PlayStation Boycott Over Digital-Only Policy Falters with Black Ops Releases

Call of Duty has finally turned the tide against Sony’s recent wave of criticism. This week, the PlayStation 5 manufacturer announced the arrival of ports for Black Ops 1 and 2 on the platform, breaking its streak of being roasted for its stance on physical games. This shift highlights the limits of the online outcry of “no disc, no buy” when faced with major titles and prevailing trends.

“Incoming: Call of Duty: Black Ops and COD: Black Ops II are now available on PS4 and PS5,” the PlayStation account shared. This post, made on July 10, marked a departure from the backlash that followed the announcement of Sony’s plan to phase out game discs by 2028. It garnered 34,000 likes and only 9,000 comments, a refreshing change from the usual negativity surrounding the company’s decisions.

This development has led some to speculate whether the calls for a PlayStation boycott are losing momentum or were never as strong as they appeared. “Yeah console is done,” commented user TheCardinalArtsNothing. “Nothing these companies can do is too far for y’all if you’re ACTUALLY buying two SIXTEEN-year-old video games with NO UPDATES for $40 EACH, plus $30 for DLC. $70 PORTS. Y’all are farmed cattle GG.”

Podcaster BrokenGamezHDR chimed in, “Some of the people who claimed no disc no buy have already folded. It ain’t been A WEEK BRO! LMAOOO.”

It’s telling that every post since last week has been ratioed by comments and quote retweets, but the moment Black Ops dropped, it became the only one with more likes. The casual audience clearly outweighs the core gamers.

Not everyone is thrilled about the situation. Some big accounts that were criticizing Sony just a week ago are now celebrating the new Black Ops port. “CoD genuinely ain’t that good to be throwing your own damn principles away,” tweeted one user.

Others expressed frustration, urging fans to remain steadfast. “Guys… you can’t get excited about Black Ops on PS5 after you just spent all week trashing PS5… Stand strong for 2 secs holy crap,” another user remarked, pointing out the $40 price tag for each game and the additional costs for DLC.

Adding to the controversy, the ports of Black Ops 1 and 2 aren’t particularly impressive. They lack remastered features and offer minimal updates from the PS3 versions released over a decade ago. Players must pay $40 each for these new versions, with additional costs for DLC and a PS Plus subscription required for online play. This last point is significant, as many pro-disc advocates have been encouraging each other to cancel their PS Plus subscriptions since Sony’s controversial plans were revealed.

However, not everyone is swayed by the allure of Black Ops. A viral post showed a player trading in her PlayStation 5 and games at GameStop, declaring, “Sold my PS5, officially done supporting PlayStation. All Switch 2 and PC from now on.” Other fans have shared images of canceling their PS Plus subscriptions or ordering physical copies of recent games, indicating that the boycott is still alive for some.

Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of a Japanese game industry consultancy, noted, “I sympathize with physical media fans, but Sony will not reverse this decision. They knew what the online reaction would be, and they’re waiting for the storm to pass.” He added, “Sony has over 120 million active PlayStation users. Even if 500,000 cancel in protest, that’s just 1 percent of their business—definitely not enough for Sony to reconsider. Digital is just too lucrative.”

This perspective sparked outrage among some, leading to conspiracy theories that Toto was secretly working for Sony. “We’re now at the QAnon stage of the backlash where some people believe there is a grand conspiracy of analysts working on behalf of Sony,” commented Daniel Ahmad, a research director. Gaming content creator Radec faced backlash for expressing excitement about Black Ops 1 being playable on PS5. “If a port of a 16-year-old game is enough for people to start forgetting about the physical debate, I don’t see a positive future for video games,” one user responded. Many have pointed out that supporting physical games doesn’t mean advocating for the complete disappearance of digital-only releases.

As the initial outrage aimed at Sony begins to fade, it remains to be seen how the community will respond moving forward.