New report backs serious accusations against Sony, claims PlayStation employees going silent is desperate narrative control

It has been quite strange seeing Sony go radio silent about the announced end of physical games on PlayStation. The community has been clamoring for a response, and the journalists have been shouting at the top of their lungs. Yet, Sony has failed to utter even a single word about the subject. Recently, video game journalist and ex-Sony Santa Monica employee Alanah Pearce claimed that Sony has even instructed its employees to remain silent about PlayStation’s all-digital future.

While it is prudent not to take any report at face value, Alanah Pearce’s remarks carry much weight as she has been on the inside. Moreover, Does It Play, a community focused on game preservation efforts, has now confirmed that Alanah Pearce’s report is in line with “what we have heard from behind the scenes”. 

The folks behind Does It Play claim that, while there was initially “a lot of discussions about Sony's attack on physical media”, the voices died “overnight” and “nobody even reacted to the topic or things remotely connected to it anymore. Like they were all struck by a giant censorship hammer”.

From this, Does It Play argues that Sony is trying desperately to control the narrative, as the company doesn’t have any “leg to stand on” and “their justification for the move to kill physical media and push everyone into an all-digital dystopia is not based on reality”.

Does It Play also argues that nobody, including gamers, retailers, and developers, is happy about the decision. 

However, there is still a large group of gamers that haven’t reacted to or voiced their concerns about the whole situation. Does It Play appeals to gamers that the community can force Sony to change its decision “once a critical mass of casual gamers understand that Sony will exploit them even more for profit in the future, that this decision will come with severe downsides even for those who didn't care before”.

As things stand now, the Sony PS6 won’t come with a disc drive. Chances are that the next-gen Xbox, codenamed “Project Helix”, won’t come with a disc drive either. But where Xbox reportedly has a way for you to bring your physical games forward, Sony doesn’t. So, if you don’t speak up now, we might end up with an all-digital PS6 that can’t play PS5 games.

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