Sony still has not said a word. Eighteen days after PlayStation confirmed it would end physical disc production for new games in January 2028, the Don’t Kill the Disc petition on Change.org has climbed past 330,000 signatures, gained 78 media mentions, and spawned at least a dozen copycat campaigns – and Sony’s official channels have not acknowledged any of it. The silence is becoming as much a part of this story as the petition itself.

This is the story of that backlash: who started it, why it has kept growing for nearly three weeks instead of fading after the first news cycle, and what history – from a 2021 Sony reversal to a 2013 dig at Microsoft – suggests about whether public pressure has ever actually changed Sony’s mind on physical media.

Sony’s January 2028 Disc Cutoff, and the Backlash It Triggered

On July 1, 2026, Sony Interactive Entertainment confirmed on the official PlayStation Blog that physical disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will end starting January 2028. Sony was careful to draw a line: “This transition has no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format.” In other words, existing disc libraries are safe – but every new PlayStation release after that date arrives digital-only. We covered the announcement itself, Sony’s sales data, and how it stacks up against Xbox and Nintendo in our original report on the disc shutdown. What that piece could not cover is what happened next: within hours, a Canadian retailer had launched a petition, and it has not stopped growing since.

What Is the ‘Don’t Kill the Disc’ Petition?

“Don’t Kill the Disc: Tell Sony to Keep Physical PlayStation Games” is a Change.org petition that asks Sony to reverse its January 2028 cutoff and continue offering physical discs alongside digital downloads. It does not ask Sony to abandon digital distribution, and it is not a boycott call. Its core argument is narrower and, its supporters say, harder to dismiss: that removing the disc removes the only real alternative to Sony’s own storefront, at a time when Sony is also facing lawsuits over how much control it has over PlayStation Store pricing. As the petition itself frames it, the stakes go beyond PlayStation: “When the market leader ends the disc, the rest of the industry follows.”

Who Is Jade Pearce? The Retailer Behind the Campaign

The petition was launched by Jade Pearce, CEO of PNP Games, an independent Canadian game retailer founded in 2005 that now operates three physical locations. Pearce’s position is unusual for a story mostly framed around collectors: PNP Games is a business whose entire model – buying, selling, and trading used physical discs – disappears the moment new releases stop shipping on disc. In comments verified by Dexerto, Pearce said: “Physical games support an entire industry that an all-digital future quietly erases: retailers, distributors, manufacturers, warehousing and logistics, the pre-owned and trade-in market, and the collector and preservation community.” That framing – jobs and a whole secondary economy, not just nostalgia – is what Insider Gaming and other outlets say has helped the petition cut through where similar preservation campaigns have stalled.

Inside the Numbers: How the Petition Grew to 330,000+ Signatures

Signature growth has been unusually sustained for a gaming petition, which typically spikes and plateaus within a week. This one kept climbing for 18 straight days:

Date (2026)SignaturesMilestone / Source
July 10 → risingPetition launched hours after Sony’s announcement
July 3 (48 hours)~40,000Initial viral spike
July 5 (4 days)~100,000–117,000Insider Gaming milestone report
July 6–7~125,000–170,000Kotaku, VGC (“Sony goes quiet”) coverage
July 8~207,000–220,000Dexerto, GameSpot milestone reports
July 17325,227Live Change.org count
July 18329,813Live Change.org count
July 19 (today)330,399Live count at time of writing, +2,200 signed in the last 24 hours

The petition page itself lists 78 media mentions and three separate campaign updates, and gaming outlet Push Square has counted at least 15 distinct petitions targeting Sony’s disc decision across different platforms and languages – this Change.org campaign is simply the largest. Growth has slowed from its initial pace (roughly 40,000 in the first 48 hours versus a few thousand a day now), which is typical of Change.org campaigns past the one-month mark, but it has not stopped.

