Is your Playstation running?
A protest to leave your PlayStation unplugged to save the disc
3rd of September 2026
Don’t run too fast or you’ll lose your whole PlayStation library. You know what bothers me most is how few people actually care enough to turn off their PlayStation for a few days. But maybe for those of you who don’t know what I am talking about: PlayStation wants to stop selling games on physical discs. This sounds simple but has a huge impact on not just your game library and costs for the player but also for retailers as there won’t be any third party selling these games anymore. Funny enough games over all are more expensive on the PlayStation store than on a physical disc you buy at your local electronics store as gaming stores are slowly dying out. No more collector’s editions for fans or for some boring guy who thinks he can make money of it. No more reselling or gifting your old discs so someone else can enjoy them. No, from 2028 on, only online and if you get reported to often and lose your PlayStation account all your games are gone. When PlayStation decides to yank a game out of the store even though you just spent 80 Euros on it, too bad.
Does any of that sound fair? Now PlayStation claims that already 80% of games are bought on their store and it is merely a wise business choice to do it this way. But in a world filled with subscriptions left and right this just doesn’t… seem right! I’m a gamer, I’ve always loved games. Starting from when I was little. It didn’t matter if it was a boardgame, a card game, or a portable console or a computer or a stationary console. I loved to play! I got my first PlayStation 2 when I was 13. I got a Gameboy when I was around 7 or 8. I still have the old Pokémon games in my desk drawer. It saddens me to think that my daughter won’t have that anymore. All of it is becoming less tangible, less real, and this is not just true for games but also for music, movies, tv, computer programs like Microsoft Word and Adobe and even money. And it is starting to deteriorate our sense of worth. This is not just an empty statement, I remember someone telling me with Spotify people no longer know or care who the artist is. People aren’t being compensated fairly and everybody just seems to be struggling more. And with more digital currency people seem to feel less like they are spending money and are less likely to safe and more likely to spend money they don't have. But let's be honest that's great news for marketing.
Stop killing games has started a petition on change.org and gamers have asked to unite in a protest by boycotting PlayStation for a minimum of a week. Starting on the 23rd of August 2026 and ending on the 30th of the same months. I did, I’m a big fan of games so I have alternatives to play games on and have already surpassed the first week me and a surprising 1%... (yeah, PlayStation is really feeling the sting) And this is where it gets me. This is not just about PlayStation it’s about a whole way of running businesses and making money and exploiting really everything to turn a profit. But most of all it is about the deafening silence I keep hearing when another injustice seems to be committed and this is a small one and it demands a small sacrifice, one that apparently only a few are willing to make. But I am ever the optimist so I am going to focus on the part where I am not alone, I do stand with another million people even if we are 1% some of us have a fighting spirit. Do you think we can save the world?
Here are some related aritcles related to this subject:
- The origal petition on change.org
- An article describing the boycot
- PlayStation's anouncement to stop selling physical media
- A study focussed on how subscriptions influence consumer spending
