Sony's Move Away From Physical Discs Earns Hall of Shame Award
Sony has received a Shonky Award from Australian consumer site Choice for its decision to stop making physical PS5 game discs.
Sony and PlayStation have been named a winner of a Hall of Shame award for the company's decision to stop producing physical game discs. The award was given by Choice, an Australian consumer website that runs an annual series of Shonky Awards highlighting products and practices it considers the worst of the year. As Push Square puts it, it is hard to imagine the trophy is one Sony executive Hermen Hulst will want to display.
What the award is about
Choice's Shonky Awards are the outlet's annual Hall of Fame of shame, calling out companies for behavior it deems anti-consumer. This year, PlayStation landed in the Hall of Shame specifically for moving away from physical media. The tagline accompanying the award references the idea that under this approach, 'you'll own nothing,' pointing to the concern that games bought digitally exist only as licenses rather than physical copies players fully control.
Why it matters for PlayStation players
The criticism lands at a time when the industry as a whole has been shifting toward digital distribution, with full-game downloads and subscriptions increasingly replacing boxed copies on store shelves. For PS5 owners who still value owning a disc, the award is a reminder that the option is narrowing, and that consumer groups are starting to push back on the trend. Players who prefer physical collections may want to keep an eye on how Sony responds, though nothing in the announcement suggests a change of course is coming.
Source: Push Square