Sony‘s decision to end physical PlayStation game disc production in 2028 has gone from a heated social media backlash to a full-blown industry mess. The news didn’t just blindside fans — apparently, some of the company’s own gaming partners weren’t told about the plan beforehand either. According to a report from India-based site High Chaos Run, Sony allegedly didn’t inform publishers, business partners, or even regional PlayStation offices before making the announcement.
“Despite our seemingly close working relationship with PlayStation we weren’t informed that this was happening,” said a major AAA publisher representative whose name has been withheld. The report also claims that the secrecy behind the physical disc shutdown extended to PlayStation’s own operations in India.
According to another disgruntled anonymous source, an investor, even the local branch of the company wasn’t aware of the decision. This was despite PlayStation India reportedly negotiating with local retailers to establish ‘100 exclusive PlayStation brick-and-mortar stores’ by 2028.
“Why would we even work with PlayStation let alone invest a couple of crores [note: crore means tens of millions] on a store when they won’t be selling discs,” they said. “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.”
Sony is still keeping quiet so far regarding this whole physical disc controversy. Since announcing the move and the report of its factory shifting production focus, criticism has continued to pile up. Industry figures like Hideo Kojima have condemned the move, and a Change.org petition for ‘Don’t Kill the Disc‘ has now reached 172,000 signatures.
High Chaos Run also says it did not receive a comment before publication. But, as with any claims based on anonymous sources, it’s worth treating them with a grain of salt. Still, if this is true, then PlayStation might’ve really flushed down decades of goodwill worldwide with just a couple of cold paragraphs.
