PlayStation social media up in flames as Sony refuses to acknowledge all-digital backlash

PlayStation’s social media interactions are currently up in flames following Sony’s recent decision to embrace an all-digital future.

Following last week’s announcement that physical discs for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles would end production in 2028, a lot of backlash has caused Sony to temporarily retreat from the public eye.

As spotted by Push Square, basically any comment left under PlayStation’s old social media posts and videos is now about physical discs, with most comments demanding that Sony reverse its decision.

On X, many comments share memes and ‘strongly-worded’ responses to the decision, while the same can be seen in the comments section on Instagram and Reddit.

Since then, Sony hasn’t posted anything on its gaming channels since the announcement, not even sharing the PlayStation Plus Essential games that were added for July.

However, the PlayStation YouTube channel is still publishing trailers for third-party games coming to PlayStation 5, as part of agreements made before this announcement.

Unfortunately for the developers, PlayStation fans have even left comments about physical discs under videos and posts that don’t have anything to do with it, such as this video advertising Cronos: Lazarus.

Given the volume of angry comments on these social media posts, it sounds like this is a controversy that won’t be going away any time soon. While PlayStation hasn’t posted on its X or Instagram pages since July 1, it’ll probably start up again sometime this week.

Previously, PlayStation social media accounts went silent for three days following the closure of Bluepoint Games, which was met with a similar backlash.

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PlayStation's decision to abandon printing physical discs from 2028 has been widely disliked

“As consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continue to shift away from physical discs to digital, physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028,” Sony posted on PlayStation Blog last week, announcing the news.

“Following this date, new games will be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only. This transition has no impact on games that have already been released, or will be released, before January 2028 in disc format.

PlayStation adds that this decision was made to “adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs”, and that the transition will “enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.”

It’s reported that 85% of games sold on PlayStation in its last quarter were digital, either through direct purchases on the PlayStation Store or from “code in a box” releases that provide you with a physical box to open, but only feature a digital code to redeem on the store.

The upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto VI is a recent example of this, where Rockstar announced that there would be no disc edition of the game sold when it launches on November 19.