Sony Can't Hide Forever

In contrast to Xbox, PlayStation is trying to keep calm and carry on. It's not working

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It has never been Sony's style to get out in front of things. That's in contrast to Xbox, which loves to push a loquacious executive — whether it's J Allard, or Peter Moore, or Phil Spencer, or Asha Sharma — out on stage to strut its stuff, explain its thinking, or sometimes, air its dirty laundry.

That's the Silicon Valley way, but it's not Sony's way. Give or take a public mascot like Shuhei Yoshida, the company's business executives have mostly been pretty, well, businesslike for the past 20 years, ever since the infamous car crash of E3 2006. They don't project a lot of personality or straight talk. This suits the PlayStation brand, which likes to present itself as cool, inscrutable, and monolithic.

I'm not sure they can keep it up, though.

This week, PlayStation broadcast its latest State of Play showcase. I'd describe it as modest, but well balanced. We got big updates for big games, cool indies, a few genuine left-field surprises, a deeper look at a 2027 blockbuster. We got a Lego PlayStation and a Grand Theft Auto 6 controller.

There was nothing all that exciting in Sony’s latest showcase, but I appreciated how the broadcast flowed into State of Play Japan, including deeper dives on some of the Japanese games featured, like Gundam Rogue Orbit and Konami's surprising new jazz-themed action game Rhapsody in Scarlet. It feels like PlayStation is deliberately reclaiming its Japanese identity, perhaps influenced by Sony's big push into anime and manga. It was also niche and nerdy in a way platform holders don't often like to present themselves, to their detriment.

And while I agree that the choice to start a State of Play with a movie spot was off, and perhaps indicative of a weak slate of games, I also think it was an interesting role reversal. State of Play is genuinely one of the biggest platforms Sony has to promote its new Resident Evil movie. It's a sign that Hollywood doesn't just need gaming's IP, it needs the clout of its audience, too.

None of this, however, was enough to mollify, or even drown out, a fanbase in open revolt.

The live comments on YouTube during State of Play were a wall of CD emojis and digital placard-waving from fans incensed at Sony's decision to end production of PlayStation game discs (and its extremely ill-timed arguments in court that no reasonable consumer would think they own their digital games). They were joined by an almost equally vocal contingent invoking Destiny 3 — a standard-issue fan plea, perhaps, but I thought I detected something angrier and more politicized in it, protesting Sony's perceived mishandling of Bungie and live-service games in general.

Sony's policy throughout its dismal PR year in 2026 has been to leave the protests unacknowledged and plough on, hoping it will blow over. This might be because it has nothing good to say — if the numbers on physical media don't add up, fan pressure isn't going to change the corporation's mind, and Sony isn't desperate enough to indulge in a sop like Xbox's physical-to-digital drive.

Moreover, GTA 6 is coming and it's not like we won't all play it, probably on PS5. Rockstar's game will bring Sony an unprecedented windfall regardless of all this unrest. Nothing's going to change.

But people want their anger to be heard and acknowledged, even if their prayers won't be answered. Fans are looking for a sign, any sign at all, that their protest is registering with Sony, that the company even slightly cares that it has let them down. Even a much better State of Play than this week's won't cut it. Sony needs to let that impassive mask slip, just for a moment, and acknowledge what is going on, or it's going to face much worse.

Plus this:

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