Early July has been a turbulent storm for Sony and PlayStation lately. The latest development in the PlayStation news saga over future physical disc games now involves the Sony CEO himself.
As reported by Insider Gaming, Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki has sold more than half of his stocks in his company following the July 1 announcement that production of physical games will be discontinued starting in January 2028. Within Insider Gaming’s report, SEC filings had Hiroki Totoki’s sold stocks total to $4.7 million at $21.02/share. That is from selling 225,000 shares, with the CEO holding on to over 173,000 remaining shares. Totoki sold these shares last Friday, July 3, just a couple days after Sony’s bombshell announcement.
Totoki isn’t the only Sony exec to sell his stocks in the company, however. CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) Toshimoto Mitomo also sold his shares of Sony stocks on the same day, though at lower amounts. His SEC filings show Toshimoto’s stocks also priced at $21.02/share, albeit adding to more than $525,000 of stocks sold. It’s a lower amount compared to the Sony CEO’s.
Even on the off-chance that Sony PlayStation’s announcement to end physical games by 2028 isn’t the reason why the Sony execs sold their stocks, the moves still line up shortly after the major announcement, making it easy to connect these dots.
While major fan backlash hit Sony after it announced not only plans to end production of physical PlayStation games in 2028, but also more from additional announcements made the same day of Sony finally shutting down the PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita (via the PlayStation Blog) by July 2027. Fans, as well as various brands have mocked and parodied Sony’s official push for an all-digital future on their PlayStation platforms. PlayStation’s social media outlets took nearly a week to post again after the announcement… only to advertise a new fighting game peripheral, as if the announcement to end disc games never happened.
Despite the constantly growing backlash, there may be little to no chance to expect Sony to reverse this decision, as a Sony-owned factory for physical disc games have already begun a transition out of physical disc production. Even then, this has not stopped fans from signing a Change.org petition by PNP Games Inc. to call for Sony to preserve the option of physical PlayStation game discs. As of Wednesday July 8, the Don’t Kill the Disc petition has already received over 220k verified signatures.
Safe to say that whether or not Sony halts plans to end production of physical games, the backlash over the controversial announcement continues, and is unlikely to slow down anytime soon.
