30 ten-thousand players signed a petition to protest SONY stopping production of PlayStation physical optical discs; the EU admitted: it has no authority to interfere with Sony

Sony (SONY) previously announced that it will completely stop producing physical PlayStation game discs in 2028. Nearly 300k players signed a petition to protest, but the EU consumer protection committee admitted that this falls purely within the scope of business freedom, and the EU has no authority to interfere.
(Background recap: Xbox leaked “the next generation will cut the disc drive”! PS officially announced that all games in 2028 will go digital, and longtime players erupted in anger)
(Background addition: Hideo Kojima warned that pure digitalization is “terrifying”! Sony’s PS disc production stop in 2028 is only the beginning—do you truly own the games you’ve played?)

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• Sony stops physical discs in 2028, accused of paving the way for PS6 to be fully digital
• EU douses the fire: this is business and contract freedom
• Analyst: 500k unsubscribes, but Sony only loses 1%

Nearly 300k players banded together, and they also rallied to pressure Sony by coordinating cancellations of PS Plus through social communities, but the decision to stop physical PlayStation game discs seems to have little impact. First, the EU directly said it is corporate business freedom and that it has no right to intervene. Then, market analysts presented figures and concluded that Sony simply won’t reverse course because of this wave of protests.

Sony stops physical discs in 2028, accused of paving the way for PS6 to be fully digital

All of this was triggered by a notice Sony (Sony) issued earlier this month. Without warning, the company announced that it will fully stop producing PlayStation physical game discs starting January 2028. This means that PlayStation games released after that point are likely to be available only in digital form, leading many players to speculate that Sony is paving the way for a fully digital model for the next-generation PS6 console in advance.

The moment the news broke, it immediately ignited anger among supporters of physical media. In addition to starting petitions online and demanding that Sony rescind its decision—so far accumulating nearly 300k participants—some players further called for the community to collectively cancel PS Plus subscriptions, trying to force Sony to take their voices seriously with hard money.

In fact, there is precedent for the standoff between players and game publishers over whether games can always be played. Last month, the European Commission formally responded to the “Stop Killing Games” action launched by players, clearly stating that it would not do so through legislation—meaning it would not force game developers to keep their games playable even after shutting down operations.

EU douses the fire: this is business and contract freedom

In the face of this controversy over physical discs, players originally hoped that a large government body like the EU would step in to stop it. The answer was equally disappointing.

While attending the European Parliament in Strasbourg, EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, Rule of Law and Consumer Protection Michael McGrath was asked how he viewed PlayStation’s digitalization strategy. He said that as long as game companies act in accordance with the law, they are entitled to decide for themselves what kind of方式 to provide products to consumers.

“At the end of the day, it all comes down to business and contract freedom. Companies have the right to provide games and services in ways they deem appropriate, provided they must comply with the laws of each country and EU law, and sufficiently protect consumers’ rights and interests. As things stand, we do indeed need to deliberate on an initiative from European citizens discussing whether, after a game is released in a new version, the old version should continue to remain playable.”

Analyst: 500k unsubscribes, but Sony only loses 1%

With no hope of the regulator stepping in, can the player-initiated wave of unsubscribes shake Sony? Market analyst Dr. Serkan Toto’s view is also not optimistic. He believes the backlash from players is largely wasted effort; Sony is almost impossible to change course because of it. He also said that while he is sympathetic to players who favor physical media, he thinks Sony had already anticipated what kind of backlash would appear online. For now, the best strategy is to cool things down and wait for the storm to naturally die down.

Serkan Toto further broke down the damage of the protest using numbers: PlayStation has around 120 million active players worldwide. If we estimate that 50 million of them subscribe to PS Plus, then even if the controversy truly causes 500k players to unsubscribe in anger, that would only amount to losing about 1% of subscribers. Compared with the cost savings and the benefit improvements brought by full digitalization, a loss of this magnitude is almost negligible for Sony.