Just because PlayStation customers “purchased” video games on the console does not mean they actually own the games, according to Sony, the gaming console’s parent company.

The Japan-based electronics, film, and gaming giant is facing a class action lawsuit filed in California’s Northern District Court in June, in which four customers allege that the company failed to properly disclose that paying for a downloadable game does not grant permanent ownership or continued access to it. The lawsuit says Sony’s disclosures violate California’s 2024 AB 2426, which requires a warning that “states in plain language that ‘buying’ or ‘purchasing’ the digital good is a license.” The dispute highlights a growing tension in digital commerce: consumers often use ownership language, while platform terms can frame the transaction as a revocable license.

Two of the plaintiffs bought Resident Evil Requiem, according to the motion to dismiss. Sony argued that because two customers purchased the same game just 11 days apart, no reasonable consumer could assume they owned exclusive rights to a digital copy, since anyone could buy the same “copy” at any time. The company said it was “not plausible” that customers believed they owned the games outright.

In its motion to dismiss, Sony said it made clear in its terms of service and end user license agreement that its digital games are purchased, not owned.

“A reasonable user would have seen the terms of service above or directly below the action button, the user unambiguously manifested assent to the terms of service, including the arbitration provision, and the terms and arbitration provision were valid and binding,” the motion said.

Sony is not the only video game seller responding to AB 2426. In January, GameStop customer Jake Weber sued the retailer for allegedly violating the California law. The complaint includes a screenshot of a store page for Pokémon Legends: Arceus, noting that the page does not say customers are purchasing a license for the game rather than the game itself. The lawsuit is ongoing. Online PC game marketplace Steam, meanwhile, began including a warning on its shopping cart page telling customers they are buying a license to a particular game that could be revoked in the future.

Sony did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

More digital media, more problems?

The question of whether consumers truly own what they pay for has become an increasingly contentious issue for video game fans, and it is part of a broader trend of subscription fatigue that has led some consumers to question monthly fees for digital products and instead turn to “analog islands” of physical media. For game publishers and storefronts, the shift to digital distribution has also made licensing language more visible at the moment of purchase, even as many buyers still think in terms of traditional retail ownership.

Tech companies such as Sony were once champions of physical media. PlayStation uploaded a viral YouTube video in 2013 in which former PlayStation executives Shuhei Yoshida and Adam Boyes passed a game box from one to the other.

“This is how you share your games on PS4,” Yoshida said.

The clip was celebrated by video game fans. It stood in sharp contrast to Microsoft’s 2013 rollout of digital game ownership on the Xbox One, which restricted trading of pre-owned games and required internet access to play the console’s new titles, a move Microsoft quickly reversed.

Sony has since continued moving toward digital product models, announcing in a July blog post that it would stop producing physical discs in January 2028 for all new PlayStation games, which can cost about $70. Rockstar Games also confirmed in June that its highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI will only be available for digital download.

“This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs,” Sid Shuman, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s senior director of content communications, said in the post. “This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.”

Gen Z’s analog islands

Despite Sony’s view that more video game fans are moving digital-first, a growing number of young people are turning to physical media specifically so they can own the entertainment they buy. The Recording Industry Association of America found that revenue from vinyl record sales rose 7% year over year to $1.4 billion, marking 18 consecutive years of growth. A survey of 2,000 young people in Great Britain from potato chip brand Pringles found that 24% own a vintage gaming console, such as a Game Boy, first released in 1989.

Part of the appeal of owning media is the certainty that it belongs to you, according to Atlanta-based Rudy Ramirez, a 38-year-old medical IT worker.

Others may agree. According to a CivicScience survey conducted between December 2025 and January, 37% of Gen Z respondents said they canceled at least one streaming subscription because of subscription fatigue. Another 87% said they felt some form of fatigue from the digital subscription economy.

“Anything that’s digital is never yours,” Ramirez told Fortune. “Amazon’s not going to come into your house and take your DVD movies. They’re yours forever.”

Still, these analog islands may not be spreading to the broader population. Even though physical copies remain the preferred format for console gamers, the convenience of digital games may be too appealing for many consumers. In 2024, just 3% of PlayStation’s sales came from physical games, according to Sony.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com