Sony has announced it will discontinue physical disc production for all new PlayStation games from January 2028, marking the console maker's decisive shift towards an all-digital future.
Sid Shuman, communications director at Sony Interactive Entertainment, confirmed the move in a PlayStation Blog post, stating that "physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028."
From that point, new titles will be available exclusively through the PlayStation Store, with retail copies sold only in digital formats via download codes.
Industry analysts have offered similar figures, with digital sales estimated at roughly three-quarters to over four-fifths of unit sales, though tens of millions of physical PlayStation discs are still sold annually worldwide.
The announcement comes in the same week that Sony revealed plans to shut down the PlayStation Store for the ageing PlayStation 3 and PS Vita, citing incompatibility with modern payment and commerce systems.
Sony has announced it will discontinue physical disc production for all new PlayStation games from January 2028, marking the console maker's decisive shift towards an all-digital future.
Sid Shuman, communications director at Sony Interactive Entertainment, confirmed the move in a PlayStation Blog post, stating that "physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028." From that point, new titles will be available exclusively through the PlayStation Store, with retail copies sold only in digital formats via download codes. Games already released, or scheduled to launch with a retail version before the cutoff, will remain unaffected.
Sony reached the decision as a response to shifting consumer habits, noting that digital downloads already account for the overwhelming majority of full-game software sales across its PS4 and PS5 platforms. Industry analysts have offered similar figures, with digital sales estimated at roughly three-quarters to over four-fifths of unit sales, though tens of millions of physical PlayStation discs are still sold annually worldwide.
The announcement comes in the same week that Sony revealed plans to shut down the PlayStation Store for the ageing PlayStation 3 and PS Vita, citing incompatibility with modern payment and commerce systems. It also follows recent backlash over Grand Theft Auto VI's physical edition, which will reportedly ship with a download code rather than a disc, reigniting debate over game ownership in an increasingly digital-first industry.
Reaction from gamers and developers has been sharply critical. Collectors and preservationists have warned that abandoning discs threatens long-term access to games and erodes consumer ownership rights, while independent developers have argued that physical releases often help smaller titles gain visibility that can be lost amid crowded digital storefronts.
Analysts suggest the shift is as much a commercial calculation as a response to consumer demand, potentially aimed at reducing manufacturing costs and curbing the secondhand games market by channelling all revenue through Sony's own storefront. The move is also widely expected to signal that Sony's next-generation console will ship without a disc drive altogether, cementing an industry-wide transition already under way.
