Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

sylens

From a business perspective, I understand this. The physical games sections of most retailers are pitiful these days - take a walk down the PS5 aisle in Target or Best Buy for example. They also have a need to shore up margins if they want to keep subsidizing the hardware during the component crisis. And their biggest competitor, XBox, is in the process of pivoting out of their current pivot and apparently is about to layoff a massive chunk of its workforce. But at the end of the day, part of what makes a console a console to me is the ability to swap games with friends. If I can't do that easily, why wouldn't I just use Steam?

OuterVale

Shutting down the stores on the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita, too. https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/an-update-on-playsta... Discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48745476

makyavelist

Step by step...

zache6

Sucks to see this right after the Studio Canal movie situation [1]. I won't be getting another PlayStation. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48691346

fredoralive

Well, I guess that answers the question of whether the PS6 will have an awkward snap on disc drive.

buran77

Discs are less convenient so people have slowly moved to digital sales. This worked even better for console manufacturers, cheaper to drop that disc reader, and the second hand market is effectively dead which increases new game sales. The side-effect most people didn't consider is that you never really own a digital copy. And the most relevant part is that you cannot transfer/sell a digital copy. For everything else around ownership I know I can count on Sony to still screw it up even with discs, like disabling a disc game with some online checks.

rvz

Unsurprising. [0] This is even before 2030 and you will own nothing and be happy. Get ready for your games to be delisted [1] as you never owned them in the first place (unless you have the disc) [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33362792 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32049626

kuerbel

Aaaand I'm not going to buy a PS6. On pc there is some competition at least between Steam, epic, gog (the odd one out but I like it) and such. I have no interest in buying a vendor specific computer with only one storefront and no competition.

keyringlight

I wonder if this signals anything about Sony's attitude to blu-ray movies. Aside from games one of the reasons their consoles have sold well is because they've been excellent physical media players. The PS2 for DVDs and the PS3 onwards for blu-ray. If I remember well PS3 was during the period where blu-ray lasers were production constrained and more expensive with Sony prioritizing their own devices, so the console was price and availability competitive against dedicated disc players by third parties. And the PS3 had pretty long term update/support. I'm fairly sure that had an impact on the financial side as it was in the era when console hardware was subsidized on the expectation they'd get a slice of game sales, except those consoles bought for primarily for movies didn't reimburse them so well.

nsbk

Bummer! Based on the current trajectory, PS6 will be the first non-handheld PS I will not own.

jespinel

I thought CDs were (mostly) no longer being produced. I'm surprised this decision was not made years ago.

bilekas

This is ridiculous, and not long after they've been updating their ToS to require you to sign in and phone home in order to continue to be allowed access to your digital library. > In response to shifting trends in consumer preference. I hate this corporate speak. If buying isn't ownership, then pirating isn't stealing.

phire

With this news, I have to wonder how much longer bluray will live. Will we continue seeing new bluray releases of movies and TV shows for decades, or are their days numbered? The loss of console gaming presumably removes a guaranteed revenue source that was keeping Bluray pressing plants alive. Sales of DVDs and Bluray have been declining for years [1] [3] . Some people have been excited pushing the news that UHD bluray sales increased in 2025, [2] but that ignores the fact that the total optical sales still dropped. [1] https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=... [2] https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=... [3] This article has a more complete graph: https://www.statsignificant.com/p/the-rise-fall-and-slight-r...

pryelluw

Guess I’m throwing my PS5 out the window and going to PC. This war on physical media is ridiculous. Pretty soon they’re going to require us to buy the console but rent the controllers for the very low price of $79.99 a month.

deadbabe

I used to think this was bad, but honestly? It’s just games. Some people buy tons of digital games they literally never even play. If they were physical games, imagine all the e-waste. And what’s the point of physical games? So you can play the game in 30 years from now on some retro console you’ve diligently maintained? Get over it, you’re not going to do any of that. There’s no mythical third act where you go through some library of physical CDs and reminisce about an old ass game. There’s constantly new games coming out all the time, you will just keep buying and buying games, you play them for a bit, and then you move on. It’s not “buy it for life”, it’s buy it for right now have fun and move on. Live in the present, don’t worry about the future. Even people who have retro consoles and collect physical copies seem to mostly do it for collector purposes. When they die, their kids will send all that to a dump or pawn it off. Pointless.

Noe2097

Wow that doesn't sound great. We won't own games anymore, we won't be able to sell/acquire used games, we won't be able to play disconnected. I'm curious whether Nintendo will be following the same path.

K3UL

One of the major reasons I upgraded to ps5 was because it would also allow me to play blu-ray movies. If the PS6 comes out with no disc player at all, not a chance I buy it. Also, that's a definite middle finger to second hand and physical stores then ? Hoping MS will make a bet in the opposite direction (but I don't see it) and the players will follow..

accrual

> Sony's announcement follows Rockstar's announcement that Grand Theft Auto 6 will come with a download code in a box rather than a physical disc. It's a move that most notably stamps out second-hand reselling of a game. This is the big point for me. If one buys a digital PlayStation game there's virtually no easy way to transfer it to another owner or sell it like one could do in past console generations. There will always be modding and ways to play game dumps, but it limits that level of "ownership" to those technically inclined to make it work.

r0ckarong

Most games with retail copies drop in price soon after the hype window is over. They stay full launch retail price in the PSN store unless there is a "sale". Anti-consumerism at its finest.

koeliga

So this pretty much confirms that GTA 6 won't be sold as disc later on