Sony held a Phantom Blade Zero State of Play livestream on Monday night, but the presentation went off the rails when viewers took advantage of the broadcaster’s still-operational live chat feature.
For context, Sony controversially announced last month that it would cease physical disc production by the start of 2028, a decision that further exacerbated bubbling consumer and industry frustrations with corporations’ anti-physical-media crusades. So when the brand kicked off its 20-minute Deep Dive showcase at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET last night with the intent of teasing Phantom Blade Zero gameplay, the broadcast was quickly inundated with fans’ tongue-in-cheek “no disc no buy” replies, physical hardware emojis, and other cutting commentary.
Furious player feedback isn’t confined to the Phantom Blade Zero comment section; PlayStation fans’ grievances about physical media are visible on nearly all of the account’s uploads. PlayStation shared a new trailer for Marvel’s Wolverine on July 16, titled “Ain’t No Hero,” and the most popular comments reference Sony’s anti-disc endeavor.
“You know who isn’t the hero? The killer of physical,” reads the most-liked reply. “Can’t wait for my DISC copy to come in,” another commenter wrote. Marvel’s Wolverine trailer on YouTube has more than 13,000 comments at the time of writing; the replies show 18,000 and 11,000 likes, respectively, while the trailer itself has 62,000.
Fans established a Change.org petition on the same day Sony announced its no-disc decision. “Don’t Kill the Disc: Tell Sony to Keep Physical PlayStation Games” has amassed more than 368,000 verified signatures and 15,000 comments since its launch four weeks ago. Additionally, the petition’s progress meter shows it has been shared by media organizations nearly 120 times.
Despite less-than-popular player responses, Sony CFO Lin Tao told shareholders on July 31 that the brand doesn’t anticipate the decision to negatively impact operations.
“The decision to discontinue physical disc production was driven in part by the ongoing digitalization of content as a whole,” Tao explains, “rather than being limited to content for the PlayStation platform. As the discontinuation is scheduled for 2028, at this stage, we do not expect any impact on the business.”
“Looking ahead, digital distribution already accounts for a substantial portion of content sales, and we therefore do not anticipate any negative impact on business performance. At the same time, we will continue to consider carefully how best to respond to the preferences and expectations of our players.”
S-GAME’s Phantom Blade Zero launches on October 29 on PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam. Players willing to forego a physical copy can pre-order a standard download for $59.99 or the Deluxe Edition for $69.99.
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