The news that Sony will no longer produce discs from 2028 has sparked a fierce backlash that will not please the company.
Sony’s announcement that it will no longer produce physical games from 2028 has sparked a wave of outrage that the company may not have expected quite as intensely. One feeling dominates forums, subreddits and comment columns: Anyone who has bought physical games for years is let down by Sony. And the louder the discontent grows, the more players are wondering how they can protect their library in the long term – by all means and consequences that are likely to worry Sony.
PS5 players are looking for a way out
The numbers speak for themselves. Since Sony’s disc announcement, Google searches for PS5 jailbreaks, homebrew and emulators have skyrocketed. Relevant subreddits are seeing a massive influx of new members – people who would never have thought about the topic until recently.
The tone in the comments is less that of a technology-loving hacker than that of a frustrated buyer: Anyone who has spent money on physical games wants to make sure that they can still access them in ten years (source: Polygon).
Valve boss Gabe Newell once famously summed up the basic problem: piracy not a price problem, but a service problem. With its move away from disc, Sony is providing a textbook example of what happens when gamers lose the feeling of truly owning their own purchases.
PS6 announcement: Sony is driving users into piracy
What makes the situation particularly tricky for Sony: The technical requirements for a permanent PS5 hack have long been created. In early 2026, the console’s BootROM keys became public – cryptographic keys that are burned directly into the chip and cannot be closed via a firmware update. Anyone who owns an affected PS5 has the permanent opportunity to determine for themselves which software runs on the console.
The situation is reminiscent of the 2018 Nintendo Switch hack, which remains unpatched to this day and spawned a thriving “homebrew scene.” Sony can will not fix the problem on devices that have already been sold – a new hardware revision with fresh chip keys would only protect future consoles.
The irony is that Sony’s own decision gave the impetus for millions of gamers to become interested in this option and are now increasingly searching the Internet for alternatives under a hoisted skull and crossbones flag.