Sony threatens to cut off customer support and pursue legal action over harassment as backlash to PlayStation’s physical-disc phaseout intensifies — company to move forward with no disc decision despite several lawsuits

PlayStation 5 Pro — (Image credit: Sony)

Sony Japan has officially implemented a new customer harassment policy to address ongoing customer backlash, following the company’s controversial announcement to phase out physical PlayStation game discs by January 2028. In an official publication on September 1, the company outlined prohibited customer behaviors to protect the dignity and safety of its employees and threatened to suspend customer service if the behaviors continued.

“The dignity and safety of our employees must not be threatened by customer harassment, such as words or demands from customers that exceed what is considered reasonable according to social norms,” the publication read. “If any behavior constituting customer harassment is confirmed, we may restrict or suspend customer service in order to protect the safety of our employees.”

Some of the examples of customer harassment detailed in the publication include “persistent and repeated, or prolonged, demands; excessive or unreasonable demands for compensation; abusive language, threats, slander, and other similar behaviors; requests unrelated to products or services; intimidating attitude; discriminatory or sexual conduct; and attacks and demands against individual employees.

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The company also listed “forcing someone to prostrate themselves,” visiting company grounds without permission, and excessively asking for apologies as customer harassment, expressing willingness to use legal force if necessary. “We will take a firm stance against such actions and aim to build healthy and sustainable relationships while respecting both our customers and employees,” it said. “If we deem it necessary, we will cooperate with the police, lawyers, etc., and consider taking action, including legal measures and criminal proceedings.”

The new policies appear to be in response to the intense backlash over Sony's decision to end physical disc production by 2028. The decision was met with immediate, widespread backlash from the gaming community, which argued — among other things — that ending physical discs was equivalent to eliminating true ownership. Critics also argued that digital purchases were rentals and placed too much power in the company's hands, which could restrict access at will. Just 6 days after the July 1st announcement, a Change.org petition to stop the move had amassed 200,000 signatures and is now approaching 400,000.

The company doesn't appear to be backing down. After a class action lawsuit related to Sony’s decision to kill physical discs, the company moved to force the case into out-of-court arbitration, arguing that “reasonable consumers would not be misled into believing they own digital games.” The plaintiffs allege that Sony misleads consumers by using "Buy" buttons for digital PlayStation games without clearly disclosing that buyers are only purchasing a temporary, revocable license rather than actual, permanent ownership of the game.

Several other related lawsuits are ongoing. Regardless, Sony has said it will "cautiously move forward" with its decision despite “strong views” from players. The company hopes its new customer harassment policy will curb some of the backlash individual employees are currently facing. The policies also align with Japan's recent law that mandates companies to take measures to prevent customer harassment towards their workers.

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Etiido Uko is a news contributor for Tom's Hardware covering the latest updates in big tech and the PC industry. He is a mechanical engineer and senior technical writer with over nine years of experience in documentation and reporting. He is deeply passionate about all things engineering and technology, and is an expert in gadgets, manufacturing, robotics, automotive, and aerospace.

131 Comments Comment from the forums

cknobman

At this point, if you continue to give Sony business, you get what you deserve.
They have showed who they are and are doubling down.
Reply
Kindaian

Refusal to give support will only lead to small claims court for full refund of all investment on the platform, updated to current inflation / prices, with penalty costs for denial of said service.

Tally that together with the normal corporate denial of class actions, and you will get a storm of small claims cases. Good luck finding lawyers to represent the company on all those cases!

I always thought that the class actions was a process to protect the companies from excessive number of court cases. But looks like they think differently.
Reply
GenericUser2001

cknobman said:
At this point, if you continue to give Sony business, you get what you deserve.
They have showed who they are and are doubling down.
Yeah, I gave up on game consoles in general awhile ago. The entire concept that a device maker gets to restrict and control what you do with YOUR device after you have purchased it inevitably leads to consumer hostile actions like this. And is something that the legal system should perhaps address; I mean if John Deere can get slapped with FTC supervision and be forced to open up its tractors to third party repairs (after trying to use DRM software to restrict the actual owners from fixing them) perhaps something similar can be done for game consoles. And Sony specifically, yeah, I wouldn't trust their other products either.
Reply
derekullo

GenericUser2001 said:
Yeah, I gave up on game consoles in general awhile ago. The entire concept that a device maker gets to restrict and control what you do with YOUR device after you have purchased it inevitably leads to consumer hostile actions like this. And is something that the legal system should perhaps address; I mean if John Deere can get slapped with FTC supervision and be forced to open up its tractors to third party repairs (after trying to use DRM software to restrict the actual owners from fixing them) perhaps something similar can be done for game consoles. And Sony specifically, yeah, I wouldn't trust their other products either.
Right but you can't easily copy a John Deere tractor ... the hardware itself is the most useful part.
For a computer/console, all of the usefulness comes from software which once the console is jailbroken and the internal processes become common knowledge the game/software is ported to emulators.
Reply
TerryLaze

Kindaian said:
Refusal to give support will only lead to small claims court for full refund of all investment on the platform, updated to current inflation / prices, with penalty costs for denial of said service.

Tally that together with the normal corporate denial of class actions, and you will get a storm of small claims cases. Good luck finding lawyers to represent the company on all those cases!

I always thought that the class actions was a process to protect the companies from excessive number of court cases. But looks like they think differently.
Every business has the right to refuse service to people not conducting themselves, never ever was any company forced to give back money for former services rendered in those cases.
You can't sue them over that, or I guess you can sue but you can't expect to win.
Reply
GenericUser2001

derekullo said:
Right but you can't easily copy a John Deere tractor ... the hardware itself is the most useful part.
For a computer/console, all of the usefulness comes from software which once the console is jailbroken becomes easily replicable in emulators.
True to a degree, but console hardware itself is useful, and I think if you own, actually own a device, then well the device maker artificially controlling how you use your device is bad. And leads to consumer hostile actions. Like this, if you could just install whatever game store of your choosing onto a PlayStation, and plug in an external drive for your older games, then very few people would complaining about Sony deciding to drop physical sales. On PC physical sales pretty much vanished years ago, with only minor complaints, since the multiple store fronts keep any one game store from being too stupid and consumer hostile.
Reply
Alastor01

Ah good old Sony.

Loved PS2. Loved PS3 much less after they:

1) Removed PS2 compatibility practically entirely

2) Closed of already restricted and promised OtherOS (Linux)

Such great hardware downgraded by it's software.

Now it's PC only. Which is a shame, considering I can't enjoy native Bloodborne or Demon's Souls
Reply
Cyberwolf2077

All they needed to do is require a PlayStation network account to call support. If they harass customer support they lose access to it up to a platform ban. No need to take it out on us regular consumers
Reply
S58_is_the_goat

Cyberwolf2077 said:
All they needed to do is require a PlayStation network account to call support. If they harass customer support they lose access to it up to a platform ban. No need to take it out on us regular consumers
In that case I would buy a new playstation and return the old one, change any serial numbers and now I have an unbanned one, ****** . Two can play this game.
Reply
King_V

Cyberwolf2077 said:
All they needed to do is require a PlayStation network account to call support. If they harass customer support they lose access to it up to a platform ban. No need to take it out on us regular consumers
Uh, not sure what you're suggesting. This seems to say that non PSN users are the only ones eligible for support. That's a kind of weird stance.
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