Study Finds Almost Half of PS5 Disc Backlash Came from Fake Accounts
A research study by Cyabra has revealed that nearly half of the negative responses to PlayStation’s official social media channels during an August boycott campaign came from fake or inauthentic accounts. The boycott was organized by PlayStation community members protesting the company’s announcement to cease manufacturing physical disc-based games in 2028. Campaign participants encouraged players to disconnect their consoles and stay offline as a form of digital protest.
While the backlash initially appeared significant on social media, the study suggests that genuine community sentiment was substantially amplified by coordinated inauthentic engagement. Data shows the boycott had minimal measurable impact on actual player counts, indicating that despite vocal online opposition—even after accounting for artificial amplification—the shift toward digital-only distribution faced little practical resistance from the player base.
The findings raise questions about the authenticity of gaming community discourse on social platforms and the effectiveness of online boycotts as consumer advocacy tools in the gaming industry.