Indie Devs Unfairly Attacked Over Sony Decision to Stop Making Discs

I think it's completely pointless for people to complain about Sony's physical policy in threads about indie games, made by indie developers who may not be able to make a physical version to begin with. Come on people, do better! If you need to comment about it, do it in videos/threads about Sony's first party stuff.

***** losers

You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land, the common clay of the new West. You know... morons.

What we are witnessing, is the blowback to the these games reaching across accounts. Remember, the users may not follow the indie game account, but they do follow PlayStation, so when PlayStation retweets/blogs/posts/xeets something, it pops up on those feeds as a PlayStation post.

Which I think really shows this isnt going away, and it sucks the developers are the ones taking the hits, but it is also Sony quite literally running from an oncoming wave of gunfire, and grabbing random people and throwing them back into the path to try and slow it down.

One thing people don't realize is that if there is one benefit to digital media, it's the birth of the indie video game scene. In the past, if you wanted to make a game, you had no choice but to find a publisher who could print physical discs for you, and that's not easy.

Nowadays, anyone - even solo devs - can make games, without having to worry about finding a way to get them printed on discs.

If digital downloads didn't exist, and physical media was still the only way to access video games, then many of the best indies of all time in the last decade or so probably wouldn't even exist either. So have some respect for the smaller indie devs

I only but physical too.

Quickly moving into loser territory

You lost them at the word ‘feasible’…

It’s unfortunate to what’s happening to these indies, especially as they don’t tend to get physical releases until AFTER their digital launch.

But I believe PlayStation are at fault here for failing to address the situation and ignoring the audience.

These comments are not from gamers. Just stupid trolls, like many around here. People are expecting an answer from Sony… but Sony already made the statement…

This entire thing is just sad. We've all seen the sales splits, while I still purchase physical the majority of gamers simply don't. There's been a lot of mobilisation in Xbox/PC forums to "kill" Sony by keeping up the pressure through false flag attacks. Some people need to desperately touch grass.

Don't be acting like saints suddenly. I've seen the way you've been carrying on, I wouldn't be surprised if half the comments are from you lot here.

@thiagoauler they’re not trolls. They’re physical gamers who are doing their bit to try and get Sony to back down. It’s unfortunate that the indies are caught in the crossfire, but the anger won’t go away until Sony does SOMETHING

@get2sammyb yeah, the people who somehow think Push Square are part of PlayStation are fools.

That reminds me I need to go leave a comment Aswell

Someone wrote on the ps+ tweet that they don't care for rise of the ronin cause they want physical. I replied that ps+ games never were physical. Got blocked 😄

@get2sammyb I think it's pretty self explanatory. People have been acting like Sony cut off their will to live with this whole physical fiasco. So yeah I wouldn't put anything past anyone.

@Frmknst didn’t Rise of the Ronin launch physically day one?

@ShadowRJ "Didn't Rise of the Ronin launch physically day one?"

Yes, it did.

There are two kind of people consuming games: gamers indeed and collectors. The vast majority of collectors DONT use their collection, and these guys are being affected by Sonys decision. True gamers may or may not use physical media, but in the end, they want to experience the game. And yes, the majority opted for digital many many years ago.
I live in a place where there is no way to acquire physical games. Only absolute blockbusters, but many games are left out. So digital is a way to make games accessible to everyone around the world, no matter which country.

Yeah, I actually stood by the backlash originally, but this has turned into a toxic harassment campaign, and I want NO PART in it! I live in a sh*thole, and I am forced to buy digital games, and the privilege of these weirdos astounds me...

And the tantrum continues...

@thiagoauler doesn’t work like that. You can be a physical collector and play everything you own. You can be a digital collector and only ever play one game.

And as go it being the most accessible, PSN is only accessible in like 30-40 countries.

@Divergent95 People are fighting to keep physical alive. It’s the point of desperation. If anything, criticism from the devs back at PlayStation due to their lack of response is only gonna help matters.

Sony is damaging indie developers, well done Sony... well done...

Just sad and pathetic now. If you want to make a point, you do it with your wallet. That is the only thing Sony are interested in. Stop ruining everything for everyone else because you dislike something. The same absolute (w)bankers will no doubt have gta 6 digitally pre-ordered.

