Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki says the current memory shortage actually came at a “lucky” time for PlayStation. “It is lucky, you know, we are in the latter half of the lifetime cycle of a PS console. That means that we do not need to aggressively sell the console today. And rather than that, we’re focusing on recurring revenue from the current, you know, the user base.” PlayStation had 125 million monthly active users as of June 30, so Sony is increasingly focusing on revenue from its existing players through services like PS Plus.

Games industry analyst Dr. Serkan Toto says that even if 500,000 PlayStation Plus subscribers canceled their memberships to protest Sony’s decision to stop releasing physical PlayStation games, it wouldn’t be enough to make the company change its plans. Sony has around 50 million PS Plus subscribers, so losing 500,000 would be only about 1% of its subscriber base. Toto called that “just a drop in the ocean.” Extra context: Toto is affiliated with Keio University, which has worked with Sony on research and published studies on microlens technology. Some people online have claimed the university could benefit monetarily by developing the microlenses that will supplant the Austrian disc factory