Sony is to stop production of all physical disc games for PlayStation consoles in favour of digital downloads and streaming as of early 2028.
The news was announced in a statement from the company’s senior director for Sony Interactive Entertainment’s content team, Sid Shuman.
He says the move has been prompted by a shift in preferences from their customers.
From January 2028, “new games will be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only”, he says.
“This transition has no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format.”
The Sony statement calls the move “a natural direction” for its interactive entertainment division, saying the 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 statement reads.
The company says it will continue to look at how players can buy or access games from retailers or PlayStation Store.
News of the decision was greeted by dismay by players on Sony’s blog forum, prompting calls to drop PlayStation.
The news follows Rockstar Games’ announcement that physical copies of Grand Theft Auto VI, due for release on November 19, will be a box containing a download code only and no disc.
Click here for more about the decision.
SONY TO CLOSE PS3 STORE
Shuman said earlier that the company will also be closing the digital PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita globally by next July.
The PS3 closure will start happening in Central America in August, later this year in Latin America and Middle East, and globally in July 2027.
“New content purchases will no longer be possible once the PlayStation Store closes on these devices,” he says.
Shuman says that the consoles are no longer able to handle updates for modern payment processes.
“We know this news may be disappointing to PS3 and PS Vita players … this was not an easy decision for us to make.”
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