Sony has just announced in a brief post on the PlayStation Blog that it won't produce any more discs for PlayStation consoles from January 2028 onward. The post claims this follows consumer trends, with demand for digital media greatly outpacing that of physical discs.
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. 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.
This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general 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 decision is not at all unexpected, coming just days after Rockstar Games confirmed that the retail edition of Grand Theft Auto VI would include only a download code rather than a disc. The same will likely apply to PlayStation titles: it's not the end of retail editions, but it certainly looks like the end of discs.
After all, Sony already offered a discless PlayStation 5 back in 2020, and that SKU proved extremely popular, validating that decision. This might also factor into the pricing of the upcoming PlayStation 6 console, which is already nearing $1,000 based on its estimated bill of materials, due to rising prices for RAM and storage components. Adding an optional disc drive would have increased the pricing even further.
As a side note, Sony also confirmed today that the PlayStation Store will soon close on PS3 and PS Vita:
- In Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua, the PlayStation Store on PS3 will close starting August 2026.
- In additional Latin American and Middle Eastern countries, the PlayStation Store on PS3 will close starting late 2026.
- In all other countries, the PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita will close in July 2027.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
