Sony gaming strike: players call for consoles to stay off for a week

Could a gaming strike make Sony take notice of players’ anger? One collective believes so, urging people to keep their consoles switched off for a week.

Gamers’ frustration shows no sign of fading. On 1 July, Sony announced that it would permanently abandon the disc format for every game released after January 2028. This abrupt, unilateral decision has infuriated many players.

Since the announcement, angry fans have flooded every Sony social-media post. The petition launched by the Does it Play collective has gone further still, reaching 346,000 signatures on Change.org. Sony has not responded, however. The collective has therefore chosen to launch an unprecedented action: a gaming strike. On X, it is asking players to leave their console switched off - or disconnected from the internet - from 23 to 30 August. Although symbolic, the strike is intended to demonstrate the scale of the movement to the manufacturer. Beyond the end of physical media, it is the brand’s choices over recent years that are being challenged:

“For several years now, Sony Interactive Entertainment has continued to move away from its fanbase. Whether it is closing beloved studios such as Bluepoint, pursuing an ill-advised live-service strategy, cancelling fan events, letting PS VR2 die, or being completely out of touch with the franchises players want to see return, PlayStation has never seemed further removed from its community.

Ending physical discs in 2028 feels like the final straw. We understand there are limits to what SIE can control, but when it comes to decisions 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 for SIE to do. We miss Twisted Metal, SOCOM, Sly Cooper and Resistance. We miss PlayStation Experience. We miss Japan Studio.

With that in mind, we are calling on PlayStation players to take part in an economic and gaming boycott from Sunday 23 August, at 7 pm local time, until Sunday 30 August, at 7 pm local time. Players can take part by switching off their console or disconnecting for seven days. We believe this period has minimal impact on publishers and developers while giving players a voice.”

The gaming strike calls attention to wider PlayStation concerns

The campaign is not solely about Sony’s decision to phase out physical games. For Does it Play, it also reflects dissatisfaction with the closure of popular studios, the live-service direction, cancelled fan events, the fate of PS VR2 and the absence of franchises that players would like to see return.

Ending physical games is about more than collecting

Stopping disc production represents a major shift for the video-game industry. Digital sales may now account for the majority of the market - 66% of the French market, according to SELL - yet many players remain attached to physical copies. It is not simply about displaying a box on a shelf; preservation is also at stake. A game on disc is a game you own, provided it does not require a compulsory connection. A digital game, meanwhile, is a licence you rent. The recent PSN outage left numerous single-player games inaccessible, further highlighting the risks of completely abandoning physical media.

It remains to be seen whether the gaming strike will make Sony aware of the discontent currently brewing among its customers.