Featured Image Credit: Bloomberg / Contributor via Getty
While gamers across the world have been left outraged after PlayStation's decision to end physical game production after January 2028, Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki has benefitted significantly from the move, selling off half his stock in the company after the value increased post-announcement.
As reported by Insider Gaming, a filing in the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that Totoki sold off 225,000 stocks he took charge of in 2025, earning roughly $4.7 million with the price-per-share being $21.02.
This made up around 56% of his total stake in Sony, marking a significant departure in his holdings, and he wasn't the only executive to shed his shares as Toshimoto Mitomo, Sony's chief strategy officer, got rid of 18% of his stake, earning $525,500 in the process.
The decision to end physical game production – backed up by Sony retraining staff in its primary disc production factory in Austria – was undeniably unpopular amongst consumers, but the markets appeared to only view the news as positive, making investors plenty of money in the process.
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Sony's stock price jumped from 3,250 JPY on July 1 when the announcement was made to a peak of 3,502 JPY on Thursday, July 7, and presumably this is to do with the expectation of increased revenue that comes as a result of people only being able to buy new games from the official PlayStation store.
It doesn't look like Sony is in a position to change its mind on the decision at this point – especially as it will have likely informed the development of the PlayStation 6, which many expect to arrive without any disc drive option – but that hasn't stopped fans from voicing their dissatisfaction.
One of the leading modes of opposition has come in the form of a Change.org petition, which has garnered over 245,000 signatures in just over a week, with gamers sending a clear message to Sony: 'Don't kill the disc'.
It's not hard to understand why so many would be both angry and distrustful of this move from PlayStation, as not only does it take away a key way that countless gamers choose to play their favorite titles, wiping out the used games market in addition, but there are also legitimate concerns about the future of game preservation and ownership.
Some aren't viewing it as a coincidence that PlayStation has recently implemented new terms of service that can wipe out your entire digital purchase history through one specific, arguably hidden rule, and customers also recently saw more than 500 films permanently deleted from their libraries, even though they were bought permanently — or so they thought.
Combine this with the recent backlash that Rockstar faced for shipping physical copies of GTA 6 without a disc, as the box contains only a download code inside, and it appears to have been a cacophony of hostility towards anyone wanting to enjoy the medium's physical form in the last few weeks.
