Yeah, you’re broadly right - and this is still shitty anti-consumerist behavior.
In regards to a game behind tied to an account, I’m not sure about that, but I don’t know enough to say for sure. Say I buy a game, install the game on my machine, then trade that disc to a friend. If Sony nukes my account, I think the game would still work for my friend. Or, if they revoke that one game’s license, what if I had another copy of the game? It’s possible to set up a PS5 without the Internet: wouldn’t Sony then be stopped from knowing what you’re doing/be able to revoke licenses?
You’re right that physical media is still technically a license to use the item for personal use, that you don’t actually own the work, and that conceivably it can be revoked by the company. However, having a physical piece of media allows you to play it offline, loan it to a friend, sell it on eBay, rent it from GameFly, and back it up digitally. Games can then be emulated and preserved for future generations.
Having choices matter: whether between Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, or Valve, or having physical or digital media. When Microsoft is failing, Sony is less inclined to do right by gamers. If we lose physical games, it will be easier for games to be altered/removed/revoked at whim. Years ago there was a rash of TV episodes pulled from streaming due to various censorship reasons - but they still exist on DVD & BR for fans to enjoy. Movies that don’t get released physically and aren’t on streaming are functionally lost/dead.
I get where you’re coming from, but I disagree both personally and objectively. I said this in another post, but if you zoom out from the specifics here, what’s being eliminated here is choice. Sure, it’s not much of a choice, but as a consumer you could buy physical or digital, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Valve, etc. By removing the only other choice we have you have to buy the games digitally. At that point it can be altered, up-charged, revoked, or any number of other shitty decisions and we have little recourse - other than to opt out entirely.
Yes, all of this has been a slippery slope: digital downloads, DLC, games ballooning in size/requiring internet connectivity for day 1 patches, removing games from stores due to expired music licenses, etc. But the death of physical games is a big final step forward. I totally understand that this decision doesn’t directly affect you - but it likely will, in one way or another. Killing off DVD/BR because we have streaming now means that streaming services can jack up prices because there’s no alternatives: no competition. They can remove shows that don’t make money and then they’re lost forever (Disney removed the Willow TV show a month after it aired. Beyond piracy, it’s now a lost property). They can remove, edit, or censor TV shows that are now thought of as offensive as taste change. Physical media is the backbone of preservation (which is particularly difficult with games) and it will be made much harder as physical is killed off.
Or maybe these are the desperate dying gasps of the dinosaurs of old media? Console prices are rising (5yrs into the lifecycle), sales are decreasing, game dev cycles take longer and longer, graphics/tech advancements are plateauing, the youths only play Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox, and AI is being shoved into everything. There is a wonderful renaissance of indies and smaller scale games! So maybe Playstation’s downfall and XBOX’s dismemberment will free up capital and interest into the vast variety of games that exist beyond COD & Assassin’s Creed?
I’ll get off my soapbox now, and I’m not trying to beat you up for your opinion. Personally, I am in a similar boat as you where I feel compelled to opt out of big tech, focus on FOSS, play indie games, go touch grass, etc, etc. It’s clear to me that all of these awful threads are connected: we are being forced back into serfdom in ways big and small. Everything is a subscription. No right to repair what you own. Corporations have more ‘free-speech’ than a citizen. It just sucks to see more and more evidence of the boot stepping down on our necks.