Sony’s Response: Total Silence

Eighteen days in, Sony has issued no official statement addressing the petition. The PlayStation account on X has not posted since the original July 1 announcement. Video Games Chronicle’s headline from the petition’s first week – “Sony goes quiet” – still describes the situation accurately today. That silence is a deliberate contrast to how Sony has handled backlash before. As the next section covers, Sony reversed a similar decision within a month in 2021. This time, the company has let nearly three weeks pass without engaging at all, which campaigners and outlets increasingly read as a signal that this decision, unlike 2021’s, was finalized long before the public ever saw it coming.

“A Digital License in Plastic Packaging”: The Ownership Argument

The petition’s central argument is about ownership, not nostalgia. In the same statement verified by Dexerto, Pearce put it directly: “A disc is a real game you own … a box with only a download code is not the same thing. It is a digital license in plastic packaging.” The distinction matters legally as much as emotionally: a purchased disc can be resold, lent, or passed down regardless of what happens to a publisher’s servers or storefront, while a digital license is generally tied to an account and a platform’s continued goodwill. That gap is exactly what the next section shows Sony has exploited before, more than once.

Not the First Time: Sony’s Pattern of Pulling Paid-For Content

Critics of the disc decision point to a recurring pattern: Sony has repeatedly removed content that customers already paid for once a licensing deal expired, with no refund. The most recent example lands squarely inside this same news cycle.

DateContent removedRefund offered?Outcome
2022Licensed movie titles, Germany & AustriaNoRemoved on schedule
December 20231,300+ Discovery shows (MythBusters, Deadliest Catch)NoDeadline extended after backlash, later expired anyway
September 1, 2026500+ StudioCanal movies, UK librariesNoScheduled removal, no extension announced
July 2027PS3 & PS Vita PlayStation Store (purchase history, re-downloads)N/AConfirmed closure already announced

The StudioCanal removal, first reported by PlayStation LifeStyle, is happening right now, just weeks before the disc backlash. Sony’s own notice to affected users reads: “Due to our content licensing agreements, you will no longer be able to access your previously purchased content from Studio Canal, and it will be removed from your video library.” No compensation is being offered. It is the third such incident since 2022, and PlayStation Store stopped selling movies and TV directly in August 2021 in the first place – digital video purchases now route through the separate Sony Pictures Core service. For petition supporters, it is a live, ongoing illustration of exactly the risk they say disc-only-then-digital-only PlayStation games will eventually carry.

History Repeating? The 2021 PS3 and PS Vita Store U-Turn

There is real precedent for Sony backing down under pressure. In March 2021, Sony announced it would close the PlayStation Store for PS3, PS Vita, and PSP that summer. The backlash was immediate, and in April 2021 then-PlayStation boss Jim Ryan reversed course for two of the three platforms. His statement, reported by Forbes, read: “Recently, we notified players that PlayStation Store for PS3 and PS Vita devices was planned to end this summer. Upon further reflection, however, it’s clear that we made the wrong decision here…” PSP’s store closed as originally planned; PS3 and Vita got a five-year reprieve. That reprieve is now ending anyway – both stores are confirmed to close for good in July 2027, as we detailed in our Vita3K emulator setup guide, which covers what PS Vita owners can do once Sony’s own storefront disappears. The 2021 episode is the strongest evidence campaigners have that public pressure can move Sony. The strongest evidence against a repeat is everything in the next two sections.

The E3 2013 Irony: When Sony Championed Disc Ownership

Part of why this backlash carries extra bite is that Sony built its modern PlayStation image partly by mocking the alternative. At E3 2013, then-SCEA president Jack Tretton told the crowd the PS4 “won’t put any new restrictions on used PS4 games,” with a presentation slide reading simply “Keep It Forever” – a direct shot at Microsoft’s since-abandoned Xbox One always-online and used-game restriction plans, as Kotaku has documented. Then-SCE CEO Andrew House later confirmed the messaging was deliberate, telling PlayStation LifeStyle that Sony rewrote parts of its own E3 script specifically to differentiate PS4 from Xbox One’s proposed DRM. Thirteen years later, Sony is walking toward the very model it once used as a punchline against a rival.

