Last week, PlayStation confirmed that from January 2028 onwards, it would stop printing discs for PlayStation games. Since then, we've heard a lot of opinions from various gamers, influencers, companies, and more, and it seems a lot of people are against the idea of digital being your only option going forwards. PNP Games, a Canadian retailer, certainly doesn't want to see discs go the way of the dodo, as it has made a petition asking Sony to keep physical media alive.
"A disc is a real game you own. You can lend it, trade it, resell it, gift it, collect it, or pass it down to your kids. A box with only a download code is not the same thing. It is a digital license in plastic packaging. You do not own it," reads the description on the "Don't Kill the Disc: Tell Sony to Keep Physical PlayStation Games" petition on Change.org. PNP Games highlights that it doesn't see digital gaming as an issue, but it becomes one when it's the only option given out to players.
The loss of discs also has wider ramifications, according to the petition. "This is also about jobs. Physical games support an entire industry that an all-digital future quietly erases: retailers, distributors, manufacturers, warehousing and logistics, the pre-owned and trade-in market, and the collector and preservation community. That is thousands of jobs and countless small businesses. Ending physical media removes consumer choice, weakens local economies, and hands a few platform holders total control over how, and whether, you can access the games you buy," reads the description.
Sony has since clarified that you could still buy discs following January 2028, as games released before then will still be printed on a disc. However, that would still mark the death of physical games from that point onwards, at least on the PlayStation platform. As 115,000 signatures in a few days shows, this isn't the most popular move Sony has ever made, especially as PNP highlights that in 2013, PlayStation marketed and prided itself on the idea the games you bought you'd own, forever.