Sony announced Wednesday that it can stop producing physical discs for all latest PlayStation games starting in January 2028, marking a move into an all-digital future. After that, every latest release will likely be sold digitally through the PlayStation Store and other retailers. Games released before the cutoff will proceed to be available on disc.
Physical copies have long been a staple of gaming culture, so for a lot of players, saying goodbye to game discs will likely be bittersweet. Nonetheless, Sony said the choice reflects how most players already buy and play games today.
“It is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the overall 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,” the corporate wrote in its announcement.
In keeping with Sony’s financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal yr 2025, digital downloads accounted for 85% of full-game software sales on PS4 and PS5, while physical copies accounted for the remaining 15%.
The decline of physical games has also been reflected in retail, with stores that after relied heavily on physical discs continuing to shrink as more players buy online. GameStop has reportedly closed greater than 1,300 stores over the past two fiscal years.
The announcement comes just days after Grand Theft Auto 6 fans reacted negatively after learning that the sport’s “physical” edition would come with only a download code contained in the box as a substitute of an actual game disc, highlighting that a bunch of gamers still value collecting physical editions.
Moreover, Sony revealed on Wednesday that it’s shutting down the PlayStation Store on the PlayStation 3 in select markets later this yr, followed by global closures of the PS3 and PlayStation Vita stores next yr.
Once those stores close, players won’t have the ability to buy latest digital content on those systems. Sony said previously purchased games and content will still be available to download for the foreseeable future.
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