PlayStation players planning a console blackout in the last week of August

Next month, PlayStation players are going to be switching off their consoles as part of a blackout, to protest Sony Interactive Entertainment's plan to remove physical discs from its consoles and other decisions that have seen SIE apparently distance itself from its target audience. This blackout is expected to last from the 23rd to the 30th of August.

Organised and posted online by Does it play? the blackout message points at other reasons why Sony fans have grown distant from the platform owner, such as studio closures and forgotten IPs. "We miss Twisted Metal, SOCOM, Sly Cooper, and Resistance, We miss PlayStation Experience. We miss Japan Studio," reads the post, saying that even if Sony were to snap its fingers and restore discs, that wouldn't be enough to return the lost faith fans have.

The post has garnered more than a million views online, and yet it's very unclear whether this blackout will have any sort of effect on Sony's strategies going forward. The dates chosen for the blackout miss out on most of the biggest game launches coming to PS5 this year, which means player numbers will restore themselves in time for Marvel's Wolverine, Phantom Blade Zero, The Blood of Dawnwalker, and other big September releases. Moreover, it seems like there just won't be enough people involved to really make their voices heard. Even the petition to stop Sony ending disc production has petered out at around 350,000 signatures. A lot of people, but a minute fraction of the millions of PS5 users out there.