Gamers boycotted Sony: what PlayStation fans are unhappy with

From August 23 to 30, some PlayStation owners plan to completely turn off their consoles and not buy anything in the Sony ecosystem. The reason was the company's decision to abandon discs with games — but the list of complaints from gamers is much longer.

What exactly did the fans come up with

An action called #PSBlackout is gaining momentum online, writes xrust. The idea is simple and tough in its own way: from seven in the evening on August 23 to seven in the evening on August 30, console owners are asked to completely turn off the PlayStation, not log into their account and not spend a single ruble in the Sony ecosystem — neither on games, nor on subscriptions, nor on anything else.

The initiator was the account Does It Play? on the social network X, which specializes in protecting the rights of gamers and preserving the physical media of games. The organizers directly admit: their goal is to hit one of the key indicators that Sony management is focusing on — the number of active users of the PlayStation Network. The week was not chosen by chance: on the one hand, long enough for the numbers to drop noticeably, on the other hand, short enough so as not to hit too hard on independent publishers and developers who also depend on sales on the platform.

The last straw: discs will be canceled from 2028

The formal trigger was Sony's July statement: starting in January 2028, new PlayStation games will be released exclusively in digital format, without physical discs. For some of the audience, this is not just a technical detail, but a symbolic break: for many gamers, the disc is an opportunity to resell the game, lend it to a friend, collect editions and be sure that the game will remain available even if the store one day closes.

The boycott organizers directly formulate this as a message from the company: “Sony wants to turn its back on its fans? Then we will respond in kind.” It is significant that the authors of the action themselves admit that not all Sony’s decisions depend solely on the company itself, but they insist that the return of a larger number of physical releases would be a gesture of goodwill towards the community.

Discs are just an excuse, the list of complaints is longer

If we analyze the complaints of gamers in detail, the refusal of discs turns out to be more the last straw than the only reason. The appeal from the boycott organizers lists a much broader list of grievances: the closure of the iconic studios Bluepoint Games and Japan Studio, a clear bias towards game services instead of single-player projects, weak support for the PSVR2 headset, which never took off in the market, the refusal of some fan events and — what is especially painful for an experienced audience — the lack of continuations of cult series. The appeal specifically mentions that fans miss the new parts of Twisted Metal, SOCOM, Sly Cooper and Resistance — franchises that at one time largely shaped the identity of the PlayStation brand.

This is not the first attempt to put pressure on Sony

The #PSBlackout story is not the first time that part of the community is trying to put pressure on the company in an organized manner. Previously, dissatisfied players have already been called to cancel PlayStation Plus subscriptions in protest against the same policy. The current action is an attempt to translate local irritation into a more noticeable and widespread format that is more difficult to ignore.

Similar stories regularly happen around other major publishers and manufacturers: petitions, flash mobs for canceling subscriptions, boycotts of releases are a common tool for the gaming community to put pressure on the industry. Such actions do not always lead to real changes in company policies, but sometimes they still become a signal that large market players cannot completely ignore, especially if financial indicators or reviews in digital stores are simultaneously falling.

What does this mean for Russian gamers

For the Russian PlayStation audience, the situation is special: the PS Store has not officially been operating in Russia for several years, and consoles and games are purchased through parallel imports or foreign accounts. Nevertheless, the topic of abandoning discs also worries Russian players — some collectors and fans of physical editions purposefully hunt for disc versions of consoles precisely because the digital ecosystem is strictly tied to the account and region, and access to the store can be limited at any time for reasons beyond the player’s control.

Whether #PSBlackout will really force Sony to change course is a big question. One week without sessions is unlikely to bring down the corporation’s quarterly report, but a loud news event will definitely force the company to at least publicly respond to the claims — fortunately, the experience of such actions in the gaming industry shows that silence in such cases usually irritates the audience more than any inconvenient answer.

Sources:

1. https://gamemag.ru/news/200452/angry-playstation-fans-propose-ps5-blackout-in-protest-of-sonys-disc-decision
2. https://shazoo.ru/2026/07/28/187864/geimery-zaplanirovali-boiko
3. https://www.bfm.ru/news/613466

Xrust Gamers announced a boycott of Sony: what PlayStation fans are unhappy with