At the start of July, a critical petition surfaced online, raised by those enraged at Sony Interactive Entertainment’s decision to stop producing discs for new PlayStation games from January 2028. It quickly gathered traction, securing a quarter of a million signatures in around a week, but as time has gone on, the energy around the petition has waned, even as Sony addresses the situation.
During a recent financial update, Sony stated it would be ‘cautiously moving forward’ with the decision to scrap discs. Despite that, the number of signatures against the petition has slowed. We also heard from other key industry players, some of them supportive of the decision
Growth Slows As Decision Settles with Gamers
It could be argued that the knee-jerk reaction of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s scrapping of physical games has abated now that people have had time to sit with the revelation. That’s likely what has happened, as the massive spike at the start of the campaign attracted the attention of preservationists, collectors, physical aficionados, and old-school gamers worldwide.
It only took around two weeks for the energy to dissipate, and now, it’s almost plateauing entirely.
In six days, 250,000 signatures were secured, but in the following 24 days, only 105,000 signatures landed on the petition. When you consider how many users subscribe to PlayStation Plus, and how many people out there own a PlayStation console, it represents a pinprick against the overarching figure.
Sony has seen the sentiments in social circles worldwide and has not changed its stance. In another financial update, Ubisoft’s Yves Guillemot, an old-school personality himself, went on record saying this change won’t disturb the industry too much.
Digital gaming isn’t going anywhere, and over the years, it has only become the leading way to buy and play games. We’ve seen plenty of issues of late that serve as firm reminders of the danger of an all-digital ecosystem, but things aren’t likely to change because of a petition, nor will the incoming PlayStation blackout change Sony’s mind.
What’s your take on the situation? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
More from Grant Taylor-Hill
82% of sales being that of digital doesn’t mean full game downloads. That stands for total digital sales.
My purchased items from PS store are dlcs and random other add-ons for base games which I own physical copies of.
Sony is only giving half the story to justify spending less to make more. Unless all future titles are half the price I pay for my physical discs now, I’m completely finished with Sony Electronics.
I rather PC game anyways where at least I can build and fix my own gaming device.
Liever op ps5 alle games cd schijf mogen tot 2036 van Sony
Reason it’s plateauing is because people are coming to the conclusion they aren’t buying PS6. It doesn’t matter what the disc or digital sales if no one cares about the console anymore
Gee, its allmost like the vast majority of gamers actually prefer digital games and this whole “outrage” was just made up internet drama from eternally online weirdos that nobody actually cares about.
Nah, that cant be it 🤣
No I think people have realized that Sony dosnt really give a shit about the customers and like someone else said are resigned to not purchasing the next console and saying oh it only got 350,000 signatures dosnt represent the whole community i for 1 have not put my name to the petition as im not 100% on how to do so but im sure theres others that dont even know theres a petition for it if you think discless playstations is a good thing your part of the problem and im sure are happy to spend your money online its also funny to me that there saying 80% of our sales are online when they made it that way ps5 slim aswell as the fact ps5s came out digital and pros no disc its bullshit and greedy and has been coming for years since they took away playing online for free
I can guarantee it’s not just internet drama all of my friends agree discless is not the way to go and it brings up the ever more important argument that if buying isn’t owning then piracy isn’t stealing
Love it. The small percentage of people outraged shows they are out of touch with the general population.
Sony will utilize these public numbers in future strategy.
A lot of “dinosaurs” in the videogame player ranks. I’m actually surprised by this, considering videogames represent bleeding edge consumer technology. I would think the diehard core would embrace tech change; most probably do though, and it’s only this small vocal group making me think otherwise.
I can’t assume everyone is in the same mental space. Personally, I don’t want to own too many things. Others probably love the convenience of the modern era, like digital ownership, or even videogame streaming. It’s a minute percent that are collectors, or value having physical media, or that are hoarders, unable to move on.
It can take personal growth to recognize that there is a difference between the necessity to own physical discs and the desire. Not all personal decisions are healthy ones.
This is the most narcissistic piece of drivel I’ve read since Trump.
Just because you personally don’t use it and even if a “majority” of people don’t use it, it doesn’t mean it should be tossed aside.
Give your head a shake.
