Not content to let Xbox have all the bad publicity, PlayStation is currently in the midst of a public relations nightmare following the announcement that the console manufacturer will end support for physical discs from 2028 onwards.
Following the controversial announcement, PlayStation’s social media accounts went quiet for six days. The brand’s first post ‘back’ was to announce a new piece of hardware, the FlexStrike Wireless fighting stick.
Fans Haven’t Forgotten The Disc Controversy
Unfortunately for fighting stick fans, the replies and reposts are dominated by people unhappy about PlayStation’s decision to end physical support. The post has 31,000 comments and 8,900 reposts, but just 4,800 likes on X. People have taken note of the ratio, which is usually indicative of negative sentiment.
“I don’t understand, this is a physical product? How do I download it?” quips one of the reposts. “No way this is the first tweet PlayStation puts out after 6 days,” reads another.
There’s an organised and concerted effort from displeased PlayStation fans to brigade the post, ensuring Sony can’t ignore their anger over its forced obsolescence of physical media.
In fact, an online petition asking Sony to reconsider its position has reached 120,000 signatures. Several figures have also come out against the decision, including Hideo Kojima, former PlayStation executive Shawn Leyden and even prominent French politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
PlayStation’s sole justification for this decision is ‘consumer trends’, i.e. because most people buy games digitally, there’s no longer a need to produce them physically. There are no benefits to the consumer of removing physical discs, and we’ve already seen how heavy-handed Sony can be concerning digital access, especially in terms of region locking and so on.
A Petition To Stop PlayStation Scrapping Physical Games Has Reached 120,000 Signatures
PlayStation is holding strong to its plans to scrap physicals, but those against it are trying to fight back.
The decision feels like a thinly veiled attempt to take power away from the consumer. Sony wants to control all aspects of its ecosystem, and the selling and re-selling of physical media is a barrier to achieving this complete control.
While it’s true that most people buy digital games, that’s no reason to take away their options. There are also plenty of implications for game preservation and digital ownership that suggest it’s in consumers’ best interest to own physical copies of their video games.
- Brand
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Sony
- Original Release Date
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November 12, 2020
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$499, €499, £449, ¥49,980 (Base) // $399, €399, £359, ¥39,980 (Digital),
- Operating System
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Orbis OS
