Jul 17, 2026 · 3 hr 3 min · 14 segments
Thanks for tuning into episode 90 of the X Button Gaming podcast. In this episode Jaiden, Gary, Jimi and I talk about the state of the video game industry after the recent announcement from Sony about…
So for those that might not know, which I assume most people that listen to this know already, but just in case, what was announced was probably about three weeks ago now, Sony announced that they're going to stop production of Blu-ray discs at least for games... uh, for now for the PlayStation starting on January, 2028.
So basically in two, less than two years, they're saying any game that comes out from that point forward on a PlayStation console will not have a disc release.
It will be just digital.
um and just before we touch on that that wasn't it what i actually woke up to which was already a bad enough announcement for me personally i wasn't happy to see it but i knew it was coming was they also that day announced that they were closing the playstation 3 and vita storefronts um worldwide uh and you know it's going to be some places sooner than others but the end date for basically everywhere will be june 2027.
So I saw that, and then at the end of that article, they were like, on top of Sony's bombshell announcement, like, this is not a great day for PlayStation fans.
I was like, what does that mean? And I clicked on the link and was like, you've got to be kidding me.
What kind of day is this? So, yeah, so there was that.
And then on top of that, you had Xbox the following week.
laying off what 4 000 employees closing they didn't end up closing any studios which was surprising but they did uh let some of these studios go to be independent again they sold a few off um that was kind of like the nice thing about it like i think in most cases nowadays on a slightly positive note they do just close the studios down and write off the loss i guess or whatever however that works in corporate mumbo jumbo But I was happy to see Compulsion Games and Double Fine didn't just get the axe.
They're able to spin off, they're able to keep their IPs, and they're able to make games still on their own.
They'll have to work things out on their own now without Microsoft.
And then, in this last week, Sony announced that Crunchyroll, if you want to access any physical media, anything on Crunchyroll, on their Crunchyroll store starting next month, you have to have the $15 plus subscription to be able to buy anything.
The $10 subscription will allow you to browse their store, but you have to be paying for at least the $15 subscription just to buy anime, manga, anything from the Crunchyroll store.
They're paywalling the right to purchase content? Anything on
What? It's just like, what is happening? It's like they're trying so hard to stop.
Maybe you
already mentioned this too, but didn't they also take away a bunch of movies, license content? That happened just before.
Yeah, literally before.
It was
like a week or two
before that, and they announced
it.
So a bunch of licenses expired for a bunch of movies.
It's like 500 plus or something.
So for those that might not know, which I assume most people that listen to this know already, but just in case, what was announced was probably about three weeks ago now, Sony announced that they're going to stop production of Blu-ray discs at least for games... uh, for now for the PlayStation starting on January, 2028.
So basically in two, less than two years, they're saying any game that comes out from that point forward on a PlayStation console will not have a disc release.
It will be just digital.
um and just before we touch on that that wasn't it what i actually woke up to which was already a bad enough announcement for me personally i wasn't happy to see it but i knew it was coming was they also that day announced that they were closing the playstation 3 and vita storefronts um worldwide uh and you know it's going to be some places sooner than others but the end date for basically everywhere will be june 2027.
So I saw that, and then at the end of that article, they were like, on top of Sony's bombshell announcement, like, this is not a great day for PlayStation fans.
I was like, what does that mean? And I clicked on the link and was like, you've got to be kidding me.
What kind of day is this? So, yeah, so there was that.
And then on top of that, you had Xbox the following week.
laying off what 4 000 employees closing they didn't end up closing any studios which was surprising but they did uh let some of these studios go to be independent again they sold a few off um that was kind of like the nice thing about it like i think in most cases nowadays on a slightly positive note they do just close the studios down and write off the loss i guess or whatever however that works in corporate mumbo jumbo But I was happy to see Compulsion Games and Double Fine didn't just get the axe.
They're able to spin off, they're able to keep their IPs, and they're able to make games still on their own.
They'll have to work things out on their own now without Microsoft.
And then, in this last week, Sony announced that Crunchyroll, if you want to access any physical media, anything on Crunchyroll, on their Crunchyroll store starting next month, you have to have the $15 plus subscription to be able to buy anything.
The $10 subscription will allow you to browse their store, but you have to be paying for at least the $15 subscription just to buy anime, manga, anything from the Crunchyroll store.
They're paywalling the right to purchase content? Anything on
What? It's just like, what is happening? It's like they're trying so hard to stop.
Maybe you
already mentioned this too, but didn't they also take away a bunch of movies, license content? That happened just before.
Yeah, literally before.
It was
like a week or two
before that, and they announced
it.
So a bunch of licenses expired for a bunch of movies.
It's like 500 plus or something.
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