To be fair… there’s a lot of reasons to be upset about it as well. PlayStation Network goes down regularly, the refund policy is absolute garbage and doesn’t let you refund a game after you download it if it fucks up or you just don’t like it like what’s happening with Halo campaign evolved, it kills the second hand market… But of course none of that really affects Sony so they don’t care. My main concern is with physical media removed PlayStation makes it so the only way you can buy their games is to the store which day can control the prices on so if they want to make $100 to $120 games without all the DLC or the special editions…. Then there’s nothing or nobody that can stop them
“Personally, I don’t want to own too many things…” What a weird thing to say. You don’t want to own what you purchase? You’re absolutely okay with paying $60-80 for a video game, that a whim, the distributor can take off of your hardware without your consent? The issue is digital gaming, the issue is the lack of ownership. It’s not different than when people boycotted Twitter when Elon Musk made the move to edit tweets, it’s simply erasure. The fact people don’t understand this blows my mind.
I think a lot of people realize that the petition won’t solve anything anyway. I signed it myself just because but I knew it wouldn’t really do anything. I’m just going to vote with my wallet from now on, or by not using my wallet at all and sailing with the black flag (which I’ve never liked doing before really). I most definitely won’t be buying any console that doesn’t have a disc drive. The sad truth is that there is way too many lazy people out there with no principles and that’s what caused this.
It sounds like you’re ready to freely throw away your principles to. Way to set an example. 👍
If they force all digital then Sony NEEDS to revise its digital game refund policy.
I wonder what the perpetually outraged will be outraged about next.
Industry plant says what?
No, the decision isn’t “settling with gamers”, we will never accept this, we will never let them forget about this, and these gaslighting articles only fool people who either aren’t real gamers or were already foolish to begin with.
Every bot in this comment section is invalid.
The bad thing is the vast majority of people either don’t understand how impactful the lack of physical media will be, can’t afford to switch because they’ve invested too much into Sony and can’t switch platforms easily, or just don’t care about physical media at all. I mean GTA 6 is going to be digital only and that game is going to be one of the best sellers of all time regardless of the backlash against it. We should never accept it and make our voices heard… But in the end… Sony doesn’t care because most of their player base just doesn’t care. The only thing that can really be hoped for is that they get enough pushback from the government and other gaming studios that actually want to make physical media because that’s really the only things that will get them to stop and backtrack this before they go through with it
It’s been a month and my position hasn’t changed its still f**K Sony
I don’t have the time to engage online with every tweet they post but I’m definitely removing myself financially from the PlayStation ecosystem
I didn’t sign the petition because I’m just done. Sony showed who they are and the direction they are going so I am done with Sony. I’m not even angry, just done. I have a gigantic games collection old enough not to he stolen from me and when Sony announced their even more anti consumer stance, I bought a monster of a gaming laptop. Just be done. These petition won’t do anything, MONEY TALKS. Just be DONE.
I don’t care i play pc we all digital I’m only on ps to play with my family and to say I own a play station.
Absolutely not “settling.” Still pissed and never buying PlayStation 6. If I’m forced to buy digital, I will play on PC from now on. Sony will not refund you your games or do a damn thing if hackers destroy your account, so having the physical disc is a protection against that. Not to mention, this is a slap in the face to collectors and PlayStation enthusiasts who like to have all their games on a shelf. It’s a cash grab, too. They’re trying to starve out GameStop and other places you can buy used games, so they get more money by being the only supplier. Really, really gross.
I’d probably accept a digital only ps future if they weren’t such bastards. Locking you out of your own purchase when you lose internet connection is criminal in my opinion. Almost certainly my last playstation is this one
Sony’s absurdly greedy PSN prices had already pushed me to decide to switch back to the DIY budget gaming PC world, and the switch to digital-only PS games was the final nail in the coffin. Yes, PC is basically all-digital, but unlike on the current crop of consoles, it’s also easy to “sail the high seas” as a method of acquisition. As the saying goes: if purchasing isn’t buying, then copyright infringement isn’t ‘stealing’.
Just get a switch
The irony is that i have yet to actually buy any games on playstation and everything i got are just games from ps plus.
And these days i’m only using my ps5 to play digital games…yes, free mobile digital-only games like genshin or NTE, which i could have done on my phone but i prefer the bigger screen.
So playstation can continue to promote digital for all i care since I’m only playing free-to-play digital games on ps5