For those whose childhood and adolescence spanned the 1990s and 2000s, the affinity for video games is deeply ingrained. Their personal history was largely shaped by countless hours spent in front of a console—a symbol of playful (and sometimes frustrating) escapism where the real world faded behind the screen. For this generation, these moments were among their most precious sources of joy. These treasures took many forms: those over thirty remember cartridges, CD-ROMs, and Blu-ray discs, which are now threatened with becoming mere museum relics.
We fondly remember the excitement of acquiring these objects. Inserting them into the console was a significant part of the delight, beginning the moment we touched the cover or held the cartridge, and continuing as the game started. This unique experience risks becoming history following Sony’s announcement to end the sale of physical games by January 2028. From that date, new PlayStation games will no longer be available on physical discs. For those who have shared this relationship with the gaming world since its golden age, this news feels like a guillotine—the end of an era and the beginning of a new one in which long-time fans may no longer recognize themselves.
From 2028, stores will no longer be a gateway to new games, which will become entirely dependent on the internet. Ownership will feel far less concrete than when holding physical objects. It will feel as though we are only granted the right to access a work, rather than possessing it. This material dispossession also deprives us of the ability to resell completed titles or share them with friends.
Philosopher Walter Benjamin argued that a work of art, in the age of mechanical reproduction, loses part of its “aura” when reproduced in multiple copies, ceasing to be unique. However, a video game, once purchased, possesses its own history and becomes part of a biography, acquiring a singularity that transcends its industrial origin. Its cover ages in a specific way, its case gets scratched over time—it carries its own story. This was an era when a video game was not just a file: its physical medium was the repository of a memory.
Captured & Published at: 2026-07-13 22:03:36 (Madagascar Local Time EAT)
Original Source: https://www.lexpress.mg/2026/07/fin-de-partie_01935955912.html