On September 1, 2026, Sony Interactive Entertainment published a document that most headlines summarized as follows: “Sony has banned users from being rude.”


What’s in the document

The policy appeared on the Japanese PlayStation support website. Sony states that its goal is to protect the dignity and safety of employees who handle customer inquiries.

The list of what the company considers unacceptable is broader than expected. In addition to obvious threats, insults, slander, discrimination, and comments of a sexual nature, it includes:

  1. persistent or excessively lengthy demands
  2. excessive or unfounded demands for compensation and apologies
  3. inquiries unrelated to the company’s products or services
  4. intimidation
  5. attacks and demands directed at a specific employee personally
  6. unauthorized visits to the company’s offices and facilities


And now, the context missing from the headlines

In Japan, there is a term called “kasuhara”—short for “customer harassment.” This concept has been incorporated into legislation in recent years.

In October 2024, Tokyo passed the country’s first ordinance against kasuhara, effective as of April 2025. It identified the problem and called on employers to protect their staff. Parliament then got involved. In June 2025, Japan revised the Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labor Measures. And here’s the key date: starting October 1, 2026, protecting employees from customer aggression becomes the employer’s direct responsibility—for any company, even if it employs just one person.

What exactly does the law require? To publish a clear policy on staff protection. To establish a channel for reporting incidents. To never leave an employee alone with an aggressor. Respond to incidents. In the most serious cases, issue warnings, refuse service, and block offenders.


But why now, and why Sony?

Sony is currently going through one of its most turbulent periods in recent years. The company announced it would stop producing new game discs starting in January 2028. The reaction was fierce. This was compounded by class-action lawsuits in several countries.

The public was particularly outraged by the company’s legal stance—the argument that, in the digital age, a consumer could not reasonably expect to take ownership of anything when purchasing a game. Sony’s CFO, Lin Tao, acknowledged that the company recognizes the emotional intensity surrounding the disc decision and added that it would proceed cautiously in this direction, but proceed nonetheless. The “we’ve heard you, but we’ll do it our way” approach rarely reassures anyone.


The most unpleasant part of this story

Now, let’s talk about why this news strikes me as sad rather than funny.

The people who answer calls at PlayStation Support have absolutely nothing to do with the decision regarding physical discs. They don’t sit in meetings where such decisions are made. They didn’t write that phrase about “ownership in the digital age.” Their job is to help restart the console and sort out an account error. A call center agent physically cannot bring back disc-based game versions—no matter how many times you explain to them why it’s important.


What this means for us

For Ukrainian PlayStation owners, practically nothing—at least for now. This is a Japanese policy; regional support operates by its own rules.

But it’s worth keeping an eye on this trend. Japan is clearly ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to protecting service employees, and similar policies are already emerging in other countries. Plus, large corporations tend to standardize policies across regions once one of them has justified the move.

And separately—the decision regarding discs. This one affects us directly. In a region where physical copies were often a way to buy a game cheaper, resell it, or simply have something in your hands, the transition to a purely digital format feels different than it does in Tokyo or California.


Sources: Official PlayStation Japan, Kotaku, Japan Times support site (under Japanese law).