PS5 Boycott Following End of Discs Caused 'No Significant Change at All in Player Count' in the US - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 14 September 2026 / 6,012 Views
PlayStation fans organized a "PlayStation Blackout" boycott that called for PS5 users to turn off their consoles and not use them for a seven days at the end of August.
New data via Senior Director and Video Game Industry Advisor at Circana Mat Piscatella revealed there was little to impact on the player count or engagement for that week in the US.
"No," said Piscatella when asked if there was any noticeable change that could be attributed to the boycott. "There was no significant change at all in player count or engagement in our tracking."
It is still possible the boycott had a bigger impact outside of the US. However, Circana only provides data in the one country.
PlayStation in July announced it would be ending physical game disc production for all new games released on PlayStation consoles starting January 2028. All new games release on PlayStation consoles on the PlayStation Store and at retailers will be in digital formats only.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
More Articles
I think it will be telling when Microsoft ends disc production and there is absolutely 0 outrage or commentary online. I must admit I am discouraged when I complained about Game Key Cards and no one ever gave a damn because the company wasn't named Sony. It showed me that the fight for consumer rights is a fake. Its only a fight against one single company. It showed me that consumer rights are doomed because fanboyism is so intense that it literally enables everyone else while asking one single company to bare the brunt of the entire industry. I will never forgive them for treating me like a pawn in their obsession the freaking word 'Sony'. They don't give a damn about consumers.
Except that GKCs are not in any way comparable to what Sony is doing. GKCs always preserved the fundamental right of ownership and transferability. I can buy, own, resell my GKC and can buy a used one too. GKC is about data not user rights.
GKC is also an option for games that simply cannot fit on a cartridge. I honestly dont get all the crying about them. Its just another options and better than key in a box which would prolly happen a lot more if no GKC.
Sony is giving you no option but digital and only their storefront. At least on PC you have competition.
"Sony is giving you no option but digital and only their storefront. At least on PC you have competition."
Competition that's rarely utilised. It's Steam or nothing for some people. Epic offer 12% commission for publishers/devs but isn't 18% cheaper. GoG last year was sold by CD Project for 25million, Steam apparently made 11 billion in first half of 2026, they make 25 million every 10 hours. Epic and GoG don't even get all the games Steam does.
Sony's statement was still about you can get digital codes from retailers (we have yet to find out how that works btw, if it's an API connection or Publishers getting a bunch of keys and selling them). So Sony will still have the same setup just in their case you download the game from their servers, just like you download a game (or launcher) from Steams.
Infact based on this idea above, Steam could even become a PS games seller. If it's either way, they could connect to the API or connect with publishers to buy up keys, which they can then sell on Steam for cheaper than PS store, which also means PS store will look bad in comparison and we are back to good competition again.
Publishers set the prices on digital storefronts, not the platform holders. Steam is no exception. The only exceptions are games published by platform holders. Nintendo prefers to keep its brand value high by not doing sales on its own games, but third party games do regularly go on sale on Switch and Switch 2. Steam still takes the same 30 percent of sales that Nintendo, PS, and Xbox do. Game purchases on Steam are still licenses, not ownership. GOG barely breaks even in a good year, and they’re called Good “Old” Games for a reason. You aren’t going to be playing GTA 6 or MW4 on GOG. And anytime a game publisher doesn’t want to release on Steam, the Gaben Defense Force mounts online hate campaigns.
My problem with GKCs is that every time I go to buy a game on Switch its a GKC even if the game can fit on a cart. I... as in me am frustrated to hell because the Switch storage is crap and the whole point of me wanting carts on Switch is storage management. It's the primary reason why my Switch is mostly Nintendo games because Nintendo is one of the only publishers supporting carts.
So if my complaint isn't about Sony (or even Nintendo) directly I feel completely ignored and im fn pissed like in my soul and its not healthy to be mad like this.
