Former PlayStation executives Shuhei Yoshida and Adam Boyes recreated their iconic 2013 game-sharing skit at the Tokyo Game Show 2026. This time, neither held a physical disc, echoing heavy backlash over Sony ending physical disc production by January 2028 and shifting toward an all-digital console future.
Recreating an Iconic 2013 Poke Without the Discs
Thirteen years after their viral instructional video made light of Microsoft’s early Xbox One digital rights management plans, former Sony figureheads Shuhei Yoshida and Adam Boyes reunited on the convention floor. The 22-second Official PlayStation Used Game Instructional Video
on YouTube in 2013 was a spur-of-the-moment piece of genius guerrilla marketing that capitalized on Microsoft’s very unpopular plans to make used game discs on Xbox One require DRM checks. Meeting at the PlayStation booth during Tokyo Game Show 2026, the two veterans posed for photos that instantly swept social media, with Yoshida posting to X on September 18, 2026, saying: Met with a best friend 😀 @amboyes @PlayStation_jp #TGS2026
alongside the image. Yoshida said with an open-smile emoticon, Met with a best friend.
The original video racked up 21.3 million YouTube views in the 13 years since its premiere by demonstrating how easily friends could hand each other a physical PlayStation 4 disc. This time, however, the gag carried a starkly different meaning. Neither held a game case or a disc, turning the playful throwback into a pointed commentary on the changing landscape of console gaming. Boyes left PlayStation in 2016 and Yoshida departed in 2024. Both are now consultants for the broader video game industry, though I’m sure plenty of hardcore PlayStation fans wish they were still at Sony.
Reactions across social media highlighted the poignant irony of the moment. Physical game X/Twitter account @DoesItPlay1 noted: “This picture of Shuhei Yoshida and Adam Boyes from Tokyo Game Show is making the rounds. Seemingly mocking current anti-consumer PlayStation for killing the philosophy behind their once famous pro-consumer mockery of Xbox regarding physical game sharing. Another fan added, referencing the lack of games in their hands:
This is how you share games with your friends in 2028.”
The Shift Toward an All-Digital PlayStation Ecosystem
The nostalgic recreation arrives while PlayStation faces intense pushback over its strategy to phase out physical media. Sony announced in July of this year that it would cease physical disc production for new video games starting in January 2028. With Sony confirming that January 2028 will be the last time it makes physical games for the PlayStation 5, it also confirms that Sony’s gaming future, including the upcoming PlayStation 6, will be entirely digital.
The response from the community has been almost uniformly negative. And vocal. With negative backlash showing up in every official PlayStation-related announcement or story, even when it has nothing to do with the end of PlayStation disc production, it’s also led to a community-led blackout and protest. Beyond effectively killing the physical game market for PlayStation, the move also highlights that when it comes to digital libraries and purchases, you don’t actually “own” what you buy. Now on the eve of the PS6 generation, Sony is set to leave discs behind at the same time as Microsoft is using its abandoned DRM checks to give players digital licenses for their physical games.
Terms, Licenses, and the Debate Over Digital Ownership
As community frustration mounts, Sony has begun distributing updated PlayStation Terms to its user base. Sony is sending out its updated PlayStation ‘Terms’ to players, reminding them that they don’t actually own any of their digital purchases. TL;DR: Sony reminds players via updated PlayStation Terms that digital purchases grant only a limited license, reminding users they don’t truly own digital games-news strikingly timed amid heavy backlash over Sony ending physical PlayStation disc production by January 2028 and plans for an all-digital PlayStation future.
With the discourse around Sony’s discless future showing no signs of slowing down, it doesn’t look good when PlayStation starts sending notices to millions of gamers reminding them of the current PlayStation ‘Terms.’ Terms that confirm that buying a digital game on the PlayStation Network grants you a “limitedlicense to play the game. Sony pointed to its PlayStation 'Terms' language that buying a digital game on the PlayStation Network only grants you a
limited” license to play the game, reminding players that digital purchases do not transfer ownership but instead provide that limited license.
This is true of most digital storefronts, including Steam, but it’s not a good look when the current online discourse around PlayStation is still focused on the company’s plans to kill disc production. Even compared to the non-commercial license associated with physical media, a digital purchase requires an online account and ecosystem to access and play, with no guarantee that access will be there for the foreseeable future. It puts game preservation and archiving in the hands of platform holders like Sony. Over a decade later, Sony remains much more reclusive and has stayed away from having its most public faces discuss and defend its evolving ecosystem priorities.
