Sony to kill off physical discs for PlayStation games from January 2028

It’s an end of an era for the PlayStation. Sony has announced that they’re ending physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles starting from January 2028 onwards.

Following that, all new games will be available only online via the PlayStation Store as well as from retailers in digital formats only. Sony also says that this move to digital-only games will have no impact on games that have already been released or will be releasing before January 2028 in disc format.

The Japanese giant cites ‘consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry’ shifting away from physical media. Gamers have understandably been outraged at this move, as while it’s true most gamers are buying digital copies of games these days, a lot of them still prefer to own physical copies of their games.

Buying a physical copy of a PlayStation disc has always come with the advantage of being able to sell it or loan it to a friend once you’re done with the game; digital copies of PlayStation games don’t allow this of course as it will be tied to the account that purchased it.

Physical media isn’t perfect neither; discs can get scuffed, and cartridges before that tended to degrade over time. But it did still at least give you full ownership of a game you’ve bought. With digital games, you’re stuck with Sony’s digital store, and if you lose your account you’ll lose all your games too, or even worse, it might get revoked by Sony as they recently did with purchased movies from PlayStation Store accounts.

Furthermore, once a PlayStation console goes obsolete and Sony removes its digital store front, you once again risk losing access to your library of games. It’s a little ironic that Sony announced this move to digital-only games, considering that just before their announcement they also confirmed that they are shutting down the digital PlayStation Store for the PS3 and PS Vita.

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