It's up to the publisher whether the game will be on cart or not. It's not about what can fit. It's about cost. If pubs don't want to pay the manufacturing costs to put the game on cart, then GKC it is. The other option is to not put the game on Switch at all.
Money talks...
Sure but then I see stuff like Final Fantasy Resonance being less than 15 GB and I really question that claim. Like really? A GKC for that?
Again, It's not about what fits. It's about cost. Putting a game that isn't going to sell well on cart and having the cost eat into margins doesn't make financial sense.
Square Enix is being one of the best publishers on the Switch 2 with the quantity and quality of their ports, and simultaneously one of the worst publishers with their use of GKC and handling of Switch 1 upgrades.
PS5 discs are basically keys. PS5 games take up the exact same storage space on your HDD whether you buy the disc or buy physical. That kind of makes the disc pointless, but it still has to be in the drive for the game to work, even though the disc is sitting in the drive doing nothing while the game plays. Ar least those S2 games that are on cartridge save me some storage space. Storage options aren’t great for anybody right now. A 2TB SD Express card would likely cost almost as much as the Switch 2 itself costs, and Sony’s storage is also really expensive.
Most of them are keys but fully on the disc in a playable build. Just wanted to point that out. There's a huge difference between something being a key that needs to download from the internet and something being a key that has a playable build on the actual disk. Once servers go down one becomes a coaster and the other is still playable.
Tell this to my copy of Cyberpunk 2077! Very playable if I have only the disc....
Switch 2 Edition is the version you want. It is fully on cart with all updates.
I have Cyberpunk on Switch 2, which is fully on cartridge. I havs Virtua Fighter 5 REVO on Switch 2 as well. It’s a GKC, but it’s the only physical release that version of the game ever got, so that’s more than PS5, Xbox, or Steam. That is my favorite fighting game, so I will have to be content with the GKC.
I get that, but PS5 games on disc are the janky 1.00 versions. And as for the servers going down - 20 years later, I can still go online with a Wii or a DSi and redownload games. I don’t, because I’ve long since moved on from Wii and DS almost long enough ago for newborn babies at the time to have matured into fully grown adults, but the option is still there. From Nintendo, the most lackadaisical of the three console makers regarding digital distribution. By the time 20 years post PS5 or Switch 2 comes around, I’ll be in my 70s, as dismayed as I feel.
A lot of 1.0 versions aren't janky. Doesitplay.org tracks that sort of thing. And yeah, I'll be in my 60's whenever Switch 2 and PS5 servers go down. Maybe even 70's.
Exactly... it feels like everyone is pretending to care about consumers. Its so fake. There are legit concerns with Sony but this is a drop in the bucket and like who is a blackout even addressing any of it? Oh its not because the folks behind dont give a shit about consumer rights. The can only focus on one company that is a symptom of a wider sicker industry that is never addressed.
As I always say, “no disc, no buy” is a conversation that should have happened in 2006, not 2026. This is locking the barn doors after the building is on fire and the insurance is likely to declare it a total loss. And the industry has a lot of deeper structural issues that go beyond discs.
Fine, do a short Google search and you will find countless articles, threads and videos disparaging Microsoft and Nintendo. Sony have often gotten off very lightly compared to Microsoft and Nintendo when it comes to poor business practices. Arguably what Sony has been doing recently is much worse than what Microsoft or Nintendo have done recently. Just to emphasise again you comment is ridiculous.
I still recall the "LOWER THE PRICE!" outrage last year when they announced Switch 2 would be... the same price of a PS5 Digital lol. The internet is vicious, but to say Sony has been treatly exceptionally harsh is just wrong IMO. All three are treated very harshly, and in many ways, Sony has gotten off a lot easier than the other two. Where was the outrage when Sony unveiled their $500 Base PS5? When they started charging $70USD for game? When they raise the price on their GP-equivalent subscription service?
That’s right, we should all feel sorry for Sony for how unfairly they get targeted!
