PNP Games Petition Hits 115K Signatures Urging Sony to Keep Game Discs

An independent Canadian games shop has started a Change.org petition urging Sony to reconsider its plan to eliminate game discs from future PlayStation hardware. The campaign has already collected more than 115,000 signatures, signaling that at least a sizable portion of the community still wants physical copies to remain an option.

The retailer behind the effort is PNP Games. In its petition, the store asks PlayStation fans to add their names to a message telling Sony to keep physical versions of PlayStation games available. As of the time this article was published, the petition sits at 115,471 signatures.

Sony’s move triggered a wave of criticism last week after the company said PlayStation consoles would stop using optical discs starting in 2028. The decision isn’t limited to current-era hardware or even PS4 and PS5 titles, either. Most industry observers expect the next generation to follow the same path, with the PS6 launching without a disc drive as well. Sony’s announcement also spilled into mainstream entertainment, drawing jokes from big-name brands like KFC and Domino’s, along with commentary from celebrity comedians. Meanwhile, an IGN poll asking, “Do You Support an All-Digital Gaming Future?” points to broad disagreement among players—at least based on that survey’s results.

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Beyond the player backlash, the push away from discs has also drawn criticism from parts of the industry, including developers, publishers, and retailers. Retailers are especially exposed to changes because new PlayStation releases packaged around a download code—rather than a disc—could reduce the role of traditional shelf sales. Jade Pearce, speaking for PNP Games, focused on ownership and preservation, arguing that Sony’s decision would also lead to job losses.

“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,” Pearce said.

“That is thousands of jobs and countless small businesses. Ending physical media removes consumer choice, weakens local economies, and hands a few platform holders total control over how, and whether, you can access the games you buy.

“We are not against digital. We are against digital being the only option. A large and passionate community still wants a real, physical game they own outright, and Sony is about to take that choice away.”

In the petition’s comment section, reactions largely mirror that stance. Stephen, a player from Sun City Center, Florida, said he has been on PlayStation since the PS1 era and that many of his favorite games have appeared on PlayStation platforms, whether as exclusives or simply as preferred versions. He added that he considers himself a physical-media gamer and doesn’t want to support any company that removes the option to own discs. Stephen said he hopes Sony will reverse course, but warned that if it doesn’t happen, he will stop buying from the company after January 2028.

Sony’s response has been that the change is being driven by consumer behavior. Sid Shuman, Senior Director of Sony Interactive Entertainment Content Communications, stated in a message posted on the PlayStation Blog that the decision is “in response to shifting trends in consumer preference.”

“This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs,” Shuman continued. “This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.”

Industry analyst Piers Harding-Rolls, working at Ampere, has argued that the numbers support Sony’s direction and that the landscape has changed across the last two console generations. “Console gaming is the last hold-out for physical media in the gaming sector, but physical product has been declining in importance,” he said in a post on the Ampere website. “Back in 2013 when the PS4 launched, Ampere data shows that only 13% of total full games unit sales for Sony consoles were digital (including digital-only games). Fast forward to 2025, and this digital share of full game purchases stood at almost 80% of the total.”

“Inevitably there will be concerns from PlayStation gamers around various aspects of this announcement including choice, accessing older physical games on new consoles, the ability to collect physical games, and game preservation, however the purchasing trends of gamers are clear.”

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Harding-Rolls also suggested the business case for going all-digital is a major factor. He pointed out that selling games digitally typically earns publishers more than selling boxed products, since publishers can lose a large portion of the sticker price to distribution and retail overhead in the physical channel. Sony, meanwhile, takes a 30% cut on PlayStation Store sales, leaving 70% for publishers. In other words, if PlayStation fully transitions to digital from 2028 onward, companies—Sony included—stand to see higher overall returns from software sales.

There’s also a production angle to the disc drive removal. In theory, dropping the hardware component could make the PS6 cheaper to build while the industry continues to navigate rising memory costs often described as the “RAMpocalypse,” fueled by the broader AI boom. Analysts expect the PS6 to arrive in late 2028, aligning with Sony dropping discs starting in January of that year.

That leaves the central question: will Sony change its mind? And could efforts like this petition, along with the broader online backlash, actually influence the decision? It currently appears unlikely. Sony’s share price reportedly rose after the announcement, which suggests investors view the move favorably. One analyst argued that fans of physical media had their window and missed it, implying there’s no real path back. “If gamers and preservationists had bought more physical games, Sony wouldn’t have seen the digital sales ratios that justify this decision,” Robin Zhu, a games analyst at Bernstein, said in an interview carried by the Financial Times.

“Digital game sales carry essentially 100% incremental margin… the cost of the physical package, shipping and retailer margins can be more than 20% per cent of sticker price.”

Do You Support an All-Digital Gaming Future?

Photo by YUICHI YAMAZAKI/AFP via Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].