PlayStation Blackout Failed To Have "Significant Change" According To Industry Adviser

PlayStation Boycott Had "No Significant Change" In Actual Player Counts Published Sep 14, 2026, 2:16 PM EDT Steven is a seasoned writer specializing in the video game and technological fields, with years of experience creating reviews, features, and industry analysis. Passionate about the gaming world and its evolving culture, Steven has always wanted to combine his enjoyment of writing and love for gaming in a way that can provide insightful coverage for players and enthusiasts alike. Sign in to your TheGamer account Ever since it was officially announced that PlayStation would no longer be producing physical game discs starting in 2028, players have been flooding the comments sections of every post even remotely associated with PlayStation with their frustrations. Alongside the constant ratios on social media even in response to normally beloved sale announcements, users also encouraged a complete boycott of the studio from Augu23 to the 30th. While the so-called 'PlayStation Blackout' in response to the digital-only decision had already faced criticism for both having a stated end date and taking place during a period where no major releases were scheduled, it apparently was even less effective than we could have imagined.st The PlayStation Blackout Was Reportedly A Failure Despite hopes from plenty of players online, according to gaming market advisor Mat Piscatella on Bluesky, the PlayStation blackout had "no significant change at all in player count or engagement in our tracking." While it's still disappointing to hear yet another failed attempt at making the heads at PlayStation reconsider the highly controversial decision, it's far from surprising considering how often online protests like this fail, with games like the recent Call of Duty Black Ops ports topping the charts barely a week after the initial announcement in June. Reddit users in response to welzed11 sharing the disheartening news have also raised some great points regarding why the event was a failure on top of what we already know, with the fac that "social media represents a tiny percentage of the gaming population" being the mostly likely cause why these kinds of boycotts always end in failure. Only A Miracle Could Get PlayStation To Change Course Although some players still have hope that a boycott over the digital-only PlayStation 6 will be more successful, considering only 27 percent of PS5 consoles are its digital-only edition, the fact that PlayStation consoles have been selling the best they have in years thanks to the release of the similarly frustration release of Grand Theft Auto 6 all but kills hope for the idea. While it seems like the continued outrage from players won't be enough to change anything regarding the PlayStation situation considering sales are still at all-time highs, the one hope left likely comes surprisingly from Xbox and their current push for pyhsical media preservation. On top of making the Xbox Series S|X offer backwards compatibility for hundreds of past releases, rumors are also circulating that the next system will still remain completely physical, which could prompt a future response from PlayStation if the industry pendulum starts to shift away from PlayStations' decade-long dominance over its biggest direct competitor. Brand Sony Original Release Date November 12, 2020 Original MSRP (USD) $499, €499, £449, ¥49,980 (Base) // $399, €399, £359, ¥39,980 (Digital), Operating System Orbis OS Processor Custom 8-core AMD Zen 2 Resolution 720p - 8K