@get2sammyb so you want to publish articles about sonys decision to stop manufacturing discs almost every day but you don't want people to complain about you doing it? You can't have your cake and eat it.

not even shure if a lot of these people are playstation fans or play on playstation to be honest, every few months they take the pitchfork out of their closet and start whining about sony.

while there is no denying that sony can act like a bunch of *****, they probably underestimated how many dumb people are on the internet.

@TripleKing333 Harassing people who have to go digital (like me), and especially indie devs who cannot afford to produce physical copies, is not "fighting"; it's targeted harassment and a toxic hate train. YOU NEVER attack people like that, hun.

This just highlights how ridiculous the whole thing is and how moronic some people can be. Entitled gamers FTW !! I for one am absolutely sick to the back teeth of hearing and reading about the whole 'no disc' policy. Get used to it. It's the way the industry was always going to go. The next XBox and Switch 3 will undoubtedly be non physical. Get real.

@ShadowRJ I would like to point out, when you state these people are not trolls, a considerable number of them likely will be. Look at any protests for rights, many, if not even most of late get infiltrated by people who simply wish to be an agitator.

There will be many that don't game at all, many that game on everything but PlayStation, many that buy digital only and so on. You're massively under accounting for the fact that humans like to disrupt, cause pain and inflict damage, and the moment they have a funnel to shoot their negativity through they will use it.

You say it's a shame that PushSquare is getting flack, but to be actually fair and to have a reasonable head on, surely it would mean you can see how media has played a much bigger part in stoking these flames than some Indie Devs that likely would never have had a physical release anyway.

These Dev teams that are getting flack literally have about as much input on the future of PlayStation as PushSquare do, which is to say, they have none.

The only thing that makes a difference is by people voting with their wallet (which up until now they have been quietly doing so, voting digital), so that's it, vote with wallet or nothing changes.

Anyone claiming this noise online will make a difference and not spread further hate must have evaded all news cycles for decades.

You even state the lack of countries PSN is available in, almost pushing physical as an incentive, yet PSN hasn't been available in many of these same countries since before physical was announced to be ending, and you didn't take issue. Or at the issue Xbox too also has more or less the same number of countries available to its users.

You want physical games, therefore the only message you should encourage people to act on is to purchase physical. Supporting and condoning any form of disruption to anything else only weakens the cause.

You're literally using arguments that match those of military's of the world when they say "Oh well, collateral damage to the cause". That's an issue, it's not something to be proud of.

If your clear message is that of wanting to keep physical, you need to be making it clear that's the only message you agree with. Otherwise you're aligning yourself with some potentially very dark instigators and agitators who will stop at nothing to cause disruption.

A bloke on this forum a few days ago, I won't mention his name, even he called for all of Sony servers to be hacked and brought down for everyone. So as someone aligned with your cause, he was calling for every card, PayPal, name, address, password, game save, game history, playtime, game in a library to be held by an Anon group.

Do we really want a future where fighting for a desire to play a video game results in people losing their rights under Data Protection Laws.

It's a sad day when this is all that can be achieved when gamers join forces, if this really is gamers fighting for a cause, they better hope this is the only cause they need to fight for.

And remember, renouncing stupid behaviour attached to your cause doesn't weaken it, it makes people like me listen and take note and want to help.

@djlard more like "gamers" are damaging indie devs.

Would probably help at this point if ‘legit’ sites stopped giving the minority fools a bigger platform.

now its just getting cringe , its one thing to voice your opinion to sony , that's whatever , but when you are attacking devs for something they have no control over is just harassment at this point.

Imagine if people had to have a mirror next to their screens as they type some of these things. The world might be a bit less annoying with some introspection, and seeing themselves might give them the nudge they need to look inwards.

The toxicity over this is getting out of hand now.

This is what’s known as ‘collateral damage’. Sony pulled the pin, threw the grenade, and now some shrapnel has hurt someone innocent. The solution is to bully Sony into submission so this developer’s unfortunate occurrence won’t be in vain.

@UltimateOtaku91 "The toxicity over this is getting out of hand now." Only now?

These same people complaining will go and buy the PS6 anyway.

It’s always so easy for people to just dive head first into something without reading context. Seeing that Sony retweeted it so putting it on blast without common sense cognitive function is obnoxious and dumb.

