this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2026
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For those who don't know, there has been somewhat of an uproar due to Playstation's announcement about stopping making disks.

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[–] TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website 49 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

PlayStation sold more PS5 without BD reader than the one with. Consumers have already voted

[–] ByteMe@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's kinda not only customers fault. Sony charges much for the bd version plus 9/10 of the games require huge downloads and installs even if they are physical. Most people just don't see the point anymore.

[–] TiredTiger@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If the disk cannot install and play the full game, then it holds little value as physical media for preservation. At that point the only value it has is for collectors.

[–] watson387@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Or someone who wants to resell it when they're done playing it. Us old dudes did that often. You could always get a little of the cash back from a game you could use to put toward a new game. With digital it's full price and no resale.

[–] TiredTiger@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago

Yeah, but every game has an expiration date if you have to rely on a server still being live to download the full game, which is kinda my point.

[–] just2look@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 month ago

On top of reselling, you could let friends borrow games that you weren't using.

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[–] watson387@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I bought the one with the disc drive and buy physical games as much as possible. I honestly always felt ripped off paying full price for a console game without getting the physical media. The problem is that nowadays, shipping games before they're fully cooked and patching later has become the norm. Buying discs of brand-new games doesn't actually let you keep the full experience anymore. You can resell them though.

Did the same thing

[–] just2look@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Do you have a source for that? Because I know for a long time the disc version outsold the digital by a pretty wide margin. And the pro doesn't count because it doesn't offer a disc option.

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[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)
[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 4 points 1 month ago

To add to what you've said, Microsoft has effectively abandoned physical media as well, with Nintendo being the last hold out whom is constantly lambasted for their prices. Computer gaming had completely abandoned physical media for over a decade.

[–] jtrek@startrek.website 32 points 1 month ago (3 children)

No.

  • most people don't know about it
  • many actual children won't care
  • many "gamers" are little better than children
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[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 28 points 1 month ago

I'll answer with a question that should well serve as an answer

What boycott?

[–] bigbangdangler@reddthat.com 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

No. Convenience always wins. Same reason people decided streaming is better than owning.

Some percent of those upset and boycotting will simply give it up. These things have about a 2-4 week lifespan. Then they'll just miss their PlayStation and everything will be over, except they'll own even less.

[–] DFX4509B@lemmy.wtf 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

And the same thing that could also work in Win365's favor against PCs should it get a consumer tier.

[–] Shellofbiomatter@lemmus.org 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Noup, it's not going to have any effect. Like the other person said. People have already voted with their wallets and will keep voting the same way, because for some reason. Not buying something is completely unthinkable to way too many people.

[–] DFX4509B@lemmy.wtf 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Plus like I pointed out, even if PS and their home electronics division died, Sony themselves will still live on because they have their hands in basically everything. They have a pro audio and video division, including ENG. They're in the still cam business and make image sensors for pretty much everyone else too, and unless that changed, they also have an industrial imaging division as well.

Also, Sony barely makes dedicated disc players anymore, only having one model each of 1080p and 4K BD players in production, and I feel like those won't be much longer for the world either.

Sony's future dedicated media player is probably gonna be a glorified Roku-type streaming box; effectively a thin client to stream rented media to.

I'm surprised they even still make traditional AVRs and speakers and didn't switch exclusively to soundbars or drop out of that market entirely yet, even.

The future for physical media is gonna be grim as even though you can still buy BDs/DVDs and CDs and vinyl second-hand, there might not be any new players for those formats being made in the foreseeable future anymore apart from videophile/audiophile stuff. Although in an odd twist of fate, and potentially a repeat of a trend from the early '80s when the audio CD first launched, CDs are outselling vinyl again.

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[–] SapphironZA@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 month ago

The disk battle is the wrong one to fight.

The correct battle is that buying=owning not leasing.

[–] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The lack of affordability in the console space will do more. I'd ballpark 95% of playstation purchasers have no idea about Sony's announcement. And when it finally happens, they'll just do whatever they need to do to make the game run. But if they just can't justify the money it takes to do what they need to do, then sony won't get the money, and they'll notice.

