PlayStation boycott results are in as users attempt to force physical media u-turn

All the momentum in the 'console wars' looked to be shifting in favour of Xbox, as Microsoft hogged the headlines in the last month by backing physical game media with new initiatives.

Having reigned supreme since the PlayStation 4 dwarfed the Xbox One, Sony hasn't looked back and now hurtles towards a new generation of consoles, with the blue team reaching the finish line before its green rival.

Yet, news about the PlayStation 6 ditching physical game media entirely was met with a lot of resistance, and has tipped the dominoes on a straight line of Ls for Sony.

Projects like an Astro Bot add-on were leaked; they lost huge contracts with game developer legends like Hideo Kojima and his Physint title, and a multi-million dollar refund claim boosted a handful of users' wallets at a much-needed time.

However, one of the more serious consequences of this chain of events was a boycott that was launched in protest of a disc-less future.

But while it looked like PlayStation was on a huge losing streak, Sony has now revealed that all of these minor details have made 'no significant change' across all metrics of success.

PlayStation boycott yielded 'no significant change'

In protest of PlayStation's stance on a digital-only future, many fans launched a week-long console blackout, hoping that they could show Sony what would happen if they flocked to Xbox to support the longevity of their physical media.

However, analysts have now claimed that the blackout barely scratched the surface of overall engagement and play time in that week.

Taking to social media app BlueSky, Circana data expert Mat Piscatella revealed that the statistics saw 'no significant change', with long-term live-support games like Fortnite, NBA 2K27, Roblox, and Call of Duty doing heavy lifting on the player counts; the numbers weren't inflated by new game releases, as Wardogs was the only significant release this week, which is primarily a PC title.

"There was no significant change at all in player count or engagement in our tracking," the analyst said.

The study only takes the US market into consideration, so it could have been a more significant impact in other areas of the world.

But it seems like the vocal minority of fans didn't quite manage to get their calls heard, leaving the conundrum of moving forward with a digital future or a permanent switch to PC or Xbox.

Read More: Marvel’s Wolverine is the lowest-rated PlayStation first-party game of this generation

Things should start to turn around for PlayStation, though, as the State of Play showcase earlier this month stoked hype into upcoming projects like Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and a Ghost of Yotei expansion featuring a returning icon.

PlayStation is also poised to be the strongest platform to enjoy Grand Theft Auto VI, being the base console of choice for the Netflix gameplay reveal and the PS5 Pro touted by Rockstar Games as the most advanced machinery available.