Brussels Responds: Why EU Regulators Won’t Force Sony’s Hand

Some campaigners hoped regulators, not Sony, might intervene. Michael McGrath, the EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, closed that door in comments to reporters, reported by GamesRadar+: “It does come down to commercial and contractual freedoms, and companies are free to offer games and services in the manner that they see fit, provided that consumer rights are fully protected in line with national and EU law.” Notably, McGrath is the same commissioner who met with organizers of the separate Stop Killing Games campaign in February 2026, ahead of the EU’s own non-binding reply to that petition in June. Two consumer-gaming campaigns, one EU office, the same answer both times: no legal lever exists. The EU’s Right to Repair Directive explicitly excludes game consoles from its scope, and the only regulation that has ever forced a console maker’s hand – the EU Battery Regulation behind Nintendo’s Switch 2 battery redesign – has no equivalent covering media formats.

A Second Front: The Dutch Digital-Pricing Lawsuit

The disc decision is also being folded into an unrelated legal fight. Stichting Massaschade & Consument, a Dutch consumer group already pursuing a lawsuit over PlayStation Store’s roughly 30 percent transaction cut – a case we covered in detail in our report on Sony’s four-nation Store litigation – says the disc shutdown strengthens its case. Foundation chair Lucia Melcherts told PC Gamer: “No discs means no second-hand market and no alternative to the PlayStation Store, so from 2028, Sony alone decides what a game costs and even how long you are allowed to use it.” The argument is straightforward: a physical disc has always functioned as an informal price check on digital storefronts, since a buyer could simply shop elsewhere for a used copy. Remove the disc, the foundation argues, and that check disappears along with it – turning a consumer-choice story into a pricing-power story almost overnight.

How Sony Stacks Up Against Xbox and Nintendo on Physical Media

Sony is not the only platform holder moving toward digital, but it is taking the most aggressive path. Xbox is pursuing a softer, unannounced-deadline version of the same shift through Project Helix, while Nintendo’s Switch 2 remains built around cartridges as a core identity, not just a legacy option, as covered in our Switch 2 sales analysis.

PlatformApprox. digital sharePhysical media policyFormal end date
PlayStation 5~78–85%Ending new-release disc productionJanuary 2028 (announced)
Xbox Series X|S~90%Soft “disc-to-digital” conversion (Project Helix)No formal date announced
Nintendo Switch 2~47–53% physicalCartridges remain central to hardware identityNo end date announced

That gap gives Nintendo and, to a lesser extent, Microsoft an obvious marketing opening: neither has to defend a hard cutoff date the way Sony now does, and both can position themselves as the safer choice for anyone spooked by this petition’s core argument.

Follow the Money: Sony’s Manufacturing Side Already Moved On

Whatever Sony ultimately says publicly, its factory floor has already answered the question. Sony DADC’s plant in Thalgau, Austria – described by TechRadar as having manufactured roughly 24 billion discs over its lifetime and still producing around 600,000 a day, roughly half of them PlayStation titles – is being converted to produce automotive and industrial microlenses, following a €30 million investment. Kotaku reports that the plant’s roughly 300 employees were told on July 1 – the same day as the public disc announcement – that no layoffs are planned, but that the workforce is being systematically retrained off disc lines and onto the new micro-optics equipment, with mass production starting in 2027. A factory does not retool for a €30 million automotive-parts pivot on the same day it announces a policy it might reverse in a few weeks. If the 2021 store U-turn was a sign Sony can bend under pressure, the Thalgau conversion is a sign this particular decision was locked in long before the petition existed.

