Universal Gaming
Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Printable Version

+- Universal Gaming (https://universalgaming.net)
+-- Forum: Gaming Galaxy (https://universalgaming.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: Systems & Hardware (https://universalgaming.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=4)
+--- Thread: Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued (/showthread.php?tid=1931)

Pages: 1 2

Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Moonface - Jul 1st, 2026

Sony has shared via the PlayStation Blog that "in response to shifting trends in consumer preference, new games will be released on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only" starting in January 2028.

PlayStation Blog Wrote:
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. 

We’ll continue to prioritize our resources to drive innovation in how players can access games and provide choices as to where players prefer to purchase new games, whether that’s at retailers or PlayStation Store. We remain committed to delivering a world-class gaming experience to our fans and we thank you for your continued support.

As someone who prefers physical games, this is a shit move. I also bet Sony doesn't remotely adjust their game prices despite not having to spend money on printing and shipping discs once this change takes effect. Errm

RE: Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Dragon Lord - Jul 1st, 2026

You can read my rage about this in the other topic, so I'll keep it short here: PlayStation needs to die.

RE: Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Moonface - Jul 1st, 2026

Oof, so I just saw a comment that said maybe this isn't just for first party titles, but that it might be for every PlayStation game. I thought it was going to be that Sony just doesn't want to do physical games but third parties have their own choice on the matter, but I guess Sony has full say over disc production for any games coming to their console? That seems incredibly over the top if so. I know that if Sony had only a digital console then sure, no third party has a choice of making a disc but while disc drives are still a thing for PlayStation consoles it should be up to publishers. Like, if literally nobody can make PlayStation discs that even includes companies like Limited Run Games whose whole thing is doing limited runs of physical game copies that didn't get them. Errm

RE: Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Dragon Lord - Jul 1st, 2026

Yes. It's just like when they ended production of Vita carts and that killed the ability for all publishers to make Vita games. PlayStation keeps full control over the ability to produce game discs on their systems and once they end production, it ends for everyone.

Unless a company can find a way to bypass this limit, then not even third parties will be able to make physical games. Companies like Limited Run Games, Video Games Plus and many other small companies that have produced physical versions of games that would have otherwise remained digital only are now going to lose a huge chunk of their businesses.

RE: Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Moonface - Jul 1st, 2026

I could understand it for things like the Vita because it used a format exclusive to it, but unless Sony is planning to stop producing Blu-Ray discs (which are used for more than just their games) then can't third parties just continue making physical copies of their games like they already do? Surely Sony doesn't have total control of even pressing game data to discs? Unsure

RE: Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Metallix - Jul 2nd, 2026

I don't have much hope for PS6. If there's no disk option I won't get it and it will probably be $800-950.

Been a HUGE PS fan, owning all of their hardware since PS1.

RE: Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Moonface - Jul 3rd, 2026

(Jul 2nd, 2026, 08:56 PM)Metallix Wrote:
I don't have much hope for PS6. If there's no disk option I won't get it and it will probably be $800-950.
Even if it does have a disc option, it won't serve much use when no PS6 games will be on a disc.


One thing that really irks me about this is PS5 models with a disc drive cost more than their digital only counterparts, and anyone who spent that extra money did so because they wanted physical options, yet come 2028 that preference is being kicked to the curb. This move should have been implemented for the PS6 onwards, and not during the active lifespan of a console that not only offered a disc drive option but also charged more money for that option.

RE: Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Mr EliteL - Jul 3rd, 2026

Yeah I'm not fond of losing physical, terrible decision. Pretty much messing with all us older players who bought physical copies, younger players less likely to mind, I suppose some would have adopted preference for physical like us that would mind too.

RE: Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Moonface - Jul 4th, 2026

No idea if it played any part in it, but I just learned that Sony stopped producing Blu-Ray discs at the beginning of this year, and apparently also Blu-Ray player production too.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if once this change takes effect that somebody tries to attack PSN again with the intent of taking it down and prevent anyone from accessing/buying digital content as a show of how the format still has glaring issues such as that. It would be even worse if digital games require you to be signed in to PSN to even use them, but I don't think that's a thing? But either way, I remember how long that 2011 hack lasted but at least I could play any of my PS3 games, if it happened in a digital-only era it would be disastrous even if it only prevented access to PSN and didn't touch credit cards and other personal info.

RE: Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Metallix - Jul 7th, 2026

(Jul 3rd, 2026, 12:58 PM)Moonface Wrote:
(Jul 2nd, 2026, 08:56 PM)Metallix Wrote:
I don't have much hope for PS6. If there's no disk option I won't get it and it will probably be $800-950.
Even if it does have a disc option, it won't serve much use when no PS6 games will be on a disc.


One thing that really irks me about this is PS5 models with a disc drive cost more than their digital only counterparts, and anyone who spent that extra money did so because they wanted physical options, yet come 2028 that preference is being kicked to the curb. This move should have been implemented for the PS6 onwards, and not during the active lifespan of a console that not only offered a disc drive option but also charged more money for that option.

It would serve a lot of use for backwards compatibility. PS5 is the first gen where most games sold are digital and while PS4 was close that's still 50% of people who cannotplay their PS4 games on PS6.

There's absolutelyno hope of PS1-3 backwards compatibility now.

