it, which has decided that starting in 2028 the new video games released for its consoles will be available only in digital format.

Games purchased both through the PlayStation Store and physical stores will be digital products (licenses to use the game and not the game as such) that will be saved in the user account, free to create, but here they will also have an expiration date, since, as Sony explains in its terms of use, it can close the user’s PlayStation account. if you don’t log in within 36 months.

In section 21, dedicated to closing the account, it is explained that “if [el usuario] have not used your account for at least 36 months, steps can be taken to close it”

In this case, the Japanese company states that it will contact the user through their email address to inform them that they have six months to log in to their account or to contact the support service and indicate that it is still active.

Sony does indicate that, once the account is closed, the user will not be able to access the online services or use the digital products purchased with said account, and warns of that this closure is “irreversible“.

Microsoft has been betting on digital and cloud gaming between devices for years, and although it has not yet officially commented on the end of the physical format, it has recently been known that it is internally testing a function that will allow games to be converted from disc to digital format.

These digitized games will be kept in the Xbox player account, which is also created for free with a Microsoft account, and which applies the same criteria to maintain access to the video game collection: keep it active.

In this regard, Microsoft grants a period of two years of inactivity before closing it, as stated in its terms of use. Closing involves deleting content linked to the account, including the game library.

NintendoIn principle, it does not delete user accounts due to inactivityalthough if the player decides to close it, the effect will be the loss of the digital game library, to which they will no longer be able to return.

Digitization opens the door to storing a large number of games without taking up space on the shelves in the bedroom or living room, but removes the ability to collect and return to titles that make it up over time, with the pressure not only of closing servers, but also of the account itself if it remains unused for too long.