PlayStation Plus 50% discount offered as subscribers attempt to leave en masse

PlayStation continues to face intense backlash after revealing plans of its all-digital future while quietly trying to put a stop to users leaving PlayStation Plus in protest.

From January 2028, Sony will cease all production of disc games, going all-digital from then on.

That includes both first and third-party titles with the as-yet unannounced PS6 clearly set to take us into a frightening new era.

The news has gone down as well as a fart in a lift. In other words, it’s no surprise that PlayStation has been silent on socials since the announcement was made.

Insiders claim that Sony anticipated backlash but felt that costs eventually saved would outweigh the losses of those who turned on the brand.

However, PlayStation users are letting their voices be heard, with a petition having already racked up over 100,000 signatures.

Many are also talking with their wallets, threatening to leave (or having done so already) PlayStation Plus.

PlayStation Plus is taking steps to try and tempt subscribers to stay

But it looks like PlayStation may be one step ahead of the game, enticing users to keep their subscription by offering a 50% discount.

“In protest to Sony going all digital, I tried to cancel my subscription,” began Reddit user Castilloryrock. “But they hit me with a 50% off if I resubscribe.”

The accompanying offer read, “Save 50% when you buy another three months,” with the price being in Hong Kong Dollars.

It’s not yet known how widespread the offer is in terms of which territories it’s available in and whether it’s available to all or targeted at specific lucky users.

In the comments, fellow PlayStation Plus subscribers replied with mixed results. Some did see the offer, others didn’t.

The discount is persuading some subscribers to change their mind

Some users were offered 25% or 33% instead of 50%. Regardless, many are taking advantage of this clearly successful attempt at stopping a mass exodus - not all though.

“Cheeky mfs,” wrote OkYoghurt1580.

“I got the offer and still cancelled,” added AdorableSobah.

“That would work on me,” countered Kyraapd.

READ MORE: PS6 'Death Day' Hinted By PlayStation Before The Next-Gen Is Even Underway

PlayStation’s all-digital future is terrible news for us all, even if you’re someone who perhaps has built up a habit of making more digital purchases than physical purchases in recent years.

Game preservation becomes nigh impossible when we’re talking about an all-digital scenario.

Just the other day, Sony closed down the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita digital stores. Thankfully, gamers can still pick up physical games for those consoles on secondhand sites.

Consoles don’t just get discarded when a new one comes out. Retro gaming is immensely popular.

With the PS6 looking to now be a digital-only console, what happens when the PlayStation 6 digital store is one day phased out?

No one will be able to purchase any new games. In fact, Sony has a clause to say that it can delete your account if it goes unused in three years, including all purchases.

That means you could, in the future, bring down your PS6 from the attic only to find all of your money wasted, with all purchased games wiped.

Digital games can be more expensive than physical games, plus you can’t sell digital games if you’re on a budget and rely on selling completed titles in order to grab something new.

The argument that 78% of PlayStation game sales are digital is warped and misleading, omitting the fact that that includes thousands of small scale titles which were only ever released digitally in the first place.

For a true number, you need to look at games that launched via both formats. We can do that thanks to the former Insomniac Games leak.

At the point of the data being taken, 76% of God of War Ragnarök sales were physical, with Astro Bot selling a 55% physical majority and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 shifting 54% physical copies.

It’s reported that Sony has already repurposed many of its disc printing facilities so a u-turn on this catastrophic decision is unlikely, but fans shouldn’t stop letting their dismay be heard.

What remains to be seen now is when PlayStation will return to social media, and how it’ll be met when that happens.