RE: Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Moonface - Jul 7th, 2026

(Jul 7th, 2026, 08:23 PM)Metallix Wrote:
(Jul 3rd, 2026, 12:58 PM)Moonface Wrote:
(Jul 2nd, 2026, 08:56 PM)Metallix Wrote:
I don't have much hope for PS6. If there's no disk option I won't get it and it will probably be $800-950.
Even if it does have a disc option, it won't serve much use when no PS6 games will be on a disc.


One thing that really irks me about this is PS5 models with a disc drive cost more than their digital only counterparts, and anyone who spent that extra money did so because they wanted physical options, yet come 2028 that preference is being kicked to the curb. This move should have been implemented for the PS6 onwards, and not during the active lifespan of a console that not only offered a disc drive option but also charged more money for that option.

It would serve a lot of use for backwards compatibility. PS5 is the first gen where most games sold are digital and while PS4 was close that's still 50% of people who cannotplay their PS4 games on PS6.

There's absolutelyno hope of PS1-3 backwards compatibility now.
True, I overlooked backwards compatibility. In that case the PS6 would hopefully work with the external PS5 disc drive, and hopefully Sony doesn't decide to discontinue that thinking it serves no purpose once they stop producing discs.

I doubt PS3 would ever be supported for backwards compatibility just for how vastly different its architecture is, and even then the closure of the PS3 store to me cements that Sony wouldn't make the platform backwards compatible. Eh

RE: Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Moonface - Jul 31st, 2026

Sony Says It's Not Backing Down on Discontinuing Discs
Sony's announcement at the start of this month that production of discs for all PlayStation games would be discontinued starting in 2028 has been unsurprisingly met with a lot of criticism and backlash. Since then, Sony has remained quiet on the subject, but finally made comments about the situation during a Q&A at its latest earnings call that happened today. Chief financial officer Lin Tao had this to say in response:

Lin Tao Wrote:
There are various reasons we made this decision, the biggest being that the digitalization of content overall has been progressing, that’s the big factor. It’s not just for PlayStation, but for all kinds of content, digitalization is progressing.

And so when we think about the future—and we put in a lot of thought and time, and we cautiously considered this—and we came to this conclusion, and we’re going to cautiously move this forward. And to this decision, we have received various opinions and people have strong views, and we understand that the community has put forth those views to us. Games are loved by many people. It’s a form of entertainment that’s loved by people, and it’s connected to people’s fond memories in many cases. And so we understand those emotions. We want to consider that. And in the future digital ecosystem, how do we engage the gamers is something that we would like to continue to explore.

One investment analyst during today’s briefing also pressed Tau on how the end of discs will impact Sony’s relationship with retailers, and how it will continue to differentiate the PS5 and upcoming console hardware from gaming PCs if both are all-digital devices.

Lin Tao Wrote:
About the retailers, there are regional characteristics, and for each regional partner, we try to have a thorough dialogue so that we can end up in a win-win situation. We don’t feel that the disc is the factor to differentiate [PlayStation] from the PC. There’s a certain way to play with the PC as a user. It’s a long tail. The curated content is one of our strengths, and the game environment being stable, that’s another strength. And compared to the high-end gaming PC, our product is more affordable. So we don’t feel that the disc itself is a strong factor for differentiation. Going forward, we can coexist peacefully with PC games.
She also added that publishers will still be able to ship empty boxes with codes inside to stores in markets like North America and argued that PlayStation hardware will win on affordability.

Empty boxes should be outright banned as a method of giving games a physical presence in stores. It should just be a physical card like what Nintendo offers for eShop gift cards containing a full game download because at least then it isn't making a ton of plastic waste. Also, why the fuck would you stop making discs but not stop making the cases they come in so publishers can shove a slip of paper in it?! That makes zero sense to me. Errm

RE: Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Dragon Lord - Aug 5th, 2026

That's okay, I just get to save a lot of money by not buying a PS6 now. I'll continue to collect what physical games I can on my PS5 for the next year and a half, and then once they are no longer, I'll just go exclusively PC for games and will no longer double dip on them for PlayStation.

It'll be sad to no longer add to my trophy list any more after 2028, but I can it just means I'll have more time to start actually working on my backlog of 500+ PS4 and PS5 games, haha. Oh, and of course all my PS3 games too. Can't forget about those.

RE: Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Moonface - Aug 6th, 2026

In a rare instance of me praising Sony for something related to this move, I saw that PS5's with a physical disc drive being sold in stores are having a sticker added that explains physical discs will stop being produced after 2028 for new games.

I'm also waiting to see if there will be a point where PSN struggles from a new game release creating a lot of traffic, or if a hacker group tries to take PSN down to prove a point that digital games need to have a system in place that doesn't rely on connecting to PSN. I also think Sony needs to make some big changes to their services too such as their refund policy, because if they want to go all digital then so be it, but at least have the decency to update stuff to make it more consumer friendly and protective. Especially when unlike PC there isn't going to be other options than using PSN for games.

RE: Physical PlayStation Games To Be Discontinued - Maniakkid25 - Aug 6th, 2026

They won't. Why do that when that costs money? They just want to control how you consume games by making sure you're reliant on their services for your gaming needs. This isn't about consumer trends; it's about control. That's it. That's all there is to it. Fuck them.