PlayStation has reportedly enabled its “strictest social media guidelines” after its announcement to exit the physical games market.
In a recent video discussing Sony Interactive Entertainment’s decision to move entirely to digital game distribution, former Santa Monica Studio writer, game journalist, and content creator Alanah Pearce mentioned speaking with people at PlayStation first-party studios who said the company had expected major public backlash well before the announcement was made. “People working at PlayStation first-party studios told me that Sony had the strictest social media guidelines for this particular thing that they’ve ever seen issued,” she said.
The former Santa Monica Studio writer explained that Sony Interactive Entertainment regularly provides communication guidance to employees surrounding major announcements, drawing from her own experience working on God of War Ragnarok. However, she said this latest set of restrictions stood out as unprecedented. “I was under a lot of guidelines when I was working on God of War Ragnarok,” she stated. “I still am, and they did send me guidelines regarding what I could say on the day that the game was announced. But in this instance, it is apparently the strictest the employees I spoke to have ever seen regarding public communications.”
Pearce believes the unusually restrictive communication policies demonstrate that Sony Interactive Entertainment fully expected the backlash surrounding its decision to end physical game production. “They would only have done this if they knew it was going to be an enormous PR issue,” she said. “This is no surprise to them.” According to her, the console maker likely calculated the risks and determined they were outweighed by the long-term financial benefits. She pointed to the higher profit margins on digital game sales, the elimination of physical manufacturing and distribution costs, and the company’s strategy of strengthening its digital ecosystem.
While acknowledging widespread criticism from consumers, preservation advocates, and parts of the games industry on its decision to exit the physical games market, the former Santa Monica Studio writer highlighted that Sony Interactive Entertainment’s stock rose following the announcement, indicating that shareholders viewed the move favorably despite the negative public reception.
