A petition asking Sony to keep physical PlayStation games alive beyond 2028 has passed 13,000 signatures, turning the backlash to Sony's disc cutoff into a more organized campaign.
Sony announced this week that physical disc production for new PlayStation games will end in January 2028. New games will still be sold through PlayStation Store and retailers, but in digital formats only. Sony said the change will not affect games already released on disc or games that arrive on disc before the cutoff.
The Change.org petition, titled "Don't Kill the Disc: Tell Sony to Keep Physical PlayStation Games," was started by Jade Pearce of PNP Games Inc. It had 13,299 signatures when checked by Gamers Now, with Change.org showing more than 12,000 signatures added on July 2.
Petition frames the disc cutoff as an ownership fight
The petition argues that Sony's move removes choice from players who still buy, trade, lend, resell or collect disc-based games. It also criticizes boxed releases that contain only download codes, saying they do not offer the same ownership value as a disc.
"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."
That message builds on the same concerns raised by collector edition companies and physical-focused retailers after PlayStation's digital-only shift became official. The issue is not only nostalgia for discs. Physical games still support used sales, lending, rentals, collector editions, retail jobs and preservation efforts that become harder when access depends entirely on digital storefronts and accounts.
The petition also points back to PlayStation's E3 2013 messaging, when Sony promoted the PS4's ability to share used disc games at a time when Xbox was under fire for its original Xbox One policies. That contrast is now part of the fan response, because Sony is the platform holder setting a firm end date for new PlayStation discs.
Sony has not indicated that it plans to reverse the decision. In its announcement, the company described the cutoff as a response to consumer preferences shifting toward digital media and said it would keep focusing resources on how players access games. The petition gives opponents of the move a visible number to rally around, but it does not change the January 2028 deadline on its own.
The campaign does show how quickly the disc cutoff has moved beyond a single announcement. Gamers Now has already covered pushback from collector edition makers, and the petition adds a consumer-facing pressure point to the same argument: if PlayStation stops making new game discs, players lose one of the last mainstream console options for buying games as physical products rather than licenses tied to a digital account.