Analysts are calling the gamers protesting Sony’s strategic decision “lions in a cage.” But what is the real story?
PlayStation’s decision to stop producing game discs in 2028 without informing its partners will go down as one of the Japanese company’s most controversial. After an initial period of disbelief, gamers organized protests, petitions, canceled PlayStation Plus subscriptions, and canceled pre-orders. However, these efforts will not persuade the company to change its mind, according to Serkan Toto, CEO of Kantan Games, a Japanese gaming industry consulting firm. Meanwhile, Sony Group CEO Hiroki Totoki’s sale of a significant number of shares suggests that the company anticipates a massive backlash, which could put even more pressure on them if the protests continue. Toto also emphasized that canceling PlayStation Plus subscriptions won’t make much of a difference.
“I sympathize with fans of physical media, but Sony will not reverse this decision. They knew what the online reaction would look like, and they are waiting for the storm to pass. Sony has over 120 million active PlayStation users. Around 50 million people subscribe to PlayStation Plus. As a thought experiment, if 500,000 people canceled in protest, it would only be 1% of their business — not nearly enough for Sony to rethink their decision. Digital is just too lucrative,” Toto said. He isn’t the only analyst who thinks these protests will be ineffective.
It’s really interesting seeing everyone discover (for the first time apparently) certain things that are standard.
Select accounts typically get offered deals when cancelling.
The 3 year account thing has been there for years.
Naughty Dog never changed its banner
– Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) July 7, 2026
“It’s interesting to see everyone discover certain standard features for the first time. Typically, select accounts get offered deals when canceling. The three-year account thing has been there for years. This isn’t a statement on the physical disc thing by any means, but many people are saying, ‘See, it’s working,’ or ‘They just did this now,’ for things that have always been the case. I think Sony will respond to the backlash in some capacity (they shouldn’t have announced this until they were ready to disclose how discs would work on the PlayStation 6), but I’d be surprised if they reverse their decision completely at this point,” Daniel Ahmad, Director of Research & Insights at Niko Partners, said on Twitter.
Although Ahmad and Totoki’s arguments make sense, Totoki’s recent actions suggest that the protest could yield results in the long run. A new SEC filing reveals that Totoki sold 56.5% of his company shares within a few days of the announcement. While the timing could be purely coincidental, the expected significant backlash could be one of the reasons for this. Jim Ryan also sold a significant amount of his Sony stock before leaving the company, so this could be a similar situation.
As the protests continue and gamers keep reminding Sony just how unpopular its decision is, the company will eventually have to address the obvious problem. There are still ways for them to show that “For the Players” isn’t just an empty marketing slogan.
Source: WCCFTech, IGN, Tech4gamers
