Over 220,000 People Petition Sony Not To Kill Physical PlayStation Game Discs

As Sony plans to kill all PlayStation disc production in January 2028, a Canadian retailer has done what everyone was probably thinking of doing: urging the company to change its mind with a petition that's garnered over 220,000 signatures.

PNP Games is an independent retailer based in Canada that started in 2005 by selling games on eBay. Since then, it opened three locations around Canada, becoming a budding business that supplies its customers with everything from home goods like art and drinkware to gaming products such as controllers and consoles. Think GameStop but make it Canadian.

On July 1, just as Sony announced its plans to end disc production of all new PlayStation games in 2028, PNP Games started a petition called Don't Kill the Disc. The mission statement is simple: "Sign to tell Sony to keep disc-based games alive beyond 2028, so the next generation can own the games they play, not just rent them," per the Change.org petition page. "If we do not speak up now, the disc disappears, and the choice goes with it."

Since starting the petition, over 220,000 people have signed the appeal, essentially telling Sony that physical media is important to not just gamers but entertainment enthusiasts as a whole. In a July 6 IGN interview, PNP Games CEO Jade Pearce spoke about how vital physical media is for businesses and consumers.

"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."

This sentiment is echoed in the petition's messaging as well. PNP Games noted that the death of physical media is "about jobs" as much as it is about the disc being "a real game" that you own, share, resell, trade, collect, gift, and pass down to your kids. An all-digital future puts the very idea of ownership in a precarious spot, which is what PNP Games hopes to change Sony's mind on with the Don't Kill the Disc petition.

"We are not against digital," Pearce wrote on the petition's page. "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."

GameSpot has reached out to PNP Games for comment and will update this story when we hear back.

You can imagine what the comments have been on the petition. Many of the signatories said Sony's decision weighs heavily on whether they'll buy PlayStation products going forward. Others took to calling the company consumer-unfriendly, stating they feel like Sony is taking advantage of the goodwill it built over the years. And quite a few mentioned that, if we're being hurtled toward an all-digital future, they might as well buy a PC. The internet--and the signers of the petition--have a lot to say about what Sony's doing.