It's official – Sony has just announced that, in a couple of years, it'll no longer support the production of physical discs for new games on consoles like the PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro.
The trend of moving away from physical discs in favor of digital codes has been a hot topic for the past couple of years, to say the least. Games like GTA 6 immediately spring to mind, and it's certainly not the only title to ship out codes in boxes rather than, you know, actual discs. In fact, discs might soon end up being a thing of the past entirely.
In a new blog post, Sony explains that they will be for PlayStation consoles anyway – much to many players' dismay, I'm sure.
"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," says Sid Shumen, senior director of SIE's content communications.
"Following this date, new games will be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only." The post does however clarify, "This transition has no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format" – although I'm not sure that softens the blow here by much.
Sony states that it will "continue to prioritize our resources to drive innovation in how players can access games and provide choices as to where players prefer to purchase new games, whether that's at retailers or PlayStation Store," concluding, "We remain committed to delivering a world-class gaming experience to our fans and we thank you for your continued support."
There's no telling how the community will react just yet, but I have a feeling a lot of folks won't exactly be thrilled. Heck, many of us still collect physical media – including games, of course – and Sony isn't the first to let those of us who do down in this sense.
Nintendo sparked similar controversy with its introduction of game-key cards on the Switch 2 last year – and that wasn't even a 100% wipe of physical copies like Sony's is going to be in a couple of years on PlayStation consoles.
Regardless of how we feel, though, times are definitely changing.
I'd suggest anyone who isn't looking forward to the 2028 change from Sony snag whatever physical releases they can for now... backlogs be damned.
Multiple retailers drop GTA 6 after physical version is confirmed to be a code in a box.