@Balaam_ Sony's decision has hurt no one, none in fact unless they need to seek therapy. The actions of those online however, ranging from death threats and threats of other violence could very easily result in damage and hurt to people, yes.

Just because Sony has made a poor decision does not absolve those who are blinding throwing insults, disrupting lives and throwing pain at others.

I can say I support (insert rights name here) rights whilst punching someone at a Parade in the face, because I don't like that Snickers didn't keep their branding aligned to a flag, that doesn't mean I am not an actual idiot for doing so and would be liable for any legal action.

@get2sammyb PS could stop giving them coverage? Would seem a sensible decision at this point surely?

Not every bit of anti Sony disk debacle needs attention.

The internet has taken it as a meme now. This is no longer about physical games or digital rights. It's just spam.

If the message is to get through to Sony, they need to be attacked from all angles. Sucks for these devs but ultimately this is being caused by Sonys unwillingness to address the issue.

@AdamNovice At the point PlayStation decides to publicly retweet a post from someone else, it does becomes related to them. Maybe they should stop hiding behind others and pretending the noise around them doesn't exist and address this situation properly. The way they've handled this physical media fiasco to date has been shocking.

@Northern_munkey ...THIS ! im sick of reading about it

Anyone attacking indie devs and bombarding their games with hate to try and get back at Sony are pathetic and frankly need to grow up. Don’t want digital? Go play on PC, which is also digital.

@Balaam_ .....you need to get outside for some fresh air ! That and weigh up your priorities in life and what's happening out there in the world. That comment is ridiculous

PlayStation don't actually need to 'answer' to anyone. They have stated what they intend to do, there is nothing to answer. Live with it, buy games or don't but there is still nothing to answer or for them to even elaborate on.

Most people believe Pokémon games are developed by Nintendo. So I'm not surprised they have no idea who's developing what.

Just buy those games on other platforms when possible. Or at least, focus your hatred at Sony specifically and avoid collateral damage.

@KingPev well buckle up because the ride ain't over.

What do people want Sony to say? It's crazy, there is nothing they could say that would please these people unless it was 'OK we will continue making physical'. How can they handle this? Anything other than backtracking would be attacked, staying silent is literally the only thing they can do.

@Northern_munkey Well said. Are they doing it for clicks because it seems that way sometimes. I've been seeing these posts about Sony and it's digital fiasco for quite some time on here now. Your right, why stoke the fire, if Sammy and his team are fed up with it all. It doesn't make sense to be fair. I have a lot of physical game, and on the other hand I tend to buy a few digital games, the ones that never will get a physical release. This whole situation with Sony and it's gamers is between a rock and a hard place. No winners will come out of this all digital future that Sony so desperately wants us to be in. I'm upset with Sony, but I never would upset or make dev teams feel not worthy like a lot of the idiotic gamers have been doing on Sony's social media sites etc... Whatever happens in the year 2028 and beyond, I'll just swallow my pride and accept whatever will be, will be. Though it will be a hard pill to swallow. I myself been a gamer for well over 40 years and love gaming today as much as I did as a kid dude. We as gamers gotta stick to together, no matter the outcome. Gaming is a social thing where we chat about good games and experience's throughout. Gaming is more than just a hobby, it's a way of life as most of you guys will probably agree with this!

@DaveHero75 PS love to Stoke the fires but don't like it when they get burned. I have a fair few friends on here that I game with on a very regular basis and I would never have met them if it wasn't for PS..but that's about all I have to thank PS for and the only reason I'm still here.

@AdamNovice They could backtrack if they wanted to, it's not like they're completely shutting down disc manufacturing facilities, they're just severely downsizing to support continuation of printing physical games pre-dating January 2028. Honest opinion, but they need to completely u-turn and backtrack on not publishing physical versions of games coming out after Jan 2028. It'd take way more money to reverse but that's not my issue. I don't care what Sony have to do to reinstate those resources, people will call me entitled for saying that I'm sure, but me and a tonne of other people just want that option to pick between physical and digital to remain. I don't care if Sony have made a position clear too, it's either course correct, or be prepared for a load of people to walk away from you come arrival of the PS6 and watch it hit you where it will hurt most.

Imagine if all that anger were directed at NOT buying GTA VI for $100—fully digital? A bunch of hypocrites.

@AdamNovice...exactly this. Some people are just ridiculous

Push Square wondering why the scumbag portion of the playstation community (that they love) are being scumbags.

