Thousands of PS5 owners have started unplugging their consoles. It is the opening move of a coordinated PS5 blackout protest against Sony. The action is officially scheduled to begin at 7pm local time in each region. Many participants were already offline hours before that start time.
Organisers are asking players to keep their consoles unplugged from today through 30th August. That means no logins, no gameplay, and no purchases on the PlayStation Store. The goal is to lower Sony’s active user count, a metric the company reports in its financial filings.
Why the PS5 blackout protest started
The protest is mainly a response to Sony’s plan to stop manufacturing physical PS5 discs. That change is due to take effect in January 2028. Organisers argue the decision reflects a company that has grown “further apart from its fan base.” They are using the blackout to make that frustration visible in numbers Sony tracks internally, rather than in forum posts Sony can ignore.
One organiser wrote: “Sony wants to abandon fans? Let’s give them a small taste of their own medicine! Together with other creators we call for a 1 week #PSBlackout in August. No logins, no play sessions, no purchases on any of Sony’s platforms.”
The campaign follows a rocky few weeks for Sony’s relationship with its fan base. A Push Square poll published earlier this week found that 92% of respondents believe PlayStation Studios would benefit from new management. That sentiment grew after reports emerged that the studio is rebooting development on the spin-off game Horizon Hunters Gathering.
Sony says the boycotts aren’t hurting business
Sony’s most recent financial report put its monthly active users at around 125 million. That figure is up year-over-year. Speaking with investors about earlier boycott threats and PS Plus cancellations, Sony chief financial officer Lin Tao said the company was not seeing any “impact on our business.”
Whether the current blackout changes that calculation depends on participation. Organisers need large numbers of players to actually follow through for the full week, not just for a day. They are treating the coordinated timing, spanning multiple regions and platforms simultaneously, as their strongest chance yet to register with Sony’s leadership. Previous, smaller protests over PS Plus price hikes and delisted games failed to move the company’s public stance.
For now, the blackout remains a voluntary, self-policed effort. There is no way to verify how many consoles are actually powered down at any given moment. Organisers are instead pointing to visible activity: fewer players online, fewer trophies posted, and a drop in PlayStation Store chart movement during the protest window.
- Protest window: today through 30th August
- Primary demand: reverse the plan to end physical PS5 disc production in January 2028
- Secondary demand: closer engagement between Sony and its fan base
- Requested actions: no logins, no play sessions, no PlayStation Store purchases