PlayStation doubles-down after all-digital backlash: 'we cautiously considered this'

PlayStation and Sony are still feeling the effects of their all-digital decree from a few weeks ago, and have since responded to the backlash in the worst way possible.

Since confirming it’ll be scrapping physical media production from 2028 onwards, PlayStation has been slowly cooking in one of the biggest PR infernos we’ve seen in years.

Gamers are rallying to do everything they can to voice their disstate for the decision, even going as far as planning a PlayStation 5 ‘blackout’ while cancelling their PlayStation Plus subscriptions.

The world has been waiting for a response from the company, and hopefully a U-turn on the decision, but Sony CFO Lin Tao crushed those hopes at the recent earnings call.

Shared by Kotaku, Lin Tao spoke about the negativity surrounding the company’s decision, saying it was done for “various reasons.”

She continued: “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.”

In a crushing blow to physical media supporters, Tao then said: “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 … 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”

Interestingly, PC gaming also got a mention. While it’s been unconfirmed, recent rumours suggested PlayStation was stepping away from PC releases after low sales, and on that topic, Tao said: “Compared to the high-end gaming PC, our product is more affordable. So we don’t feel that the disc itself is a strong factor for differentiation. Going forward, we can coexist peacefully with PC games.”

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All in all, this was the expected outcome, but it still packs quite a sting. Whether gamers like it or not, the days of physical media are numbered.

Xbox perfectly highlighted where digital media fails earlier this month

What stings even more about this decision is that we got a taste of how disastrous it can be thanks to Xbox earlier this month.

A catastrophic error left millions of Xbox owners unable to play their games, as the system that verifies if you actually own the game you want to play abruptly failed. Some users were even able to download and play games they didn’t own.

Even disc copies were affected by this, which Xbox acknowledged as another unexpected error.

Your whole library of games is unplayable. That’s what the future of all-digital media looks like. While it could only happen once in a blue moon, technical errors are unavoidable, and one day they’ll be shut down completely.

PlayStation/Sony’s response to the backlash won’t leave gamers happy, so be sure to take part in the upcoming ‘blackout’ if you’d like to make your frustration known.

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