[STEAM] 'No Disc No Buy' Comments Dominate Sony's Phantom Blade Zero State of Play Livestream, as Planned PlayStation Boycott Nears

[Steam 0]

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Sony held its planned

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State of Play livestream with — somewhat surprisingly — the comments turned on, and they went exactly how everyone thought they would.

The

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chat, for example, was dominated by “no disc no buy” comments, which drowned out comments about the promising looking action game itself. It was a similar situation on

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.

None of this should come as a surprise, given

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since Sony’s announcement sent shockwaves through the video game industry as a likely battleground for the ongoing backlash to the impending end of PlayStation disc production from 2028.

“Will buy when it's available PHYSICALLY,” read one comment. “Wow! It may look great but it will look better on a disc! So make that happen and keep happening,” said another. “Does Donnie Yen come on disc?” joked one person.

Phantom Blade Zero is just the latest game to find itself drowned out by the no disc backlash, despite it and its developer, S-Game, having nothing to do with it. Gamers have continued to call on Sony to U-turn on its decision, signing online petitions and swarming over PlayStation social media posts to express concern about video game preservation and ownership. Complaints have also come from other groups. The ***’s Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA), for example, called Sony’s decision “a triumph of corporate convenience over consumer choice.”

Meanwhile, backers of physical media have

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to send a message to Sony that its decision to kill discs is unacceptable. The

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, which is a fierce critic of Sony’s plan to do away with physical media, issued a call to arms that has been viewed on the social media platform over 2 million times.

“Sony wants to abandon fans? Let's give them a small taste of their own medicine!” the X /

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account said. “Together with other creators we call for a 1 week #PSBlackout in August. No logins, no play sessions, no purchases on any of Sony's platforms.”

Here’s the boycott statement in full:

For several years now, Sony Interactive Entertainment has continued to grow further apart from its fan base. Whether it's closing beloved studios like Bluepoint, pursuing a misguided live-service strategy, canceling fan events, leaving PS VR2 to die, or being completely out of touch with the franchises players want to see return, PlayStation has never felt more disconnected from its community.

Ending physical discs in 2028 feels like the last straw. We understand there is only so much SIE can control, but with the decisions that are within its control, the company continues to mismanage the strong position it inherited from the PS4 era.

There are so many issues with PlayStation right now that bringing back physical games would only be meeting players halfway. There is still much more SIE can do. We miss Twisted Metal, SOCOM, Sly Cooper, and Resistance. We miss PlayStation Experience. We miss Japan Studio.

With that, we are calling on PlayStation players to participate in an economic and gameplay blackout from Sunday, August 23, at 7:00 PM local time through Sunday, August 30, at 7:00 PM local time. Players can participate by turning off their consoles or logging out for seven days. We feel that this ******* gives publishers and developers minimal impact while still giving players a voice.

[/url] But will this call to arms have any impact? Last month,

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to say it is not having any effect on its business now, and it doesn’t see any negative effect in the future. Sony executives insisted they will not change their minds, while acknowledging “strong views” from the video game community.

When Sony announced its decision it said it was simply following consumer trends. “In response to shifting trends in consumer preference, new games will be released on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only,” Sid Shuman, Senior Director, Sony Interactive Entertainment Content Communications, said in a post on

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Sony's latest financials show an 82% digital download ratio for full game software across PS4 and PS5. Reinforcing this trend, Mat Piscatella, Senior Director and Video Game Industry Advisor at Circana, recently

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. Only two PlayStation video games sold more than 10,000 physical units in the U.S. during the week ending July 11.

Similarly, Strauss Zelnick, boss of Rockstar parent company Take-Two, recently

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, insisting when it comes to big games, discs “don’t really make sense for the consumer.”

There are instances of companies reversing controversial decisions amid a backlash, but, as

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, it remains unlikely that Sony will U-turn on this. For Sony, going all-digital for new game releases will earn it more money from every ***** at a time when console sales are expected to plummet due to their rising cost. For a first-party PlayStation game such as The Last of Us, Sony will only keep around 65% of the money from a physical copy, with around 30% going to the retailer and roughly another 5% on manufacturing costs. Meanwhile, for a physical copy of a third-party game such as the Activision-published Call of Duty, Sony will get a licensing fee, likely around 15%.

For downloads, however, the margins are much higher. For a first-party game sold via Sony's own PlayStation Store, the company obviously keeps 100% of the revenue. For third-party games such as Call of Duty, meanwhile, Sony keeps a 30% cut (so, roughly $21 for a $70 game).

So, with Sony unlikely to budget, games like Phantom Blade Zero will continue to get caught in the crossfire, at least in the short term.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on

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at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld.

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