It’s been almost a month since Sony officially announced that it would stop producing physical discs in several markets. Most people only look at short-term success. I’ve seen this pattern before. When I said Game Pass wasn’t a sustainable longterm strategy, people laughed because all they saw was “$10 a month for hundreds of games.” When I argued that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision would create more lonrterm problems than benefits, I was told I had no idea what I was talking about. Not long after Microsoft laid off more than 10,000 employees. Yeah PlayStation will most likely have a record breaking year thanks to GTA VI. But that’s not the point. The real question is whether Sonys current strategy is built for the next decade or just the next financial report. A huge portion of PlayStation’s revenue comes from players who mainly play Call of Duty, EA Sports FC, NBA 2K, GTA or Fortnite. These players are overwhelmingly digital and often stick to the same few games for years. They’re not necessarily loyal to PlayStation they’re loyal to the games they play. If another platform offers a better deal or a better ecosystem, many of them will switch without much hesitation. The people who truly built the PlayStation brand are the hardcore fans: the collectors, enthusiasts, and long-time supporters. Ironically they’re also the group Sony seems most willing to alienate. Many of them already own multiple platforms, making it easier than ever to stop buying PlayStation hardware and software altogether. A company can ignore its core audience for a while, but not forever. The consequences won’t appear overnight. They’ll accumulate slowly, year after year, until one day everyone wonders what went wrong. We’ve already seen PlayStation learn this lesson once during the PS3 era. Success can create confidence. But when confidence turns into arrogance, history has a habit of repeating itself. #PSBlackout #NoDiscNoBuy