PlayStation fans’ furious reaction to Sony’s decision to phase out physical discs for PS5 games, which included plans for a boycott, has not moved the company to backtrack on its march into the digital-only future.
Speaking during the company’s most recent earnings call, Sony revealed that it’ll move forward on its plans to cease production of discs for new games from 2028 with caution. However, in translated comments (h/t Kotaku), Sony chief financial officer Lin Tao said the ‘various opinions’ and ‘strong views’ received from the community will not deter Sony from the ‘future digital ecosystem’
She said: “There are various reasons we made this decision, the biggest being that the digitalisation of content overall has been progressing, that’s the big factor. It’s not just for PlayStation, but for all kinds of content, digitalisation is progressing.”
She went on: “And so when we think about the future—and we put in a lot of thought and time, and we cautiously considered this—and we came to this conclusion, and we’re going to cautiously move this forward. And to this decision, we have received various opinions and people have strong views, and we understand that the community has put forth those views to us. Games are loved by many people. It’s a form of entertainment that’s loved by people, and it’s connected to people’s fond memories in many cases. And so we understand those emotions. We want to consider that. And in the future digital ecosystem, how do we engage the gamers is something that we would like to continue to explore.”
She went on to say, in response to an analyst’s question, that retailers will still be able to sell games in empty boxes. That’s hardly ideal and the message is unlikely to quell dissent from the community, with organisers attempting to arrange a blackout.
As Kotatu pointed out in its report, the DoesItPlay physical media advocate is attempting to arrange a weeklong boycott with no logins, play sessions, or purchases on any Sony platform. Critics have accused Sony of undermining what it means to own a game and attempts to corner the marketplace by making the PlayStation Store the de facto place to buy games.
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