What This Means for Collectors, Retailers, and the Used-Games Market

For independent retailers like Pearce’s PNP Games, the practical impact is existential rather than sentimental: used and trade-in discs are inventory, and inventory dries up the moment new supply stops. For collectors, the effect is likely to run the opposite direction – scarcity tends to push resale and sealed-copy prices up, a pattern already visible in the PS3 and PS Vita collector markets ahead of their own 2027 store closures. A simplified way to think about what actually changes for a buyer looks like this:

// Illustrative only — not an actual Sony data structure
const physicalCopy = {
  transferable: true,
  resellable: true,
  survivesStorefrontShutdown: true,
  requiresAccount: false
};

const digitalLicense = {
  transferable: false,
  resellable: false,
  survivesStorefrontShutdown: false, // tied to store lifetime
  requiresAccount: true
};

That is the entire dispute in miniature: two ways of “owning” the same game, with very different guarantees once a platform holder changes its mind about a store, a license, or a licensing deal.

Market Impact and What Happens Next: 5 Predictions

Based on Sony’s manufacturing commitments, its regulatory environment, and its own history, here is how this is likely to play out:

  • Sony holds the January 2028 date. The Thalgau retooling and total public silence both point to a decision made well before the backlash, unlike the reversible 2021 store-closure call.
  • The Dutch lawsuit cites this petition directly. Expect Stichting Massaschade & Consument to formally reference the disc shutdown and the petition’s scale as evidence of consumer harm in its pricing case.
  • No new EU legislation, but louder political noise. Following the Stop Killing Games precedent, expect national consumer bodies or MEPs to raise the issue publicly even though McGrath has ruled out a legal remedy.
  • Used and sealed PS5 game prices drift upward as resale supply is capped ahead of 2028, mirroring the collector premium already seen on late-era PS3 and Vita physical titles.
  • Xbox and Nintendo lean into the contrast in marketing. Look for messaging that quietly positions Series X|S and Switch 2 as the “you still get a choice” consoles, without naming Sony directly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the “Don’t Kill the Disc” petition?

It is a Change.org campaign, launched July 1, 2026 by Canadian retailer Jade Pearce, asking Sony to continue offering physical PlayStation game discs alongside digital downloads rather than ending disc production for new titles in January 2028.

How many signatures does the petition have?

The petition passed 330,000 signatures on July 19, 2026, according to the live Change.org count, up from 325,227 on July 17. It has gained roughly 2,000–3,000 signatures per day over the past week.

Who started the petition?

Jade Pearce, CEO of PNP Games, an independent Canadian game retailer founded in 2005 with three physical store locations.

Has Sony responded to the petition?

No. As of this writing, Sony has issued no official statement addressing the petition, and the PlayStation account on X has not posted since the original July 1 announcement.

Will Sony reverse its decision, like it did with PS3 and Vita stores in 2021?

It looks unlikely. Sony reversed a 2021 store-closure decision after backlash, but this time its own disc-manufacturing plant in Austria is already being converted to other production, and mass conversion is scheduled for 2027 – a strong signal the decision was finalized well before the petition existed.

Can the EU or any regulator force Sony to keep making discs?

No. EU Commissioner Michael McGrath has stated that companies are free to offer games and services as they see fit, provided consumer-protection law is followed. The EU’s Right to Repair Directive explicitly excludes game consoles.

What happens to PlayStation games already released on disc?

Nothing changes for them. Sony’s announcement explicitly states the transition “has no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format.” The cutoff only applies to new titles releasing after that date.

How does Sony’s decision compare to Xbox and Nintendo?

Sony is taking the most aggressive approach with a hard, announced end date. Xbox is pursuing a similar shift more gradually and without a public deadline via Project Helix, while Nintendo’s Switch 2 still treats cartridges as central to its hardware identity.

Is this connected to the lawsuits against the PlayStation Store?

Yes. A Dutch consumer group already suing Sony over PlayStation Store’s transaction fees says the disc shutdown removes the last real price check on digital purchases, and is citing it as further evidence in that ongoing case.

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