Sony announced that it will stop producing physical discs for PlayStation game consoles starting in January 2028. In addition to this, Sony also announced that it will shut down the PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita.
The company said in its latest blog post that the decision was based on a decline in sales of physical game discs.Going forward, all new games - both first- and third-party - will be available in digital format only through the PlayStation Store and retailers.
Sony added that the transition will have "no impact" on games that have been released or will be released soon. The company also said: "This transformation will allow us to better align with the way most players obtain and play games today." At the same time, it emphasized that Sony will "continue to prioritize" the channels through which consumers obtain games.
Over the years, the transition from physical to digital games has been taking shape, and a recent report from Sony confirms this. Compared with physical versions, the vast majority of PlayStation users choose to purchase digital versions of games, and "GTA6", one of the most popular games of the year, will only be sold in digital versions. While a "physical version" will also be sold, this is essentially just a redemption code in a box.
It is worth noting that both Sony and Microsoft released flagship console versions without optical drives in 2020, and Sony’s PS5 Pro does not come with an optical drive by default (but can be installed through a modular docking station).
Another knock-on effect is that the base model of the next-generation PlayStation console will not come with an optical drive, as Sony aims to reduce costs.
Piers Harding-Rolls, senior games research analyst at Ampere Analysis, told Game File: "It is almost certain that the PS6 will not be launched until 2028 at the earliest."
Even physical game discs don't contain the full gaming experience, and many game discs actually just serve as verification keys, and all game data needs to be copied to the console - a process that often also requires extensive downloads.
