After Sony made its decision to end physical disc production for new games on PlayStation consoles in 2028 public earlier this summer, fans gathered to boycott the company – but it’s not exactly having any impact so far, apparently.
A few weeks back, various posts were circulating the web about a “PSBlackout” – a boycott of PlayStation and all things Sony in honor of physical media, which folks feel the company is sidelining in favor of digital purchases.
As one thread on X worded it, “We want physical games to stay! A digital-only future without ownership and customer protection law is unacceptable!” The boycott then officially “started” on August 23.
Now that it’s been a little while, some users are left wondering if it made any difference in engagement with Sony’s media… and, well, it sounds like it didn’t – in the United States, anyway, although that seems to be largely where the boycott took off, too.
Veteran analyst and Circana games lead Mat Piscatella confirms as much in response to a curious player who questions if he’s noticed “any change that could be attributed to the PSBlackout.”
No. There was no significant change at all in player count or engagement in our tracking.
— @matpiscatella.bsky.social (@matpiscatella.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-09-15T10:08:00.801Z
“No,” writes Piscatella. “There was no significant change at all in player count or engagement in our tracking.” In other words, the blackout wasn’t as fruitful as many had likely hoped.
I’m honestly not too surprised myself, though, considering the sheer scope of Sony’s reach in both gaming and outside – plus, there’s the fact that the company has made clear it’s not budging on its decision to move away from physical releases.
In late July, Sony chief financial officer Lin Tao doubled down on the plan to end PlayStation discs despite “strong views” against it, saying, “We don’t see that there will be any negative impact on our business” – and, unfortunately, it appears that she wasn’t exactly wrong in believing that, judging by Piscatella’s analysis.
I’m still personally hopeful that Sony will see the reaction to Microsoft’s own disc-to-digital conversion plan with Xbox and take note…
But, I also do highly doubt it. At the least, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that we’re able to find a nice middle ground in the future that allows for both digital and physical purchases on all platforms – and better consumer rights, too, please.
Here’s why we think PlayStation killing discs is bad for everyone, whether you care about physical games or not.