Lol no, we should embrace it, if the others do something equally bad (which they haven’t since Xbox in 2013), yes they deserve the same backlash. If they don’t receive that, then that’s the problem, not that Sony received backlash rightfully.
The point of the article though is that there is no backlash. And that is also what Cosmic says (granted buried in a sideways rant and quite a few incoherent words), the big majority of people don't give a damn.
There has been a huge backlash, have you been living under a rock?
The false-flag blackout was a stupid idea suggested by stupid people, it doesn't hurt Sony that you don't play games on the system you already bought. The boycott was basicly designed to make the effect of Sony's decision look minimal.
We the enthusiasts who value physical media are a minority. A very vocal minority, but a minority nonetheless. There are plenty of hardcore gamers who do not care about this, let alone the vast majority of casuals. And Sony knows it.
The effect will be on their brand and long term, not something they will feel the next months or the next year. The quiet majority didn't care or even know about what Microsoft wanted to do in 2013 with Xbox One, but the vocal minority tanked the brand, which has never fully recovered.
Influencers, Youtubers, indie developers and even physical media enthusiasts that comment on Sony's social media posts have huge influence on the conversation about Playstation and the brand. If all conversation about Playstation is just drenched in negativity I bet you we will see it on the PS6 sales.
We gotta stop pretending that a any company in a predatory industry can ever really be consumer friendly. You have to talk about the whole industry if you actually care about the entire industry otherwise you are fake. I will keep repeating myself until you stop ignoring me. Deal?
Who is claiming that? A very competitive industry and a well-regulated industry can become consumer friendly. As a consumer you can push for better regulation and vote with your wallet, for instance by buying from the lesser evil.
Now it is very specifically Sony that decided to end their physical media, it doesn't make sense to talk about companies who have yet to make such decision, that is purely hypothetical. You can repeat yourself as much as you like, it won't make your point any stronger.
The problem can never be that Sony is facing too much backlash, whether others are receiving too little is another discussion, that still doesn't mean we should give Sony a break.
They didn't give a damn about GKC because Nintendo still offers Day and date physical options and will for the foreseeable future for their in-house franchise games.
Sony is getting rid of physical media completely. These are not the same thing.
I haven't even been following Switch 2 news too closely, and even I have seen plenty of complaints about Game Key Cards. Microsoft has got flak for similar stuff before, and the only reason it might receive less flak now is because Sony chose to take the bulk of the negative feedback - that, and the Xbox userbase is significantly smaller. All in all, I couldn't really disagree with you more.
You been living under a rock? Xbox has been copping this flak since the XB1 DRM. Ironic its that same DRM that is going to save them thanks to the Digital Disk method.
The real difference betwee the two is that Sony used the Phyiscal media logic to out market their competitor, you cant just roll that back in and say it no longer matters when many jumped ship due to it. Thats why the hate is justified.
They sold a long term lie to its consumers.
The "how to share PS4 games" video was made 13 years ago, and the PS4 has been long sunsetted since. Kids who were 5 years old when it was made, are grown-ass adults now. Sony never promised that games would always be on disc until the end of time. They did honor their advertising on PS4. It's a different world now., and like it or not, most people don't go to Gamestop or Walmart to pick up physical copies anymore when they can just click on their console. Game Pass was Microsoft's push for a digital future.
The fact is that digital distribution was always going to supplant physical distribution, unless digital distribution was smothered in the crib . The time to smother it in the crib was over 20 years ago. I actually still collect physical media, but I full expect the Switch 2 to be the last holdout on physical game media. Switch 3 might include a cartridge slot for legacy S1 and S2 games, similar to how the DS included a GBA slot until the DSi was released, since those are inexpensive compared to a disc drive, but even the Switch 3 will likely be overwhelmingly digital.
We can all agree that all platforms will be full digital at some point in the near future.
