PlayStation’s decision to end disc production has been met with outrage and disappointment from fans and developers alike. And now, PlayStation is attracting even more criticism, as a community note attached to its disc announcement has highlighted another recent controversy.
Those hoping PlayStation will see the error of its way may want to lower their expectations. From a business perspective, data proves that a vast majority of gamers purchase games digitally nowadays, so spending money on producing discs that many may never buy is a hard sell. Beyond that, Sony is already lowering disc production at its biggest factory, with said plant even switching over to micro optics since it’s expecting to produce very few discs by 2028. As fans of physical game collections continue to bash Sony, its social media silence following the frustrating announcement remains deafening.
Video Game History Foundation Director Makes Bold Comment About PlayStation’s Digital-Only Stance
Amid the ongoing backlash toward Sony’s no-disc policy, the VGHF director makes a comment that underscores the gravity of the situation.
Alongside some gamers simply loving the idea of having a physical collection to show off and admire, there are many players understandably concerned about video game preservation. After all, the PS3 and PS Vita stores are shutting down, and even though fans will be able to re-download their owned games for the “foreseeable future,” the cutoff could essentially come at any time. To add to PlayStation’s troubles, a Twitter community note just tied its two latest controversies together. Said community note reads as follows:
Digital purchases grant a revocable license to access content, not ownership. Sony recently removed hundreds of purchased StudioCanal movies from libraries due to licensing.
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While PlayStation users losing access to hundreds of films isn’t the exact same scenario as expensive video game licenses being revoked, and the movie licensing issue ultimately fell on StudioCanal, the optics have been undeniably bad for PlayStation. Those paying close attention to news about the company will have already been pointing to these removed films as proof that digital libraries can fade away at any time, as licenses can always be revoked and are not truly the same as ownership. Now, anyone that wasn’t already connecting these two events will do so thanks to this community note, painting Sony’s licenses as untrustworthy and the looming loss of discs as even more problematic.
Since Sony made its controversial announcement, it’s been silent on social media, meaning that its confirmation of disc production ending in 2028 and this awkward community note are the first thing that Twitter users see when viewing the PlayStation page. Obviously, this is also not a good look, and with it being a holiday weekend in the US, there’s a good chance there won’t be a post on the main PlayStation social media account until Monday. This provides more time for gamers and developers to focus on criticizing PlayStation for its decision, which Sony surely doesn’t want.
Perhaps PlayStation will attempt to return to social media next week with exciting news about one of its upcoming games like Marvel’s Wolverine or God of War Laufey. Even if it does drop something exciting, though, the disc controversy likely won’t be going away anytime soon.
