PlayStation is ending physical disc production for new games in 2028

[LeMarchand]

https://www.gamesradar.com/platforms/playstation/playstation-is-ending-physical-disc-production-for-new-games-in-2028-as-sony-says-general-preference-for-digital-media-significantly-outpaces-physical-discs/

 

Although the given reason is quite believable, it also means that Sony will get a bigger cut of games sales. Though, unless Sony are the sole producer of all PS discs, what is to prevent third party studios from releasing hard copies if they want to? They're also missing out on the "Steelbook" market.

 

I does make some sense, but how much of the decline is due to having to pay extra for a PS5 with a disc reader? Trying position the PS as a media hub when you have to pay extra if you want to watch a film on disc has always struck me as odd.

 

I wonder what this will mean for CEX and their ilk? I've noticed the PS5 section is always smaller than the PS4 one. I think I'd better get as many physical games as possible played, traded in, and store credit used as quickly as possible! The opposite of the end of the PS3 era when I rushed to complete all my digital games in case they cut the service - though I've just read they're only closing the store for PS3 now.

[Rob_D]

22 minutes ago, LeMarchand said:

Though, unless Sony are the sole producer of all PS discs, what is to prevent third party studios from releasing hard copies if they want to? They're also missing out on the "Steelbook" market.

I suppose if Sony stop putting disk drives in their systems then it will make 3rd parties making disks pretty pointless. 

They're not necessarily missing out on the steelbook market. Isn't the GTA6 physical edition just a code in a box?

[LeMarchand]

38 minutes ago, Rob_D said:

I suppose if Sony stop putting disk drives in their systems then it will make 3rd parties making disks pretty pointless. 

They're not necessarily missing out on the steelbook market. Isn't the GTA6 physical edition just a code in a box?

 

You can still get a disc drive for a PS5, though I wonder what the legal ramifications are if someone decided to make a third party one? Given the amount of steelbooks that get churned out I'm guessing it's a fairly lucrative market.

 

All that said, it would have to be a major u-turn for the PS6 to have an optical drive.

[Rob_D]

If they really wanted to stop 3rd party drives they could just make sure there's no driver support (on the PS6 anyway)

Edited July 1 by Rob_D

[LeMarchand]

15 hours ago, Rob_D said:

If they really wanted to stop 3rd party drives they could just make sure there's no driver support (on the PS6 anyway)

 

Don't give them ideas! I'm surprised they allow connection of 3rd party storage drives.

[LeMarchand]

Worrying thought. If games are only available via Sony, will they move to every company's dream: Monthly Subs? You don't pay; you don't play.

 

I know this exists to some level already, but I've managed to avoid it thus far. Oh well. Maybe I'll work through my backlog unless they decide to cripple existing consoles.

[thimon]

Surely there will always be a version of a PlayStation with a disc drive? What about current game disks, dvds and blu rays?

[Steve21]

1 minute ago, thimon said:

Surely there will always be a version of a PlayStation with a disc drive? What about current game disks, dvds and blu rays?

 

There's talk on the forums about Playstation and Xbox making a "convert to digital" process, but I assume that'll only cover Games and for a "set number of years" etc

Guessing with everything being streamed nowadays the day of the DVD/BlueRays being supported is limited

Steve

[LeMarchand]

33 minutes ago, thimon said:

Surely there will always be a version of a PlayStation with a disc drive? What about current game disks, dvds and blu rays?

 

The PS5 drive was mainly a sop to those who insisted on physical. I get the impression Sony would have been happier do to include one. If everything is going through their store (surely one for the monopolies commission?) it's more profit for them. Sony aren't known for their fondness for backward compatibility (as the can resell the games). As for movies, like I said above, there's a solid market for steelbooks - so they're still being bought.

 

31 minutes ago, Steve21 said:

Guessing with everything being streamed nowadays the day of the DVD/BlueRays being supported is limited

 

See above but also, who would have thought that vinyl would see a resurgence?

[Brax]

On 02/07/2026 at 12:33, LeMarchand said:

Worrying thought. If games are only available via Sony, will they move to every company's dream: Monthly Subs? You don't pay; you don't play.

 

I know this exists to some level already, but I've managed to avoid it thus far. Oh well. Maybe I'll work through my backlog unless they decide to cripple existing consoles.

This is the big concern. That everything will become digital and they can make it subscription or revoke your access to it at a moments notice. They also recently removed a bunch of films that people have paid for to watch on PlayStations because they don’t want to pay the license anymore and it expired similar to Netflix. The stop killing games movement is trying to put a stop to this but sadly as always I expect the corporations will win.

Edited July 3 by Brax

[Rob_D]

5 minutes ago, Brax said:

The stop killing games movement is trying to put a stop to this but sadly as always I expect the corporations will win.

Yeah, dissapointingly SKG lost it's vote in Europe by a couple of %.

 

But,  what with day1 patches, online requirements and not all game content on the disk these days, having a physical disk doesn't guarantee access to the game anymore anyway.

[FN-GM]

It's a bit naughty, people paid extra for a disc version of the PS5, only to later have that option removed form them.