Yesterday’s PlayStation State of Play showcased massive fan outrage. During the live presentation, angry viewers hijacked the live chat. In fact, over 90% of the comments consisted of furious protests. Fans relentlessly spammed phrases like “We Want Destiny 3”, “D3!”, and “No Disc No Buy”. Consequently, Sony faces a massive public relations nightmare. The company allegedly believed these controversies would simply blow over. Instead, players are refusing to let either issue go.
The Background of Protests During PlayStation State of Play
The “No Disc No Buy” movement stems from Sony’s aggressive pivot toward a purely digital ecosystem. The company previously announced it will stop producing physical game discs by January 2028. Furthermore, a current class-action lawsuit accuses the tech giant of misleading consumers regarding digital game ownership.
Sony aggressively responded to this lawsuit. The company explicitly stated that “no reasonable person” would believe they actually own digital games. Therefore, they declared true digital ownership impossible. This statement stoked the flames of the physical versus digital discourse even further. Despite intense fan boycotts and rumors of a policy reversal, recent reports confirm Sony is not backing down. The company will push forward with its digital games strategy, completely ignoring consumer pressure and Xbox’s competing plans. As a result, the loud protests for physical games may ultimately be in vain.
The Bungie Collapse & Destiny 3 Rejection
Meanwhile, the Destiny community is furious over the franchise’s fate. Sony recently shut down development on Destiny 2. This decision angered fans, especially since the game still maintains over 25,000 daily active users on Steam alone. Consequently, players launched an official Destiny 3 petition. This petition has already gathered over 410,000 signatures.
However, a sequel remains highly unlikely. Bungie reportedly pitched Destiny 3 to Sony several times. Yet, Sony rejected every pitch due to the massive $500 million estimated development budget. Sony simply refuses to fund this massive price tag after Bungie’s poor overall performance following its acquisition. Sony has yet to comment publicly about approving a Destiny sequel.
A Bleak Pipeline for Bungie
Currently, Bungie’s studio health looks terrible. The developer’s title, ‘Marathon’, is struggling drastically. The game cannot even retain 2,000 concurrent players on Steam. As a result, Marathon is undergoing a massive makeover for its third season.
Furthermore, Bungie currently has zero greenlit games in active development. Reports around the time of the studio’s layoffs indicate they are only working on early incubation projects. Before the layoffs, Bungie had five or six games in the pipeline. Now, almost all of those projects are dead. Only ‘Project Gummy Bear’ survived the purge. However, Sony stripped that game away from Bungie and handed it to another PlayStation studio. Ultimately, Bungie’s internal pipeline is gutted, and Destiny 3 will likely never see the light of day.