Digital all day baby.

@SBBuds "What do people want Sony to say?"

"Sorry everyone, we've seen and heard the reaction to our stance on physical media, and we admit we read the room wrong. We do understand that the publication and subsequent acquisition of physical media has been and remains an important part of the gaming experience. Therefore, we have decided to reconsider our position, and will continue to publish and release physical versions for upcoming games that you can proudly play and display across multiple generations of our consoles, going up to and beyond January 2028".

That'll do.

@get2sammyb This is true, but we also need to remember "PlayStation reposted" pops up, and reading comprehension of the wider market isn't exactly strong.

Never forget this site and it's compatriots often get mistaken for the respective brands customer service line after all.

@Iaintgotnohands so, backtracking then.

@ButteredCrumpet yeah, I won’t deny that there are likely troublemakers and idiots involved in the protest. Like you said, every protest has them. People who don’t believe in the cause and are just looking for trouble, and people who don’t know enough about the topic but yell anyway.

It’s important to try and separate the two, but call me naive, but I haven’t seen too many troublemakers yet (aside from the guy who’s annoyed that PS Plus wasn’t physical).

When the fury boils over and effects the innocence indie devs smh... Moments like this what makes the cause lose people.

@SBBuds That'd be grand.

@Iaintgotnohands I would applaud them backtracking but my point was that is literally the only thing that would please the protesters. So unless they backtrack there us no other way for Sony to address this situation and staying silent is the only other option, asking for Sony to address this issue any other way is fruitless. Sony would be asking for trouble, even more trouble that is.

Mmm digital is so delicious. I love digital.

In a move surprising nobody, gamers on social media prove that the negative stereotypes are true for many of them

This needs to stop.

@Iaintgotnohands they’ve already retrained and repurposed the facility and employees producing discs. It’s not happening

@ShadowRJ I think more than anything you need to go into a browser, set it to private, don't log into any of your social accounts and search for this subject matter. Across Twitter, Reddit, here, Instagram, YouTube and so on ... it's getting bad.

I love physical, want it to stay for those who also love it, but no amount of talk on social media is going to make this decision go away, none.

Literally the only thing that will get the intended result is for people to purchase physical. They haven't been doing so in large enough numbers, so we both know they likely won't now just because a few people online tell them to.

Like when I went on this site to read the news about the fight stick being delayed, I wanted to jump into the comments to read about people discussing it, fighting games and so on. Instead, just jokes, memes, and a barrage of hate for anything Sony due to their 2028 decision.

How, as a stranger to this site, someone with a login or no login, that supports physical, does that make anyone feel welcome or wanting to support the cause on this site. I myself even gave up on the site that day. So PushSquare then loses an active user, myself and my friends laugh it off and get on with our evening.

Yet above all else, it did nothing other to infect the very subject matter than has nothing to do with physical games and put people off who would have actually liked to have a conversation.

Look at my likes on things, many of them are from people who never comment, but just look at the site, they're people who want to actually read gaming news, they want to discuss their passion.

All this site has been lately is a cesspool of discontent from people who need an outlet, understandably, but is this it now until 2028? I mean really, for another year and a half can I not talk to my mates here, can we not have adult conversations?

Just so someone can then say in January of 2028, "oh well, we tried". No you didn't, you didn't email Sony, you didn't send a letter to their CEO, you just carried on with your same purchasing habits and spewing hate and discontentment online.

Like have you emailed Sony? Have you sent the directors any emails? Have you contacted the pressing plants to focus your outrage? Are you going to write them a letter? This is my point, anything on this site, anything focused at an Indie Dev, none of it means anything. So people either need to realise their efforts are futile or they need to take up less futile methods.

I’m sure the devs are intelligent enough to know these are pointed at Sony not themselves.

99% of them are saying nothing wrong. "Rudely questioned" is hyperbole there 😂

As much as I think I think they're barking at the wrong postman, there's just as much "toxicity" against them here in the comments.

The developers know these people are complaining about Sony, not them. They are also going to lose sales because of SONY. So what do you want? Do you want a "backlash"? Or do you want everyone to hold hands and accept it?

As @Nothern_munkey said, you cannot have your cake and eat it.

@datamonkey But when the people say "no buy" that still effects them, doesn't matter if it's directed at Sony.