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The story
Following reports that Sony is restricting interviews and information access for overseas media outlets that covered the PS5’s move away from physical discs, Japan’s 5channel gaming board (Geha) erupted into debate over the truth and intent behind the move. The thread also saw arguments over alleged retailer blacklisting, comparisons to Nintendo Switch 2’s key-card system, and disputes over how to interpret images claiming to show which titles are being snubbed.
Some media outlets that reported on Sony’s plan to move away from physical discs for PlayStation games
are reportedly having their access to games and information needed for reviews and interviews restricted by PlayStation’s local subsidiaries.
Source: sumahodigest.com / Original article here
What people said
from the media's point of view, PlayStation just isn't 'needed' anymore, right?
whatever happened to that 95% approval rating?
who needs the 5% who still want discs anyway
piss off your best customer and this is what happens
'Criticize it and you're the enemy' (they never actually said that)
GEO's probably at the top of it (GEO = major Japanese used-game/media retail chain)
Is there even a difference between being blacklisted and not, lol
either way they're pulling out of stores anyway
it's not like it's a product anyone's desperate for anymore, so no real damage, lol — cutting ties might even be a plus
it's not like some 'PS6' is gonna turn things around either
they've been doing this forever
back in the Famicom era tons of gaming media and retailers sprang up, then got crushed en masse once the industry threw up barriers
you'll see what that means soon enough, lol
honestly I figured I'd keep my PS5 around if I could still save money buying discs
but now they're killing that off
and mid-cycle for the PS5, no less
a PS5 with no discs is just a crappy PC with no reason to exist, lol
they shut Japan out without even explaining that one either
doesn't seem like a legit company to me
they're not trying to eliminate the ones who actually hold power though
just admit it already: 'our revenue model's changed, games aren't selling'
so what kind of move do you call Nintendo's key-card system then
you've gotta separate 'trends of the times' from 'a company's momentum,' or it just becomes dead weight
key cards? you can still resell those used
totally different from a code-in-a-box
if anything, Nintendo only looks better by comparison now that PS has killed off discs
even while shifting toward digital, they're doing it gradually
and it's not just key cards — with amiibo and handheld-specific peripherals, they're keeping a retail sales channel open too,
making sure stores have a reason to stock hardware that isn't profitable on its own
it's the exact opposite of a hardware maker abruptly axing discs
before any of that, they're getting snubbed left and right — makes you wonder what 'evaluation' even means
tps://i.imgur.com/0DXIRSP.jpeg
I'm asking everyone who keeps posting that list — pick a title from it you're actually interested in and explain what it's about
and beyond that, you need to explain how a hardware policy connects to a multiplatform title list in terms of evaluation criteria
without a convincing explanation on both points, this just looks like some 'breaking news' guy who got clocked by a solid point in Re: #69, couldn't argue back, and self-destructed trying to flex with some random overseas title list he doesn't even understand
what are you even trying to do posting a list that has nothing to do with evaluating key cards
you just really wanted an excuse to post that image, didn't you
because this doesn't look like a positive evolution
the reason being they were sitting on the fence at PS5 launch and then suddenly lurched to one side
the structure wouldn't look any different even if it were, say, 'server costs shot up so we're axing downloads instead'
it just screams 'we don't have a vision, we're just getting swept along'
if they'd instead said 'starting with PS6 we're going digital-only, and cross-gen releases will follow the same policy,' this wouldn't be getting this kind of reaction
maybe they scheduled this to line up with PS6, and global circumstances just threw the timing off
Nintendo puts its weight behind Nintendo Direct and TV commercials, so it's not that great a customer for gaming media
meanwhile nearly all the AAA publishers dropping huge ad budgets are on PlayStation's side, so gaming media can't afford to cross Sony
they used to pull this stuff without getting caught
the fact that it's getting caught now probably means Sony's influence has weakened quite a bit
even if you tell me it's 'the right call,' I can't accept it if adoption ends up failing
and if that's the standard, then you'd have to accept following the PC/smartphone model too, which is essentially fully digital already
what are you even talking about — this is hardware in only its second year with one of the fastest adoption paces around… oh wait, sorry, were you talking about that OTHER hardware that might not even hit 100 million units? my bad
and you're still dodging the whole 'you confidently posted that list even though you don't care about the content' thing — classic breaking-news-guy move
and here's a fresh problem for you: those fully-digital smartphones and PCs are products that can earn incentives on the hardware alone, right?
if you're planning to sell PS6 that way, it's not gonna stop at 100,000 yen, lol
that's exactly the point being made, and it's still not actually a response (see Re: #89)
that pace already dropped a while back — PS5 has overtaken it in worldwide monthly sales
and there's a price hike coming in September, so its chances of spreading further are only going to keep shrinking
that's basically their company motto
the point was that they're getting snubbed across the board from games announced at major global game shows,
and you're talking about personal interest instead — that's probably why nobody's taking you seriously
says the guy who's been milking GTA6 and Persona this whole time
I've never seen you flex with any other title — have you?
Background and Key Points
Sony’s PlayStation division has spent the PS5 generation quietly walking back its old commitment to physical media: the console launched in 2020 with a disc-drive model and a cheaper Digital Edition side by side, and Sony has periodically pushed publishers and retailers toward download-first releases since. What’s unusual in the story the thread is reacting to is not the shift itself but the alleged retaliation — foreign outlets that reported critically on Sony curbing physical releases say their access to review copies and interviews from PlayStation’s regional subsidiaries has since been cut. Readers unfamiliar with Japan’s retail landscape should also know GEO is one of the country’s largest chains for used games, discs, and media, which is why posters flagged it as a likely target of any retailer-side blacklist.
The thread didn’t converge on whether the blacklisting reports are true — nobody there has independent confirmation — but on whether abandoning discs is a defensible business move at all. One camp treated it as an inevitable trend Sony is simply riding; the other, invoking Nintendo’s Switch 2 “key-card” system, argued Nintendo is managing the same digital shift far more gradually, keeping retail shelf space alive with accessories and resellable cards, while Sony is cutting discs abruptly mid-cycle.
What’s easy to miss is that no post actually cites a verified digital-sales percentage or an official Sony statement — the “95%” figure being argued over originated as a jab, not a disclosed number, so the entire debate rests on assumption rather than confirmed data.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5channel (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “Sony Accused of Blacklisting Media Critical of PlayStation Disc Discontinuation; Blacklist Suspicions Surface.”
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