Sony disc backlash has filled petitions, forums and a planned console blackout. It started when the company confirmed it will stop making physical discs. On Friday an analyst finally asked the obvious question. Is any of it actually hurting the business?
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The answer was no. Better still, the results published that same morning quietly explain why the protest cannot bite. They also show what is costing Sony sales instead.
Where the Sony disc backlash actually stands
Chief financial officer Lin Tao took the question on the company’s latest earnings call. She acknowledged the anger, then made it clear that nothing is changing.
“At this point in time, we are not seeing any impact on our business,” she said. A large part of content sales is “already digitised”. So Tao does not expect the end of discs to hurt. Still, she conceded that “the players have attachments, and we have to think about how to respond to that feedback.”
Sony will also keep shipping boxes in North America with a download code inside. We covered that same arrangement in GTA 6 PS5 retail codes will be region-locked, while Xbox codes will work worldwide. You can also read as it was reported.
The number that makes a boycott hard
The filing answers the question on its own. Digital made up 82 percent of software units sold last quarter, up from 78 percent a year earlier.
So the format being defended is already a shrinking minority of what people buy. Meanwhile the audience keeps growing. Sony logged 125 million monthly active users, two million more than a year ago. Profits also rose 37 percent, thanks largely to United States tariff refunds.
Campaigners have set 23 to 30 August for a week-long logout under the PSBlackout banner. Because so few discs sell anyway, that week of silence lands on an already insulated part of the business.
The problem nobody is protesting
Read further down the same document, though, and a different picture appears. Sony shifted 1.6 million PS5 consoles between April and June. That is roughly 36 percent fewer than the same quarter last year. Lifetime sales reached 95.3 million.
Now set that against the last generation. At the same age the PS4 had moved 100.2 million. So the PS5 now sits about five million behind its own predecessor.
The reason has nothing to do with discs. A global memory shortage changed the maths instead. The PS5 became the first PlayStation ever to get more expensive as it aged, not cheaper. That same shortage pushed Microsoft into raising prices, as covered in Xbox Revenue Decline Hits $1.7 Billion as Prices Rise. Meanwhile GameSpot’s breakdown lays the console comparison out in full.
In short, the Sony disc backlash and the company’s real weak spot are two different things. Players are preparing to switch off over a format that barely registers in the figures. Meanwhile the price of the machine quietly does the damage.
Frequently asked questions
Is Sony reversing the disc decision? No. Tao said the company will “cautiously move this forward”.
When is the PlayStation blackout? Campaigners have called for 23 to 30 August.
How many PS5 consoles have sold? Sony reported 95.3 million as of 30 June 2026.
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