Sony is ending its physical disc production for PlayStation games beginning in 2028. A lot of people are very reasonably worried about this for very valid reasons: there are concerns around digital ownership, the decimation of the used games market, worries this may price some people out of buying games entirely, or just frustration around not being able to hold a disc in one’s hand. I want to be clear that I think these concerns are all important and valid, and I think this is a terrible move on Sony’s part.
But today I also want to whine about a trivial knock-on effect that I keep thinking about: Sony getting rid of discs means no more new Disc Butts.
What’s a Disc Butt? I’m so glad you asked. A Disc Butt is when the image on a video game disc lines up perfectly in such a way where you can put two fingers together up against the back of the disc and make it look like the character on the front of the disc has a naked butt. The most famous example of this is Bloodborne, of course, as shown here:
But Overwatch did something similar:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA BUTTS #Blizzard #Overwatch #Tracer pic.twitter.com/lCKoKJ4sOI
— Stacey Jenkins 💀⚰️ (@HereLiesStacey) May 25, 2016
And other games like Far Cry: Primal and Uncharted 4 have offered, uh, alternative opportunities for goofing around with fingers and discs.
If you already own these discs, your ability to make fun little butts and things with those existing discs isn’t going away. But we’re never going to have any new ones after 2028 for PlayStation games, and conceivably not for Xbox games, either, if the rumors are true.
“But Reb,” you say, “surely companies have learned their lesson and would never produce a disc that allowed for a Disc Butt again anyway?” Absolutely not. Companies never learn lessons. I am certain that were discs allowed to continue, someone would once again put a character in a, um, compromising position on a disc, and we’d get to do this gag again and again. But after 2028, it’s as good as over. No matter how much we yell at Sony about it.
I know this isn’t anywhere near the biggest issue with the end of physical games. I’m personally pretty pissed off about how this means I’ll never be able to truly own any of my new PlayStation games after 2027, and I’ve written before about how much I already miss video game bargain bins. But it sucks to lose the ability to hold a thing in your hands and manipulate it and draw on it and share it with a friend and have your younger sibling scratch the hell out of it and otherwise mess it up. You could argue some of those things are inconveniences we’re best rid of, and I feel like I’m turning into an old fogey (in my 30s) being upset about it, but I just liked it when stuff was real, you know?
Also, butts are funny! I’m sad there will be no new little Disc Butts to be made. Bloodborne will just have to keep me company forever.