Remembering Sony's Iconic 'This is How You Share Games on PS4' Video as PlayStation Phases Out Discs 13 Years Later

It was one of the most memorable shots in the console wars—a perfect mic drop from a company that knew it was winning over gamers' hearts, minds, and wallets. Arguably, it was the moment Sony sealed its victory, ensuring the PS4 crushed the Xbox One in sales, paving the way for the PS5 to do the same against the Series X/S.

I'm talking about Sony's brilliantly brutal "This is how you share your games on PS4" video, featuring former PlayStation execs Shuhei Yoshida and Adam Boyes passing a game box between them. "This is how you share your games on PS4," Yoshida says, handing a game to Boyes. "Thanks," Boyes replies.

The video struck a nerve because it followed Microsoft's confusing and controversial explanation of its digital game ownership plans for Xbox One, delivered by then-console boss Don Mattrick. The Xbox One had other issues (remember Kinect?), but the uproar over its plans for code redemption and mandatory online check-ins felt fatal. Microsoft later reversed course, but fans were furious about the attempt to kill second-hand sales and prevent lending a copy of FIFA to a friend.

Sony's 21-second, 10-word video showed gamers that PlayStation offered an alternative—the familiar way console gaming had always worked. Until 2028, that is.

"It was really fun," Yoshida later reflected. "We didn't want to make fun of Xbox at the time, but they announced their DRM and system before we talked about PS4. So because lots of people and media were asking us questions about what we were doing, we tried to communicate in a very short form."

Now, 13 years after that video, Sony has announced that no new PlayStation 5 games will ship on discs starting January 2028. From then, all new games will launch digitally via the PlayStation Store, though some may still be sold in boxes at retail containing a digital download code (as will happen later this year with GTA 6). Sony also announced the closure of the PlayStation Store on PS3 and Vita, beginning next month in certain countries.

Reacting to the news, analysts suggest Sony will likely ship the upcoming PS6 without a disc drive. The era of simply handing a PlayStation game to a friend truly seems over.