Sony to “Cautiously” Proceed With Plans to End PlayStation Physical Game Discs; Backlash Has No Impact on Business So Far
It’s been a month since Sony’s shocking announcement that they are ending physical disc for new PlayStation games starting January 2028.
Since then, game developers, former PlayStation executives, and others have commented on it, except Sony itself, which has chosen to stay silent since the initial announcement.
That changes today, as Sony has officially commented on the matter, and it won’t make disc buyers happy.
Sony Not Backing Down on Disc-less PlayStation Future
In the Q&A portion of today’s earnings report by the electronics giant, Sony CFO Lin Tao was asked to comment on the backlash regarding the announcement, and how they’re proceeding “cautiously” with the original plan.
Video by nolifebr
Tao states, “There are various reasons we made this decision, the biggest being that the digitalization of content overall has been progressing, that’s the big factor. It’s not just for PlayStation, but for all kinds of content, digitalization is progressing.
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.”
Sony Says Backlash Has No Impact on Business, but Thinking on How to Respond to Feedback
In the same Q&A, Tao confirmed that the negative backlash about the decision has not impacted Sony’s business, and they don’t foresee any negative impact in the future affecting them either.
Having said that, Tao does acknowledge the attachment people have with buying/owning discs, and are thinking of ways to respond to it.
Tao notes, “At this point in time we are not seeing any impact on our business, as of now.
But going forward, about the contents sales, a large part is already digitized. And therefore as a result the discontinuation of discs, we don’t see that there will be any negative impact on our business.
However, as I already said, the users, the players have attachments and we have to think about how to respond to those feedbacks.”
This definitely is not the news most gamers want to hear. While Sony might be salivating at the thought of a digital-only PlayStation future where they dictate the prices and gamers can’t buy secondhand games, an analyst thinks Sony’s decision could wipe out the $7 billion used games market.
Gamers unhappy with what’s happening are pushing for #PSBlackout this August, though we’re unsure how well it’ll turn out, given it’s set to take place in the same week as the Modern Warfare 4 beta.
It looks like there really is no turning back, as not only is Sony’s disc manufacturing facilities switching to optical microlenses, but even the company’s CFO has seemingly put their foot down.
What are your thoughts on Tao’s comment? Will this decision affect Sony’s business in the long-term? Sound off and let us know. For those interested in our take on the matter, we talked about how we think Sony’s bet hinges on gamers being too invested in the PlayStation ecosystem to jump ship.
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