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Sony is moving away from physical discs, will soon only release PlayStation games digitally

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Sony made a shocking announcement today, revealing that the company plans to move away from physical game releases in the future. Citing claims of how the industry is moving away from physical copies and disc-based games, and prefers digital media, PlayStation will follow suit, and will only release PlayStation games digitally. Starting January 2028, physical disc production will end, and you'll only be able to purchase video games through a digital format, either from retailers or PlayStation themselves.

According to the most recent financial report from Sony, only 3% of PlayStation's annual sales came from physical software releases, with projections for that already low number set to fall even further through the end of the PlayStation 5's lifecycle.

As consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continue to shift away from physical discs to digital, physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028. Following this date, new games will be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only. This transition has no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format.

This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs. This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.
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DeadSkullzJr said:
From a physical perspective, that's a high probability. They may not see the need to include a drive with the PlayStation 6 if it's only good for PlayStation 5 discs. What people are entirely missing though is, with the death of the disc drive, that basically puts question marks over the existence of Blu-ray as a whole. One of the novelties of a PlayStation starting with the PlayStation 3 was the ability to watch Blu-ray movies. So unless they decide to include a drive for movies at the bare minimum, we may be seeing an indirect plan to kill off Blu-ray eventually. I am willing to bet they will claim "most people stream" as their reason too.
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Mad isn't it? We have this great cheap storage medium and it's just being discarded cos people are perceived as too lazy to put a disc in a slot.

I think it's a shame that 8cm Blu-rays aren't the standard digital storage medium. They're so nice to handle.
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spotanjo3 said:
Maybe they will sell a portable drive disk separately for profit, unless they’ve said there won’t be any discs at all. I bet the fans will protest, and they will listen and release a separate portable version. I doubt.
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Best case is the launch model is compatible with the PS5 disc drive. They're not going to make a new drive now.
 
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retrospect said:
Mad isn't it? We have this great cheap storage medium and it's just being discarded cos people are perceived as too lazy to put a disc in a slot.

I think it's a shame that 8cm Blu-rays aren't the standard digital storage medium. They're so nice to handle.
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I hope the film side of things keeps the format going, like they do DVD. I know not everyone has access to a good Wi-Fi connection for streaming, if any access at all. Losing video games to an all digital future is bad enough, we don't need film getting that treatment too.
 
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retrospect said:
Mad isn't it? We have this great cheap storage medium and it's just being discarded cos people are perceived as too lazy to put a disc in a slot.

I think it's a shame that 8cm Blu-rays aren't the standard digital storage medium. They're so nice to handle.
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Best case is the launch model is compatible with the PS5 disc drive. They're not going to make a new drive now.
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Based on this, PS6 will come out in 2028 sounds like with no disc drive/add-on disc drive and still be $1,000 due to memory shortages.
 
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ChronoCrossfangirl2002 said:
Would this also mean potentially also losing backwards compat with future sony consoles? because that'd suck alot.
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Yeah that's definitely dev time they'd rather use on something else, like making the next Concord. Unfortunate that I can't say I'm fully joking there, either.

Sony is really shooting themselves in the balls with this timing, after having just revoked a bunch of movies from users' accounts, and having wasted the entire PS5 generation. The console has two true exclusives, and one of them is a remake (Demon's Souls). The value of buying into their walled garden ecosystem once it goes all digital will be nonexistent.

retrospect said:
What happens to Steam when Gabe dies is a concern. I think employee-ownership would be smart. Valve mustn't go public or the banks will be calling the shots.

For employee ownership to work the firm might need to expand, meaning it will need to buy studios or hire their staff. Now would be a great time for them to make a start.

They could do worse than buy Sega, but I expect that would be blocked.
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His son is heir apparent for his role, but his role is already very minimal as far as day-to-day operations of Valve go. Various senior staff members decide what projects to work on and when to work on them, so it's essentially an employee-owned business as is.
 
SaudiCraft said:
Wouldn't this just end the secondary market? No more selling or lending games to friends and opens illegitimate account selling/trading on a larger scale as well as piracy.
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yes ps6 is gonna be the most pirated console when the store closes
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Moogley said:
On the same day, this news also dropped: gamers are moving away from Sony, will soon only play PlayStation games on retro consoles.

Huh. What a coincidence.
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Remember that even the physical games on Switch 2 aren't usually physical. They're just digital access keys. The main difference between Nintendo and Sony isn't their mission - it's just their marketing.

NONE of these companies want you to own your games, except maybe Valve.
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on steam you have a license so you dont own your games but value wont take away your games
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i already stopped using newer consolez for a while because stuff like this. no disc no future generation to buy the game when servers shut down ps6 is gonna be the most pirated console.
 
Last edited by i_likechicken,
I've said before that next gen won't have physical media. This was inevitable. I just didn't expect it to happen mid generation. Unless they're planning on releasing the PS6 in January 2028, which is possible.

Fuck everyone who spent the extra on an optical drive, I guess.
 
Are they trying to destroy Playstation? The PS6 is coming out next year, no one wants or can afford one. There's gonna be no disc drive. Sony also terminating multiple online stores. How can they be this tone deaf?
 
Unless I'm mistaken, they are specifically talking about physical discs, not physical medium in general. With the rumors of a PS6 Portable, they could be shifting from disc to cards, because a full-sized disc would simply not work with a portable. But still digital because of how big those games are likely to be, and if they were to go the route like Series console have done, they would have two separate game builds; one for home console, one for portable. GKCs would provide that.
 
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ChibiMofo said:
You tell 'em! I mean nothing sends a message to Sony about cancelling physical media like moving to mostly all-digital + game key cards Switch 2, or the all-digital Steam Machine, which does not even come with a disc drive and inhabits the PC gamer universe, where physical media was voluntarily abandoned decades ago! Seriously, this won't sell even one more underpowered/unupgradeable Steam Machine. But thanks for the typically illogical GBATemp reply.
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Steam and Gog are simply better for me when there is no physical media market.

Custom maps, mods, community servers, no vendor lock in and drm free options.
 
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DiscostewSM said:
Unless I'm mistaken, they are specifically talking about physical discs, not physical medium in general. With the rumors of a PS6 Portable, they could be shifting from disc to cards, because a full-sized disc would simply not work with a portable. But still digital because of how big those games are likely to be, and if they were to go the route like Series console have done, they would have two separate game builds; one for home console, one for portable. GKCs would provide that.
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I'd say it's very unlikely that they bother with a cartridge slot solely for the purpose of license verification, especially if we're already looking at $1000+ for PS6 portable and $1500+ for the PS6 home console. They'll put a 256GB SSD and a microSD card slot in it and call it good enough.
 

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