Why This Topic Landed in Japan

Abroad, the end of disc production is being framed as a question of ownership—you stop being able to keep the games you bought. In Japanese threads it was absorbed first into the long-running rivalry between console camps, so the scale of the boycott mattered less than a blunt practical question: what does not logging in for a week actually accomplish? The X account "Does it play?" (@DoesItPlay1) proposed the window with other creators specifically so publishers and developers would take minimal damage while users still made themselves heard, and its statement called the removal of physical discs the last straw. Posters countered that physical production lines are already winding down, which makes a late rush to buy discs pointless. The Game Freak footage landed on adjacent ground: taking cues from an action game that performs well overseas was read by some as overdue ambition and by others as second-hand work, which in turn raised the question of whether a studio that has criticised imitation is now doing it.

Key Reaction Themes

  • Doubt that the boycott can work — "Not logging in only speeds up the move to downloads" and "run a campaign to buy physical instead" framed the method as mismatched to the goal.
  • Absorbed into the console rivalry — A large share of posts skipped the substance of the protest for an argument about which camp is losing momentum.
  • Some sympathy for dropping discs — Posters raised early breaks and data ripping around disc releases, and pointed out that factory plans are already set.
  • Split verdict on the Sekiro resemblance — Disappointment that a supposed AAA push turned out to be a rehash ran alongside cooler analysis of what Game Freak actually handles in-house.

What Japanese Netizens Are Saying

An overseas call to boycott PlayStation, "#PSBlackout"

A week of no logins, no play and no purchases from 23 August, called in protest at the end of disc production for new titles from January 2028.

Sources: Game Spark

Comments:

  • "Still picking up topics that aren't actually blowing up anywhere? 🤭"
  • "It's the only means of resistance the other side has left... don't laugh at them, it's sad... Switch 2 can't stop losing momentum, the stock is crashing, there's nothing left to hype, so taking potshots at Sony is the only resistance those losers on the far bank have..."
  • "The public has cooled on Nintendo itself, and that crowd can only shift the blame for it lol"
  • "Put out a disc version and you get the people breaking street date and the people ripping the data."
  • "How many tens of millions signed up?"
  • "Run a campaign to buy physical copies instead. Are these people idiots?"
  • "The factory schedules are already set and they're winding down physical, so buying physical copies now is too late anyway."
  • "What are you going to do instead of logging in? Play frisbee with your discs?"
  • "The boycott cracked me up."
  • "If you don't log in, don't play, and don't go to a shop to buy physical, doesn't that just push the shift to downloads even further?"

Game Freak's new game called a Sekiro lookalike

Footage of the new title was said to closely resemble FromSoftware's work, opening an argument over imitation.

Comments:

  • "People were vaguely saying 'FromSoft, FromSoft' just from the look, and it's straight-up Sekiro lol"
  • "Whoa lol, they're making this and they can still complain about Palworld?"
  • "I thought they'd come out swinging with a AAA title and it's a rehash."
  • "This is Game Freak? Have they finally decided to make a proper game? It's Sekiro through and through, though."
  • "There's no sense of fighting alongside the dog at all. They call it a command element but it just goes into slow motion when you fire a skill. The gameplay is parry, build the gauge, fire a skill—the usual FromSoft knockoff."
  • "If they have time for this, put more care into Pokémon Legends."
  • "If only you could bring a Pokémon along as your partner."
  • "Can't they get sued over patents?"
  • "FromSoftware is broad-minded enough not to mind at all when Soulslikes copy them, so it's fine."
  • "It looks like Sekiro and FF7 Remake put together."
  • "Game Freak's part in this is probably direction and project management, with everything else outsourced."