The PlayStation community’s protests against Sony’s plans for physical game releases and other company decisions don’t appear to have made a significant impact on the platform’s business.
Sony’s latest financial report for the second quarter of fiscal year 2026 shows that PlayStation recorded 127 million monthly active users during the period. That’s eight million more than the same quarter last year and two million higher than the previous quarter.
The figure also represents a 7% year-on-year increase in monthly active users for September, setting a new record for the month. Total PlayStation playtime was up 4% compared to the same quarter last year.
These numbers suggest that the PS5 blackout protest organized by Does It Play, which encouraged players to turn off their consoles for a week in August, did little to affect overall platform engagement.
Digital game purchases continue to grow
The “No Disc, No Buy” campaign also failed to show a clear impact on PlayStation’s purchasing figures.
During the quarter, 78% of all full-game software purchases were digital, marking a six-percentage-point increase from the same period last year. This figure excludes downloadable content and microtransactions.
Sony’s revenue from physical game sales actually increased to JPY 43.1 billion, nearly JPY 8 billion more than the previous year’s second quarter. However, digital game sales generated a much larger JPY 330.8 billion, an increase of JPY 60.5 billion year over year.
In other words, physical games are still contributing to PlayStation’s business, but digital purchases remain the dominant format by a considerable margin.
Backlash over physical media continues
The biggest point of contention was Sony’s reported decision to stop manufacturing physical versions of new PlayStation games starting January 2028. This prompted campaigns like “No Disc, No Buy,” with players pledging not to purchase games that aren’t released on disc.
However, a previous study by Cyabra found that nearly half of the social media replies pushing the campaign may have come from inauthentic accounts.
While the latest financial figures suggest these protests haven’t translated into a measurable decline in PlayStation engagement or software spending, they don’t necessarily mean players are happy with Sony’s decisions.
For now, the numbers simply show that the backlash hasn’t been enough to significantly change how people use or spend on the platform.