[STEAM] France’s left-wing presidential candidate has opinions on GTA 6 and the discless PlayStation fiasco

[Steam 0]

Opinions are coming in all over the board when it comes to recent developments in the gaming industry, namely Grand Theft Auto 6 and PlayStation both abandoning physical media.

The talk around

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has already reached a boiling point in France, which will have its presidential election next year, as one of the country’s top candidates has begun attempting to gather gamers to his cause.

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Image via Sony

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Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the country’s left wing La France Insoumise party sounded off on the recent developments in a

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/X post today, taking a firm stance against the changes that are taking away ownership and choice from gamers.

“With GTA 6 without a disc in 2026 and Sony’s announcement of the end of physical disc sales for games in 2028, the question arises of how we view these products,” he

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via translation. “Tomorrow, you will pay without ever owning anything. No loan, no resale, no guarantee of keeping what we’ve paid for. Video games are not mere merchandise; they are cultural assets, and the law in force must apply to them. We will open the project in 2027. Players have rights too!”

With PlayStation (and reportedly

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) going fully digital in the future, it asks a lot of questions about the meaning of ownership for products you’ve purchased. Digital game purchases only grant you a license to use it, and can be taken away at any time, so there is some legitimate concern as to how this business practice will be received on a larger stage than just the gaming community.

The outcry against Sony’s announcement has been loud enough that I would not be surprised to see more politicians getting involved, whether it be simply to curry favor with voters or to legitimately take a look at the ethics of it all. Mélenchon placed third in the 2022 presidential election in France with just under 22 percent of votes in the first round, so he certainly has at least some sway.

The move to all-digital gaming began years ago, but it truly escalated with the revelation that GTA 6 would be digital-only, and now Sony announcing its unpopular plans has shaken gaming to its very core. It appears the industry is heading in a direction where physical media will be a thing of the past.

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Image via Rockstar Games Can politicians actually do anything about gaming’s latest crisis, or is this just political gesturing? I’m hoping it’s the former.

/wp-content/themes/destructoid2025/assets/img/icons/likes-off.png0 The post

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