114,000 sign 'Don't Kill the Disc' as Kojima calls the all-digital future frightening

The pushback against the disc-free future now has numbers. 'Don't Kill the Disc: Tell Sony to Keep Physical PlayStation Games', a Change.org petition started on July 1 by Jade Pearce of Canadian games retailer PNP Games, crossed 100,000 signatures in four days and sits above 114,000 as of July 6, with more than 22,000 added in a single day. GTA 6 is named right in the petition text: 'Days earlier, Grand Theft Auto VI confirmed it will launch with no disc at all.' The core of the argument is ownership: 'A disc is a real game you own. You can lend it, trade it, resell it, gift it, collect it, or pass it down to your kids.'

Hideo Kojima added his voice the same weekend. Speaking at the Il Cinema in Piazza film festival in Rome (his remarks were translated by Genki and picked up by Kotaku, Windows Central and others), the Metal Gear and Death Stranding creator said he grew up with physical media and finds the 2028 cutoff 'really sad'. His bigger worry is a streaming-style future where game data lives on a company's servers and you only keep access for as long as the company allows: 'That is what is frightening. So, what is happening to video games in 2028, might also happen to movies.' He says he has been buying up Blu-rays and CDs himself.

This is the third wave of backlash in under two weeks: first fan forums, then politicians in France, Brazil and the EU Parliament, now a mass petition and one of the industry's most famous designers. Sony has not commented. Xbox, meanwhile, made a point of noting that Halo: Campaign Evolved ships in a case with a real disc, which fans read as a dig at its rival. None of it changes how GTA 6 launches on November 19: a box, a code, no disc.