Critics of Sony's Decision to Kill Physical Discs Call on Gamers to Boycott PlayStation for a Week Next Month, but Will Anyone Listen?
Backers of physical media have called on gamers to boycott PlayStation for a week in August to send a message to Sony that its decision to kill discs from 2028 is unacceptable. The Does it play? X / Twitter account , which is a fierce critic of Sony’s plan to do away with PlayStation game discs, issued a call to arms that has been viewed on the social media platform nearly 1 million times. “Sony wants to abandon fans? Let's give them a small taste of their own medicine!” the Twitter account said. “Together with other creators we call for a 1 week #PSBlackout in August. No logins, no play sessions, no purchases on any of Sony's platforms.” Sony’s rationale for ditching discs is that it’s simply following consumer trends. “In response to shifting trends in consumer preference, new games will be released on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only,” Sid Shuman, Senior Director, Sony Interactive Entertainment Content Communications, said in a post on PlayStation Blog . “As consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continue to shift away from physical discs to digital, physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028. Following this date, new games will be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only. This transition has no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format. “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. This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today." Reinforcing this trend, Mat Piscatella, Senior Director and Video Game Industry Advisor at Circana, said that just seven PlayStation video games had sold more than 100,000 physical units so far this year in the U.S. . Only two PlayStation video games sold more than 10,000 physical units in the U.S. during the week ending July 11. However, since the announcement, gamers have called on Sony to U-turn on its decision, signing online petitions and swarming over PlayStation social media posts to express concern about video game preservation and ownership — even overshadowing the release of new games that have nothing to do with what’s going on at Sony. Complaints have also come from other groups. The UK’s Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) called Sony’s decision “a triumph of corporate convenience over consumer choice.” In a statement published online , Kim Bayley, CEO of ERA, said its data shows that 25% of under 25s use discs for gaming, and that discs should remain as a choice on top of digital. “Every year, millions of gamers still choose to buy physical copies because they value true ownership. A disc can be shared with family, traded in, collected, preserved and, crucially, still played years from now. A download licence often offers none of those freedoms,” Bayley said. Does it play? and other critics of Sony have remained determined to continue the fight. Here’s the boycott statement in full: For several years now, Sony Interactive Entertainment has continued to grow further apart from its fan base. Whether it's closing beloved studios like Bluepoint, pursuing a misguided live-service strategy, canceling fan events, leaving PS VR2 to die, or being completely out of touch with the franchises players want to see return, PlayStation has never felt more disconnected from its community. Ending physical discs in 2028 feels like the last straw. We understand there is only so much SIE can control, but with the decisions that are within its control, the company continues to mismanage the strong position it inherited from the PS4 era. There are so many issues with PlayStation right now that bringing back physical games would only be meeting players halfway. There is still much more SIE can do. We miss Twisted Metal, SOCOM, Sly Cooper, and Resistance. We miss PlayStation Experience. We miss Japan Studio. With that, we are calling on PlayStation players to participate in an economic and gameplay blackout from Sunday, August 23, at 7:00 PM local time through Sunday, August 30, at 7:00 PM local time. Players can participate by turning off their consoles or logging out for seven days. We feel that this period gives publishers and developers minimal impact while still giving players a voice. [/url] If history has told us anything, it’s that video game boycotts rarely result in the action they desire. It probably doesn’t help that Metal Gear Solid 4 will finally escape PS3 prison via Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 that week. There are of course instances of companies reversing decisions amid a backlash, but, analysts have told IGN , it remains unlikely that Sony will U-turn on this. Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Japanese game industry consultancy firm Kantan Games, suggested that even if half a million people cancelled their PlayStation Plus subscription in protest, it would be just a drop in the ocean for Sony. "I sympathize with physical media fans, but Sony will not reverse this decision," Toto told IGN. "They of course knew what the online reaction would look like, and they now wait for this storm to pass. "Sony has over 120 million active PlayStation users," he continued. "Around 50 million people subscribe to PlayStation Plus. As a thought experiment, let's say 500,000 cancel in protest, that would be just 1% of that business gone — of course not enough for Sony to start rethinking. Digital is just too lucrative." Piers Harding-Rolls, games industry analyst at Ampere, has said a lot has changed over the course of the last two generations. "Console gaming is the last hold-out for physical media in the gaming sector, but physical product has been declining in importance," he said in a post on the Ampere website . "Back in 2013 when the PS4 launched, Ampere data shows that only 13% of total full games unit sales for Sony consoles were digital (including digital-only games). Fast forward to 2025, and this digital share of full game purchases stood at almost 80% of the total. "Inevitably there will be concerns from PlayStation gamers around various aspects of this announcement including choice, accessing older physical games on new consoles, the ability to collect physical games, and game preservation, however the purchasing trends of gamers are clear." One analyst said fans of physical media had their chance and blew it, so there’s no going back. “If gamers and preservationists had bought more physical games, Sony wouldn’t have seen the digital sales ratios that justify this decision,” Robin Zhu, a games analyst at Bernstein, told the Financial Times . For Sony, going all-digital for new game releases will earn it more money from every sale at a time when console sales are expected to plummet due to their rising cost. For a first-party PlayStation game such as The Last of Us, Sony will only keep around 65% of the money from a physical copy, with around 30% going to the retailer and roughly another 5% on manufacturing costs. Meanwhile, for a physical copy of a third-party game such as the Activision-published Call of Duty, Sony will get a licensing fee, likely around 15%. For downloads, however, the margins are much higher. For a first-party game sold via Sony's own PlayStation Store, the company obviously keeps 100% of the revenue. For third-party games such as Call of Duty, meanwhile, Sony keeps a 30% cut (so, roughly $21 for a $70 game). Photo by Nikos Pekiaridis/NurPhoto via Getty Images. Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