But no, playstation won't notice the blip of people who refuse to purchase for long-term ownership reasons.

[–] Melobol@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago

I don't think it will matter to them if I boycott them. But that won't stop me of not buying their products.
Same thing with Target - my yearly $200 I spent there before I started my boycott - won't even ping the radar. But my 'boycott' still going strong.

[–] etchinghillside@reddthat.com 5 points 1 month ago

Nope. You will own nothing and you will love it.

(Nobody was buying disks – boycott for DRM free offline or something useful)

[–] TORFdot0@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

If I know gamers, it will be just as effective as the Modern Warfare 2 PC boycott back in the day

[–] ndondo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 month ago

I think people underestimate the power of collective action. People have been underplaying the strengths of these actions in online discourse to the point where I wonder if its coordinated.

Being loud and boycotting does work. And even if it doesn't why support anti consumer practices.

[–] Soapbox@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 month ago
[–] treadful@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

When was the last time a boycott worked?

[–] Sibshops@lemmy.myserv.one 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

On the right, Bud light after the transgender ad. On the left, people have called for boycotts for so many things it gets drowned out as noise.

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The BDS movement had a lot of successes.

[–] Adonis1172@feddit.uk 4 points 1 month ago

No. Its that simple.

People will keep using the playstation, people will keep playing games, buying shit etc. Its wishful thinking that the boycott will do anything other the slightly lower overall numbers. The equivalent of a normal workday.

[–] KulunkelBoom@lemmus.org 4 points 1 month ago

If there's an actual boycott - yes it will work. Will EVERYONE refuse to buy their products?

Yeah... right.

[–] solrize@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago

It's working for me. I didn't even know about the boycott and I still don't have a playstation. It must have succeeded in controlling the narrative.

[–] TwinTitans@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

All I know is I’m not buying shit from them again.

[–] racketlauncher831@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 month ago

Yes, the even more powerful way of protesting: not giving a shit.

[–] gary_host_laptop@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago
[–] callouscomic@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

No.

People already buy digital games at greater rates for years, plus most digital games havent been the full game for a while now. Some kf them are literally just download codes now.

Nope, nobody really cares about physical media or owning anything anymore

[–] DFX4509B@lemmy.wtf 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

No. And even if PS and their home electronics division died, Sony has their hands in too many pies for it to hurt them longterm as a company; they're in the cine and ENG industries, they make still cams, they make image sensors for everyone, and last time I thought they also had an industrial imaging division, Sony as a company will be fine even if they lost PS and their home electronics division.

To put it bluntly, Sony is in the position now, that RCA was in when they were in their prime, only Sony has yet to have a CED moment where RCA killed themselves in their stupidity with the CED. And no, Betamax and MD don't count as neither of those formats killed Sony as a company, the CED otoh, killed RCA as a company.

[–] Zen_Shinobi@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

No it wont.

Since covid, physical media has been declining sales. Since games and other media are only getting larger, it makes sense to have it digitally instead of multiple disks. Consoles and PCs are being made without disk drives.

[–] DFX4509B@lemmy.wtf 3 points 1 month ago (3 children)

And even dedicated BD players are seemingly on the way out as most of the major manufacturers either severely pared or discontinued player production outright, assuming they're even in the home AV business anymore to begin with.

Sony just has one model each for a 1080p and 4K BD player, I don't know what Panasonic is up to with their players if they even make anymore, and beyond that, boutique videophile brands like Magnetar and Reavon were still making players last time I checked, but they're ludicrously expensive.

Assuming Sony discontinues their dedicated disc players and moves exclusively to streaming boxes, they'll be done with physical media forever. And I'm still surprised they even make traditional AVRs and speakers and didn't kill those in favor of a couple soundbars yet.

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[–] MisterNeon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Probably not.

[–] detren@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

The boycott wont do anything now but I think once they actually stop releasing physical games a lot of people will move to switch to continue collecting, or to PC since it’s more convenient for digital games. If it’s enough to make them change course, I don’t know, but I sure hope so.

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