Hypocrisy: Sony Loves Physical Media, But Only When It Can Sell You a Turntable

Sony is under fire for promoting a new vinyl turntable right after announcing it will stop making PlayStation game discs in 2028. Fans are accusing the brand of hypocrisy, noting the conflict between supporting physical media when it’s advantageous for hardware sales, but not when hundreds of thousands of players demand access to physical games.

Sony Electronics posted its PS-LX3BT turntable over the weekend, just three weeks after its explosive PlayStation announcement. It’s worth noting that the turntable doesn’t comprise a new category for Sony: The company unveiled the PS-LX3BT and PS-LX5BT, two Bluetooth record players, earlier this year. But the timing of its X post sends mixed signals, even though the audio and gaming businesses are obviously separate divisions.

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Supporters of the company’s turntable announcement insist that because the two product lines serve different audiences, Sony’s decision to quit making physical PlayStation games is irrelevant. But the irony of celebrating vinyl—an arguably clunky and outdated form of physical media, despite its popularity—and then ditching physical games is also a fair thing to be upset about.

“They’re a bunch of hypocrites at Sony,” one X comment reads.