PlayStation Is Killing Physical Disc Production In 2028

Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced that the production of physical discs for all PlayStation consoles will cease in January 2028.

As detailed on the PlayStation Blog, Sony has committed to a complete shift away from physical media in the gaming space. The blog post cites “consumer preferences” as the driving force behind the decision, with the user base continuing to “shift away from physical discs to digital.”

Starting January 2028, any and all games released on PlayStation consoles will be digital only, with users given an option to purchase them through the online PlayStation Store or through a retailer in a digital format. So, as you collect your code-in-a-box copy of GTA VI in November, remember the feeling, because that will soon be the status quo.

“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.”

The rest of the blog post is devoted to explaining how customer-focused the decision is, as SIE “align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.” It’s a sentiment that checks out on face value, but falls apart when you brush away when you start to dig. I’m just yelling into the wind because this move was inevitable, but the two core concerns with this change are preservation and ownership.

I recently decided that I wanted to play Volta, the 5v5 street mode present in certain FIFA titles. I’m not likely to play it for long or come back to it often, but I wanted to spend a weekend reliving my days playing futsal. After a quick search through our reviews, written by the wonderful Zach Jackson, I landed on FIFA 21, as it had everything I was after and it would be significantly cheaper. And it’s a good thing I planned on buying physically, because the game is gone from digital storefronts, along with most other FIFA titles and countless other games that ran into licensing issues.

This highlights two key problems with waving goodbye to discs. Firstly, without a physical version of FIFA 21, that game would effectively disappear, as though it were never released. From a preservation standpoint, this is devastatingly dire, as it will soon be exponentially harder to keep the art form alive in a meaningful way. Additionally, it all but eliminates the secondhand market, of which many rely upon to even enjoy the medium in the first place. While I’m in a privileged position now, I vividly remember what it was like trying to interact with this industry while earning minimum wage.

And even if you can afford to buy these digital games, you’re not really buying the game; you’re buying the licence. Another huge flaw with digital ownership is that it’s a lie. You never truly own the product; you’re simply paying for the licence to access it until such a time as the licence expires and it just goes away. And there’s precedent for this happening recently, and, best of all, it happened with PlayStation.

Sony announced just this week that hundreds of digitally purchased movies and TV shows will be removed from users’ accounts on September 1 due to the licensing agreement with Studio Canal ending. This isn’t like a game leaving PlayStation Plus; these are products that consumers have purchased to keep, that will now be ripped from their hands. But hey, it’s in the terms and conditions that they agreed to, so it’s all fair game.

There’s one last incredible irony here, and it involves a second blog post that went live around the same time. Just as we are being told that physical games are the past, and digital storefronts are the present and future, and that players love embracing them, two are being shut down. As if to highlight my rant about game preservation, the PS3 and PS Vita storefronts between August this year and July 2027, depending on location. Hey, at least we can buy physical PS3 and Vita games, right? Where would we be if that wasn’t the case?

This is news we all expected at some point, but giving a short timeframe like this on day one of a new fiscal year feels like a nasty rug pull that has me genuinely concerned for the future of the industry I love. Buy physical where you can, support local, support the creatives you love, and don’t be disheartened by the trudge towards a corporate future of profits and carelessness. Big love.