PlayStation’s Black Ops post is the first in weeks to dodge “No Disc, No Buy”

This week, Sony’s PlayStation account posted about the digital release of the classic Call of Duty: Black Ops games, and for the first time in weeks, a major PlayStation post wasn’t buried under “No Disc, No Buy” replies. The tone felt different right away.

The boycott goes back to what critics see as Sony’s push to phase out physical discs by 2028, along with the worry that a PlayStation 6 might arrive without a built-in disc drive. Most recent PlayStation posts have filled up with anger about ownership, preservation, resale rights, and basic consumer choice. This one, though, pulled in more excitement, nostalgia, and plain old arguments about the games themselves, even with people still complaining about the price and the thin upgrades.

That doesn’t mean the backlash is gone. It does suggest the movement can start to split when something as big as Call of Duty: Black Ops shows up. Sony already makes 85% of PlayStation software sales digitally, up five points year over year, according to its latest financial results. The company also reported 1.5 billion in digital revenue versus 109 million from physical sales. On top of that, first-party digital sales bring in better margins than the roughly 65% Sony keeps on boxed copies, and it takes about a 30% cut on third-party digital sales. All of that sits beside polls like IGN’s, where more than 90% of respondents said they don’t want an all-digital future.

If you’ve been following this fight, this is the kind of shift to keep an eye on. There still aren’t any Call of Duty: Black Ops sales numbers yet, so calling the boycott dead would be premature. Still, nostalgia and sheer scale are making PlayStation’s anti-digital opposition look less united than it did before.

The classic Call of Duty: Black Ops titles are available now as digital downloads on the PlayStation Store.