PlayStation's decision to ditch production of game discs in 2028 last week came as a shock to the gaming community, as, while digital sales have grown over the past few years, no one expected that it would be Sony Interactive Entertainment to pull the plug on physical game releases. However, it's not just the gaming community that was left shocked by the announcement, as even publishers, business partners and regional offices were left in the dark, according to a new report from High Chaos Run.
"Despite our seemingly close working relationship with PlayStation we weren’t informed that this was happening," said an executive at a major AAA publisher. "It’s only hitting us now that we may be out of jobs sooner rather than later."
Even more baffling, as mentioned above, regional offices were kept in the dark about what has become PlayStation's most controversial announcement since Sony entered the video game market, including the India office. "Why would we even work with PlayStation let alone invest a couple of crores [for those outside of India, 1 crore = INR 10 million] on a store when they won’t be selling discs,” said one investor involved in negotiating with local distributors to set up PlayStation-exclusive stores. "What’s worse is: PlayStation India didn’t even tell us this was happening before it went public, but kept asking us to put money in all the same. They didn’t know either."
As for why PlayStation kept its partners in the dark, no one can tell at this time, though it's easy that secrecy was kept to avoid resistance and backlash. Backlash that is still coming in some form, as, according to the report, communication between partners and PlayStation have been cold, with the Japanese company telling them to "take it or leave it."
Given the massive backlash for a decision that some, such as CI Games CEO Marek Tyminski, believe was obvious, as publishers earn more per unit sold with digital sales, PlayStation will have to say something on the matter before long. The company has gone completely silent on social media since the announcement, but if it hoped to just let things cool down before returning, it may be in for a surprise. Such a massive and completely justified backlash will not just disappear overnight.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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