Laura Fryer, one of the founding members of the original Xbox team, has posted a pointed video warning against Sony's announcement that PlayStation will end physical disc production for new games starting in 2028, and her argument hits harder than most.
Here's the lowdown: Fryer isn't some random commenter. She was there when the original Xbox was built. That kind of credibility matters when she says the industry is sleepwalking into a model that strips players of real ownership.
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The Rock Band story that explains everything
Fryer anchors her argument in something personal. She spent hundreds of dollars on Rock Band songs for her family, only to lose every single one of them after a licensing dispute caused the tracks to be delisted. When her original Xbox died and she moved to a replacement console, those purchases were simply gone. "Eventually, we just gave up," she says. "We gave up on our favorite family game."
That's not a fringe scenario. Anyone who has bought digital games across a console generation has a version of this story sitting somewhere in their library history.
Fryer's point is that this isn't a bug in the system. It's a preview of what the system is becoming. "Digital is convenient until someone else decides you've had enough," she says, calling the Rock Band situation "the blueprint for what Sony is planning next."
How GTA 6 opened the door Sony was waiting for
Fryer makes a sharp observation about timing. She points to an old promotional clip where then-SIE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida mocked Xbox One's always-online requirement by holding up a PS4 disc and calling it the future. PlayStation spent years positioning physical media as a consumer-friendly advantage.
That stance evaporated the moment GTA 6 launched without a disc version. Check out our GTA 6 pre-order guide for the full breakdown on platform availability and how to lock in a copy.
"Sony waited for Rockstar to make the first move, take the heat, and now they're going all-in to make this the new normal," Fryer says. The key here is that Rockstar essentially ran interference for the entire industry. Once the biggest game of the generation normalized going disc-free, the argument for physical media became a lot harder to win.
The second-hand market and who really benefits
Fryer doesn't stop at the ownership argument. She goes further, pointing out that killing physical media also kills the used game market, which has always been a thorn in publishers' sides. When there are no discs, there's no GameStop trade-in, no lending a copy to a friend, no buying a five-year-old title for a few dollars.
Sony, Microsoft, and major studios all benefit from that outcome. The old library stops undercutting new releases when you can't find a used copy anywhere.
Why even Steam isn't safe from this logic
The most striking part of Fryer's argument is where she turns the lens on Valve. She admits most of her own library lives on Steam because she trusts the platform, but then immediately qualifies that trust.
"Platforms depend on good leadership," she says. "Gabe Newell will not run Steam forever, and we've seen from Xbox how fast priorities can shift when you get new leadership." That's a direct reference to the speed at which Xbox CEO Asha Sharma reshaped the business after taking over.
Steam has earned its reputation over decades. But earned reputation and guaranteed permanence are two different things.
Fryer also challenges the stat that gets thrown around to justify the shift, which is the claim that digital already accounts for roughly 90% of game sales. Her counter: digital-only titles are included in those figures, which inflates the apparent dominance of digital purchases and makes physical look far weaker than it actually is among players who have a genuine choice.
What this means for players right now
Fryer frames a digital future as "likely inevitable" due to convenience, but her warning isn't really about stopping the tide. It's about players understanding what they're giving up and making informed decisions before physical options disappear entirely.
With GTA 6 already on shelves without a disc version, the shift is already in motion. If you're on PS5, it's worth knowing exactly what platform-specific features you're getting for your money. Our guide to GTA 6 PS5 exclusive features covers the DualSense haptics, Tempest 3D audio, and load time differences that make the PS5 version distinct.
What most players miss is that the conversation about physical versus digital isn't just nostalgia. It's about who controls access to things you've already paid for, and under what conditions that access gets revoked. Fryer's Rock Band collection didn't disappear because of a technical failure. It disappeared because a business decision made somewhere up the chain said it should.
For everything else coming to PS5 and beyond, the gaming guides hub has you covered as the platform continues its shift toward an all-digital future.