What is hurting Sony is they are pulling the rug straight from under their consumers feet with zero care or plan.
Xbox and Nintendo are atleast trying to find a way to benefit their customers for going forward with digital.
What probably also hurts Sony, is that they used marketing to pull players to their platforms, one of the major benefits of switching to PS is now gone.
But again, that was a decade and a half ago. The world has moved on since then. The PS4 and Xbox One are both dead platforms. E3 itself is long dead. Being laser-focused on Sony when Microsoft has done far more to push an all-digital future (remember Game Pass? Remember the Series S?) is a bit ridiculous. To say nothing of Steam, which pretty much gutted physical distribution on PCs BEFORE that video was published.
Being a decade old doesnt mean the promise just disappears. Sony decided they wanted to use that marketing and now are paying the consequences.
You know, I wouldn't bet on the next Xbox having support for physical games either. The disc-to-digital feature is definitely scoring them points - and for a good reason - but there will also be an uproar once we hear there won't be any more physical games for Xbox either.
Yes. Right now there has been a laser focus on Sony. Microsoft has refused to either confirm or deny that Helix will have discs. They don’t want to spoil the good PR they’re getting for picking up Kojima by admitting that they are going discless. By the time they announce it., gamers will have spent their online fury on PlayStation. At the very least, they are unwilling to commit themselves to the expense of having discs and a disc drive.. Xbox has been on the forefront of the all-digital future as well as online tethering. Not just Game Pass, but the Xbox Obe and even the 360 were prodding people towards digital distribution.. Their games are notorious for not being complete on disc and code in a box (shockingly, they have done game on cartridge for Indiana Jones and Oblivion on S2, but Fallout 4 S2 was a code in a box).
No doubt the next Xbox will be full digital, but they are atleast finding ways to help the customer make the transition, where all those who collected PSs phyiscal media, those disks are all rendered useless on the PS6+, practically screwing them over.
Also Sony announced a vinyl record player to play old Vinyl records, probably not the best time when they just told all their customers that PS won't be supporting phyiscal disks.
Absolutely, credit where it's due. But I feel it's still a bit excessive to say this is saving Xbox, because I don't think it really is. It's just making the situation easier. Many of the core issues of digitally sold games still persist though, even if migrating your library is possible.
You know how much of a big deal having your disks turn digital is? Thats amazing game preservation and allowing the customer to build their digital library from their phyiscal media is something to be phrased for. Will it save Xbox? Depends what you mean by save, are they dying?
A better question is, "Will this help Xbox compete better?" Yes, its a huge boost for them.
Not at all big for me, because digital on consoles in general is extremely undesirable to me due to the lack of competing storefronts and platform vendor lock-in.
I'm sure some people will value it a ton, but personally I'd bet my money on it being generally considered a band-aid. Consider this: if a person is still using physical, how likely are they to like going digital in the future? I reckon the feature is mostly useful for people that have a large physical library they still care about but have already switched to digital for new games, probably a good while ago now. I don't think that audience is huge. Because of this, I don't think it's a huge competitive advantage, but it's definitely one, and with how poorly Sony is doing, every little bit definitely has its part to play.
I don't know, what do you mean by save? You said it first, so I'd expect you to know what you meant by that.
Where did I mention saving Xbox? I replied to you after you said "But I feel it's still a bit excessive to say this is saving Xbox,"
You also need to see this from a customer's perspective and not a Consumers perspective. Many have invested thousands into phyiscal media, atleast on Xbox that money spent is still valuable. Its not thrown in the bin for next Gen.
Sony lived off the marketing of phyiscal games advantage, now they are the least supportive. Thats a huge turn around.
"Ironic its that same DRM that is going to save them thanks to the Digital Disk method."
Anyway, I can see you point, I don't think I've been unclear about it. On the other hand, I'm not as convinced about you seeing my point - and I'm convinced I do have a point.
