Sony has announced that it will stop producing physical game discs for all new games released on PlayStation consoles starting in January 2028. After that date, new releases will be sold through the PlayStation Store and retailers in digital formats only. Games already released on disc, or games still planned to be released on disc before January 2028, are not affected.
Starting in 2028, future PlayStation releases will no longer have playable disc versions after the cutoff. Players will still be able to buy games from retailers, but those purchases will be digital rather than disc-based. That removes the option to resell, lend, trade, or collect new PlayStation releases in the traditional physical format.
Important updates:
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) July 1, 2026
News on physical discs for new games – https://t.co/BzZODXdWGY
News on PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita – https://t.co/ev3mN6wj14 pic.twitter.com/PWXTZGHAh6
This change also creates additional challenges to game preservation and content availability in the future. Sony is closing PlayStation Store purchases on PS3 and PS Vita in most regions in July 2027, but players will still be able to play games on their disks.
New PlayStation games released after January 2028 will not have that fallback, so if a future PlayStation 7 store closes 15 or 20 years after launch, players will be relying on Sony’s servers, their account history, and whatever download access still exists at that point.
This change also essentially kills the resale market for games, which is what many suspect is the real reason for this shift, even if Sony justifies this by claiming that consumers have moved away from discs.
The company’s latest financial data shows the shift, as PS4 and PS5 full-game software sales were 85 percent digital in Q4 FY2025. Physical software revenue in Game & Network Services was ¥17.7 billion compared with ¥244.4 billion for digital software and ¥349.1 billion for add-on content in the same quarter.
The announcement follows a controversial announcement by Rockstar last month, as the company revealed that the physical version of GTA VI contains a download code inside the box, and no disc is included. The game is coming out on Nov. 19, 2026, and there are rumors that the physical discs with the game on it will come with the second batch of physical releases.
What’s compounded on top of this info is that GTA VI is also launching at a higher base price than the current $69.99 standard for many major releases, with the Standard Edition at $79.99 and the Ultimate Edition at $99.99.
Gaming hardware is getting more expensive at the same time, as memory suppliers have shifted capacity toward AI data center memory, including HBM and high-capacity DDR5, reducing supply for consumer devices and pushing DRAM and NAND prices higher.
PlayStation has also been dealing with issues, as Sony closed Neon Koi and Firewalk Studios in 2024, permanently sunset Concord, and said sustainable financials were critical in a challenged economic environment. On June 25, Sony reduced Bungie’s workforce, affecting a significant number of employees, including most of the Destiny team and some Marathon team members. Sony said Marathon remains part of its portfolio, but this makes the Bungie acquisition look like the company’s biggest misstep in the last few years.
Overall, most people view this move by Sony as logical but still anti-consumer, as buyers will have fewer ownership options, and it also weakens resale, lending, collecting, and long-term game access.
