On Friday, a Stellar Blade demo was released and very quickly pulled from the Playstation Store but not before many could download it and begin to play it. Because the entire license was pulled it meant even if you downloaded it you couldn’t access it.

Now at first glance your response is likely “so what Danno, it’s a demo they accidentally released early, it’s not a big deal”. And in a vacuum you’d be right. The demo will likely be released in the coming days and this will be even more of a non-story than it already is. But hang in there with me before you roll your eyes and move on as what it did do is highlight something that needs to be addressed in the gaming industry (and quite frankly all the entertainment industries).

The problem we face in gaming and the all-digital future, especially as consumers is two fold. The first is consumers really have no protection over their purchases. If any of the digital platform holders decide tomorrow you maybe violated some rule of theirs, they can suspend or even outright close your account and every purchase you’ve ever made goes poof. Or we could get a situation like when Amazon pulled the book 1984 from its devices back in 2009. Or how about the more recent example of Crunchyroll buying out Funimation and shutting down the latter’s storefront which means anything bought there is now lost forever. Whether we like it or not,we don’t own our digital purchases in 2024,and while it’s very rare that things you purchased get pulled, it does happen.

The other major problem with this is game preservation. I know game preservation isn’t a big deal to many people so if this doesn’t bother you I get it. But as someone who enjoys history and is a collector of many things it is something to think about. If these games get pulled from storefronts they are forever lost to anyone moving forward other than those who already own it. On top of that if the license ever did get completely pulled then the game will be lost forever, period.

Now anyone that knows me probably thinks I’m about to go into some long winded speech about how we must keep physical around, physical is king etc etc. And while I do personally want physical to stick around and is definitely one way to ensure this can’t happen(though physical has its own issues in 2024, but that’s for another day) its not the only way. Consumers need more digital rights. The governments of the world need to step in and regulate digital even more so than they already do. If you purchase something with your hard earned money, it should be yours for as long as you want to keep it. And just as importantly these games should be preserved forever for history. Video games are a form of art. We preserve paintings and books, we need to continue to preserve games.

I am but one person, one who has minimal influence over anything, let alone in the vast world of gaming, but if there is one thing I will continue to fight for and use my voice for it’s sounding the alarm on the all-digital future and what it means for both of those things.