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My first PlayStation was a PS4, and the first PS game I ever owned for it was… FIFA. Today, I have more than a hundred games on my shelf, and my collection keeps growing every month. This is my very personal perspective on S*ny's decision to end support for physical game releases. The first gaming console in our home was a Pegasus MT-777DX. If that name means nothing to you, don't worry. It was simply a pirated clone of the Nintendo NES—more specifically, the Japanese Famicom. In post-communist Poland, where money was scarce, a cheap console and a pile of inexpensive bootleg cartridges were many kids' first window into gaming. My parents bought one for me and my three siblings for Christmas in 1993. A year later, kids in Japan were already playing on the original PlayStation, while we were still buying pirated cartridges at local markets—usually without having any idea whether the games were actually any good. Then came PC gaming. It was easier to convince our parents to buy a computer because, after all, it was "for school." But the truth is that its biggest advantage was access to almost free pirated games. In many ways, they helped create an entire generation of gamers in a country that simply couldn't afford gaming any other way. Whenever I managed to buy an original game—or received one as a gift—I treated it like a treasure. I must have read the Baldur's Gate II manual over a hundred times. I still own every one of those big PC boxes today, despite having younger siblings who, let's just say, didn't exactly appreciate their value. I also vividly remember standing in line on the day Half-Life 2 launched, proudly holding my copy. Then I noticed the sentence on the back of the box: internet activation required. At home, my internet connection was a painfully slow and expensive dial-up modem. Instead of thinking about finally playing the game, I was wondering whether I'd even be able to launch it. As time went on, PC gaming became increasingly expensive. Games demanded more powerful hardware, and upgrading my computer became harder and harder to justify financially. Consoles still felt completely out of reach. Not only was the hardware expensive, but so were the games. And back then, the second-hand console market in Poland was still tiny. Then came 2014. I finally had a steady income and bought my very first PlayStation. I paid for my PS4 in installments because spending that much money at once still felt unimaginable. I also waited specifically for the FIFA 15 bundle—not because I was a huge FIFA fan, but because I knew it would give me something I could play for months while saving up for my next game. Interestingly, that bundle included a full physical copy of FIFA, exactly the same one you could buy separately. And that's where my return to gaming truly began—and where S*ny gained a loyal customer for years to come. During my first three years of owning a PlayStation, I bought only two games. I received a third as a gift. Yet I became more and more invested in the PlayStation ecosystem because I could borrow physical games from friends and family. That's how I first experienced God of War, Tomb Raider, The Last of Us and—legally, for the first time—Grand Theft Auto. Ten years later, every one of those games sits on my shelf. So does Death Stranding. I originally bought it digitally during the COVID lockdowns. I loved it so much that I eventually bought it again—this time physically. Because I want to know that ten, fifteen, or even twenty years from now, I'll still be able to pull it off the shelf and play it. Today, I have no doubt that I would never have bought a digital-only PS4 back in 2014. Quite simply, I couldn't have afforded it. I wouldn't have been able to borrow games. I wouldn't have been able to buy used copies. I wouldn't have been able to split the cost with my brother or a friend, the way we had done for years. Most likely, I would never have become a console gamer at all.

BuyPhysical's tweet photo. My first PlayStation was a PS4, and the first PS game I ever owned for it was… FIFA.

Today, I have more than a hundred games on my shelf, and my collection keeps growing every month.

This is my very personal perspective on S*ny's decision to end support for physical game releases.

The first gaming console in our home was a Pegasus MT-777DX. If that name means nothing to you, don't worry. It was simply a pirated clone of the Nintendo NES—more specifically, the Japanese Famicom.

In post-communist Poland, where money was scarce, a cheap console and a pile of inexpensive bootleg cartridges were many kids' first window into gaming. My parents bought one for me and my three siblings for Christmas in 1993. A year later, kids in Japan were already playing on the original PlayStation, while we were still buying pirated cartridges at local markets—usually without having any idea whether the games were actually any good.

Then came PC gaming.

It was easier to convince our parents to buy a computer because, after all, it was "for school." But the truth is that its biggest advantage was access to almost free pirated games. In many ways, they helped create an entire generation of gamers in a country that simply couldn't afford gaming any other way.

Whenever I managed to buy an original game—or received one as a gift—I treated it like a treasure. I must have read the Baldur's Gate II manual over a hundred times. I still own every one of those big PC boxes today, despite having younger siblings who, let's just say, didn't exactly appreciate their value.

I also vividly remember standing in line on the day Half-Life 2 launched, proudly holding my copy.

Then I noticed the sentence on the back of the box: internet activation required.
At home, my internet connection was a painfully slow and expensive dial-up modem. Instead of thinking about finally playing the game, I was wondering whether I'd even be able to launch it.

As time went on, PC gaming became increasingly expensive. Games demanded more powerful hardware, and upgrading my computer became harder and harder to justify financially.

Consoles still felt completely out of reach.
Not only was the hardware expensive, but so were the games. And back then, the second-hand console market in Poland was still tiny.

Then came 2014.

I finally had a steady income and bought my very first PlayStation.

I paid for my PS4 in installments because spending that much money at once still felt unimaginable. I also waited specifically for the FIFA 15 bundle—not because I was a huge FIFA fan, but because I knew it would give me something I could play for months while saving up for my next game.

Interestingly, that bundle included a full physical copy of FIFA, exactly the same one you could buy separately.

And that's where my return to gaming truly began—and where S*ny gained a loyal customer for years to come.

During my first three years of owning a PlayStation, I bought only two games.
I received a third as a gift.

Yet I became more and more invested in the PlayStation ecosystem because I could borrow physical games from friends and family.

That's how I first experienced God of War, Tomb Raider, The Last of Us and—legally, for the first time—Grand Theft Auto.

Ten years later, every one of those games sits on my shelf.

So does Death Stranding.

I originally bought it digitally during the COVID lockdowns. I loved it so much that I eventually bought it again—this time physically. Because I want to know that ten, fifteen, or even twenty years from now, I'll still be able to pull it off the shelf and play it.

Today, I have no doubt that I would never have bought a digital-only PS4 back in 2014.
Quite simply, I couldn't have afforded it.

I wouldn't have been able to borrow games.

I wouldn't have been able to buy used copies.

I wouldn't have been able to split the cost with my brother or a friend, the way we had done for years.

Most likely, I would never have become a console gamer at all.

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