PlayStation promotes a fight stick instead of addressing disc-end backlash

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PlayStation has published its first tweet since it announced the end of physical discs on PlayStation consoles — and it’s going about as well as you’d expect.

On July 1, Sony shocked the video game world when it confirmed plans to discontinue physical disc production for new PlayStation games from the start of 2028. Its tweet announcing this move has been viewed an astonishing 165 million times so far, and in the six days since, PlayStation failed to say another word.

Amid the backlash, some had hoped for a U-turn from Sony, a reverse course that would be announced in a follow-up tweet perhaps. At the very least, some fans expected, Sony would address the controversy. Alas, no. Instead, PlayStation’s first tweet since its killing discs announcement is to promote a fight stick.

“Switch out lever gates with ease on the FlexStrike wireless fight stick,” PlayStation said, with a link for further information and a video featuring a couple of talking heads who I'm sure are delighted to be first in line to face the rage of PlayStation fans.

The replies are, put simply, all about Sony failing to address the disc announcement. Already the fight stick tweet has had hundreds of thousands of views. The responses are hard to keep up with. None of it is pretty, and none of it is surprising. Here’s a snippet:

Sony there's something you should address... pic.twitter.com/AtBQIaCoPJ

— NikTek (@NikTek) July 7, 2026

Wireless fightstick? More like spineless corpo. Feel sorry for everyone involved in that project. They are the sacrificial lamb for the next tsunami of criticism towards you, Sony. All we care about is that you reverse the decision to strip everyone of ownership over their games.

— Does it play? (@DoesItPlay1) July 7, 2026

pic.twitter.com/6Yq5i8QpH3

— Shinobi602 (@shinobi602) July 7, 2026

Give us physical discs pic.twitter.com/sTwYwXgEwD

— kjngamer (@kjngamer) July 7, 2026

THEY TWEETED!!! GET EM 🫵 pic.twitter.com/tPDrPiU6zM

— GenerationGameXP (@GGamingXP) July 7, 2026

As IGN has reported, Sony is unlikely to budge on its decision , despite the backlash. Sony’s share price enjoyed a bump following the announcement, which suggests the market is in favor of it (unsurprising, given it will in theory make the company more money). One analyst said fans of physical media had their chance and blew it, so there’s no going 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, told 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.”

Still, Sony now faces the prospect of pretty much every announcement it makes being overwhelmed by complaints about the death of physical media. There's an element of Sony ripping off the Band-Aid here — PlayStation's follow-up tweet would have been met with the same response no matter which product it promoted. But unlike PlayStation discs, those comments aren't going anywhere.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.