The last few weeks in the gaming space have been riddled with complaints regarding Sony’s impending move to rid the world of new PlayStation discs, opting for a digital-exclusive push going into 2028. It has given rise to petitions, boycotts, and ferocity across social media on a global scale, and it’s not getting better any time soon, because Sony is not about to backtrack.
It’s a harsh debate that has split the community down the middle, with vocal personalities fighting on each side of the fence. Recently, a former Valve writer with credits on the likes of Portal, Half-Life, and Left 4 Dead recorded a video lambasting those who are bagging on Sony’s decision, suggesting that it’s the consumer who made this bed they now need to lie in.
‘You Aren’t Going Into Retail and Buying Them’
Chet Faliszek uploaded a YouTube video recently talking about the Sony boycott and scandal that has seen tens of thousands of negative sentiments (if not more) surface on social media. When Sony announced the imminent end of new PlayStation discs, it turned the gaming space up on its head, and people are still coming to terms with their disc-less future.
Speaking frankly, Faliszek explained that we’re all at fault:
You, the consumer, have made a choice, and your choice is for digital.
Right now, today, the games we’re talking about are available at retail. Today. The used games are available at retail today, and you aren’t going into retail and buying them.
Gamestop only has 18% of their entire revenue as games, new and used… 18% of a company called Gamestop that used to do nothing but sell games.
(Thanks to GamesRadar for the spot)
Faliszek went on to reflect on a recent financial update from Sony, which clearly indicated that in Q4 FY25, 85% of software sales were digital, bringing the year to 78% digital. He stressed that Sony has ‘no benefit’ in trying to trick the consumer by fudging the figures, so that argument doesn’t make sense.
It shows that you’re not actually looking at it, right? You’re not saying that you created this problem for Sony and Gamestop. You, the consumer.
Full game software digital download ratio, 85%.
You think everyone is lying to you. You think they’re somehow benefitting from this. No, they’re reacting to your purchases. They had a system set up and you said, ‘No, we don’t like this. What we like is buying it digitally. We want it instantly.’
He then went into the area he knows best, talking about Valve and Steam, stating that these sales figures aren’t included in reports, which means they’re effectively under-reporting digital sales, given that Steam is a digital-exclusive platform.
Faliszek blamed the consumer again: ‘You as the consumer have forced the large corporations’ hands and you’ve told them, ‘Stop with retail.’ Right? Sony has to make a system that’s not going to come out for two years, and then it’s going to live for ten or fifteen years after that.’
Here’s the full video:
In Faliszek’s words, ‘That’s just the way it goes.’ He said that consumers have used the ‘power of their purse’ and it has reflected in the overwhelming majority of gamers buying digital. It’s not an anti-consumer stance, he said, but it’s gamers becoming part of the problem by feeding into the growth of digital.
Which is true.
His hot takes persisted:
You should have started protesting Game Pass and stopped buying XBOX games and stopped buying digital, but you didn’t, because it was easier.
Where do you stand on this debate? Are you for or against the shutting down of physical PlayStation games? 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
Exactly over 85% buy digital and worse more people are on Steam than PS5 but boomers can’t get that through their dumb entitled fake activist heads. Even worse most people under 30 are not buying games they probably play the same things Fortnite, Roblox, Minecraft, Genshin, etc.