To kick off July, Sony made the surprising announcement that it plans to end support of physical discs for PlayStation games at the beginning of 2028. In the week since that news, Sony kept quiet on social media. Now, Sony has attempted to start a new conversation with gamers, but it’s not going well so far.
In the message seen below, Sony touts the FlexStrike wireless fight stick. Under normal circumstances, this product could have been positively received on its own terms. Unfortunately for the team behind controller, their announcement has been met by lingering anger and resentment from fans over the decision to kill physical discs.
Some of the responses are a little too profane to share here. There may be support for Sony, but if so, it’s been largely buried on social media. Most of the messages have been angry, satirical, or both.
Companies like iam8bit and GameFly have already shared their disappointment in Sony’s move away from physical discs. Alinea Analytics analyst Rhys Elliott has suggested that Sony made this decision to exert greater control over pricing and distribution. Eliminating physical discs effectively kills the used games market and makes Sony’s online store the only outlet that can sell its titles outside of code-in-a-box games like Grand Theft Auto 6.
There are also concerns that Sony’s experiments with dynamic pricing will charge some players more than others while keeping prices artificially high. To further underscore the lack of permanence in the digital marketplace, Sony has also shared its plans to close the Play Station 3 and Vita online stores.