Wave of protests against Sony removing PlayStation game discs

Last week, Sony announced it would completely stop producing game discs for new PlayStation games starting in January 2028. At that time, all games released for the PlayStation console were only available digitally, distributed exclusively through the PlayStation Store online store and authorized retail partners.

Sony's post on Twitter currently has nearly 160 million views and more than 100,000 comments. According to Business Insider, most are negative. Many people said they do not want to give up the habit of buying discs, because they are not just simple game discs but also valuable collectible items. Others expressed support, saying they had bought digital games for a long time.

Some pointed out the risks when Sony releases digital games to customers, such as the Japanese company will cause users to lose access to more than 500 StudioCanal games due to licensing agreements between the two. At this point, owning a physical disc copy of the game may prevent the problem.

"I've been playing games on PlayStation since the PS1 era and many of my favorite games are on PlayStation systems," said Reddit account Stephen. "However, I prefer to play with physical discs and refuse to support any game company that says no to physical discs. I hope Sony will reverse its decision, or lose a customer from 2028."

PlayStation's Twitter account has not posted any additional content since the announcement on July 1, although before that it usually posted at least one post per day.

Game developers are also not satisfied with Sony's move. Developer Hideo Kojima, who created the legendary Metal Gear series and worked closely with Sony for many years, said he was saddened by the end of the PlayStation game disc. At the Il Cinema in Piazza film festival in Italy on July 2, he warned that distributing only digital content would harm users. "One day, they will lose access to their purchased content," he said.

Jade Pearce, representative of game retailer PNP Games (Canada), is also concerned about ownership and conservation issues, and believes that Sony's decision will lead to job losses.

"Physical storage games are quietly maintaining their vitality as the digital future takes over," Pearce told IGN. "The death of physical game discs also means that a related chain of retailers, distributors, manufacturers, warehouses and logistics, second-hand markets and exchanges, as well as the industry's community of collectors and preservationists are wiped out."

According to Pearce, the immediate consequence is that thousands of jobs will be eliminated and small businesses will go bankrupt. Sony's move could take away a choice from users, as well as give full control to a small number of platform providers.

"We're not against digital technology. We're just against it being the only option. A large and passionate community still wants to own a real physical game, and Sony is about to take that option away," Pearce added.

On Change.org, PNP Games launched a campaign asking Sony to continue selling physical PlayStation games and currently received 161,000 signatures. IGN also surveyed "a completely digital future in the gaming industry", with 91.2% of participants choosing "No".

Piers Harding-Rolls, game industry analyst at Ampere (UK), believes that Sony is more interested in money than the feelings of customers. Citing data, he pointed out that selling digital games helps companies make more money than disc formats, when publishers can collect up to 50% of the selling price. In Sony's case, the company collects 30% of game sales on the PlayStation Store, with the remaining 70% going to the publisher.

Other companies also quickly ridiculed Sony's move. Gaming chair maker Respawn humorously announced that it "will stop producing physical chairs, only producing "digital chairs". KFC Spain joked that it will start providing fried chicken as PNG images, which customers can download for "use".

Launched in 1994, the PlayStation ecosystem, including game consoles, physical game discs and digital versions, is considered Sony's "golden egg-laying hen". Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), the Japanese company's subsidiary responsible for managing the gaming console brand and developing global software, said that by the end of March, software sales on PlayStation systems exceeded 5.14 billion copies, including physical discs and downloadable games. Among them, PS2 leads with more than 1.537 billion copies, followed by PS4 and PS5 with a total of more than 1.64 billion game copies sold. PS3 sold more than 999.4 million copies, while the first generation PlayStation sold more than 962 million copies.