Fair enough, what I said was just a figure of speech, I dont actually mean it will literally save the entire brand, it definitely helps.
Plenty still buy phyiscal media, especially on PS, thats why it hurts so much more, meanwhile when Xbox shifted to Digital, they heavily focused on Backwards compatibility and now pushing Disk to Digital.
What Sony should have done is tell their customers they have plans to preserve their old games or have a program to help, but instead its a straight up, no, your phyiscal media is rendered useless for next gen.
Yeah, you won't be finding my saying many positive things about Sony these days, despite having owned all PlayStation home consoles and a PSP.
Yeah, there is definitely some Sony hating going on. No matter what they do or what games they put out, everything is wrong and crap and awful automatically because it's Sony. Not saying they haven't made some stupid decisions lately , they deserve some of it but some people are just out hating by default for some reason.
Now you know how Xbox been feeling the past decade.
As someone who's very much not a fan of playstation going digital only, this is the first i heard of this specific "boycott". My "boycott" was going to be not getting a ps6 but thats not relevant yet
Why bother with a blackout? Time to ditch PS if you're upset about their decision.
The weeklong boycott was organized by doesitplay.org. They only have 5K YouTube subscribers and 680 Patreon donors. It was doomed to fail because they lack the social media presence to get this out to even a fraction of PS5 gamers. They do awesome work but c'mon. You can't organize an industry changing boycott with 5k followers.
Basically online/forum "gamers" are just a bunch of sheeps that parrots what is the trending thing to hate on social media, none of these people really care about "fighting for game ownership or pro consumerism"
These are the same people who keeps praising valve and steam yet all their library on steam is all digital and steam is what killed physical disc on PC about 2 decades ago. These are also the same people who ran out without hesitation to pre order GTA6 complete edition for $100 all digital and made Rockstar games $3b before the game even comes out...
Do you see any boycott from these so called "pro physical gamers" regarding those? I rest my case.
Lots of PlayStation Plus cancellations and not coming back is one of the few ways they might backpedal on some things (not physical media related, but other stuff).
How many people took part in the blackout? 10,000? Maybe?
Maybe they'll move over to PC for that.
That’s because your issues might not be other people issue. Hard to boycott something that 100 million people buys.
Personally, I don't care if Sony feels the 'pain' or whatever. I know what I am doing myself: I have been, up to this point, buying a great number of physical PS4/PS5 games - well over 45 games per year. I do this because I want to support developers/publishers, and also because I want to physically own my games.
Now that I won't have the choice or option to do so, things actually become very simple for me: I will only consider a digital game on PS4/PS5 if it is in fact cheaper and better than the equivalent PC digital purchase on Steam, Epic, or GOG - or even the Nintendo Switch 2. I very much suspect that this will be rarely the case. The other exception will be for bona fide exclusives I absolutely want to play and cannot get anywhere else. For these kinds of games I will, begrudgingly, get the digital since I would have no other option. So, I expect the number of PS4/PS5 games I purchase in the future to significantly diminish.
Also, going forward, I will substantially increase the numbers of physical games I purchase on the Switch 2 (and even Switch 1). I don't very much care about GKCs, as it is only a minor inconvenience for me to have to download the entire game (and between us, most PS5 games I purchase these days require a day one download over 45GB so I don't see the fundamental difference).
When it comes to PS6, I will weigh my options. But PC gaming via Steam, also consolised via Android handhelds (via GameNative and soon via Steam's actual Android fork of SteamOS), is increasingly becoming an option. Sony may be thinking that they are killing discs, but they might inadvertently be killing consoles altogether. When the PC becomes a better console than an actual console, I will move over to PC. And this says a lot - coming from someone who has been a pure console gamer since 1986.
A better title would be;
PS5 Boycott Meaningless Data Shows
The boycott didn't work because it only lasted ONE MONTH. -_-
Normal people don't care...
They're gonna buy anyway.
Normal people are fucking idiots.
