The "No Disc, No Buy" protest aimed to pressure Sony into reversing its reported plan to cease physical disc manufacturing by January 2028, but the campaign yielded no measurable impact on platform engagement.
Mat Piscatella, a senior director and video game industry advisor at Circana, stated the blackout triggered "no significant change at all in player count or engagement."
Sony’s Q2 fiscal 2026 earnings report shows that monthly active users reached 127 million in September 2026, marking a 7% year-over-year increase and a record for that month. This figure represents an increase of eight million users compared to a year earlier and two million more than the prior fiscal quarter. Total PlayStation playtime rose 4% year over year during the same period the protests were active.
Digital purchases accounted for 78% of full-game software sales during the quarter, rising from 72% in the same period of fiscal 2025. While physical game revenue came in at approximately 43.1 billion yen, nearly 7.7 billion yen more than the comparable quarter last year, it remains roughly 7.7 times smaller than digital revenue in absolute terms. Sony has not publicly announced any change to that reported plan regarding the transition away from physical media.
Despite the broader platform growth, Sony’s recent release Marvel’s Wolverine has seen sales momentum cool after a strong debut. As of November 4, the game had exceeded 2.4 million units sold. This performance trails other recent Sony titles; for instance, Ghost of Yōtei reached 3.3 million units in 32 days, while Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 sold 2.5 million copies on its first day of release.
The inefficacy of the blackout may be linked to its timing, as it coincided with Gamescom, an event that typically drives significant engagement with new game announcements. The protest period coincided with a busy release calendar ahead of the November 19 launch of Grand Theft Auto VI, which has intensified competition for player attention.
Did the blackout affect PlayStation hardware sales?
No, the campaign focused on monthly active users and digital spending. Sony reported that PS5 hardware unit sales fell from four million units in Q2 fiscal 2025 to 2.6 million, as the console moves further into its lifecycle.
How does Wolverine’s performance compare to non-Sony titles?
While Marvel’s Wolverine sold 2.4 million units in its first 50 days, Nintendo reported that Rhythm Heaven Groove reached 2.89 million units as of September 30, despite having a two-month head start on the market.
What is the next step for Sony’s hardware?
Sony has stated it intends to make solid progress in preparing for the next generation platform, which is expected to involve a PS6 and possibly a handheld device.
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