Sony Just Delivered the Latest Dagger to Fans of Physical Media

Fans of physical media have experienced quite the roller coaster in recent years.

On the music side, it’s been pretty great. Vinyl continues to lead the way with its epic renaissance. And there has been renewed interest in CDs and cassette tapes, as well. This has led manufacturers to release new turntables, CD players and portable cassette tape players fit for modern listeners.

On the media side, it’s been less positive. More and more retailers no longer sell Blu-rays or DVDs; Best Buy and Target are the latest examples. And manufacturers like LG, Samsung and Oppo have all exited the Blu-ray hardware market.

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A downward trend

Most of Sony’s recent announcements have been less positive.

When the company released its latest console, the PlayStation 5 Pro, in late 2024, it didn’t come with a built-in disc drive and thus couldn’t play older games, Blu-rays or DVDs right out of the box.

This prompted people to buy Sony’s detachable disc drive accessory, the PS5 Disc Drive, in droves. It was sold out from most major retailer sites (including Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart) almost instantly after the announcement.

Then, last year, Sony announced that it would cease production of its recordable Blu-ray discs (as well as MiniDiscs and MiniDV cassettes) by February 2025. This ended an 18-year run.

Sony

No more: PlayStation game discs

Fast forward to the present, and Sony has given physical media fans, particularly video game fans, another bitter pill to swallow: It’s going to stop making physical PlayStation game discs all together.

The company’s press release reads: “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,” the press release continues. “This transition has no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format.”

The news comes after reports that Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 6 console might be delayed to 2028. And it basically confirms that the next-gen console will be digital only.

Sony

Whether the console will be compatible with the PS5 Disc Drive or another detachable disc drive accessory, that remains unclear as well.

While it’s been mostly doom and gloom for Blu-ray fans as of late, there have been a few beacons of hope scattered here and there. In fact, just last year, Sony itself released UBP-X700/K, which is its first new 4K Blu-ray player in over five years.

You can read Sony’s full announcement regarding ceasing production on physical game discs by clicking the link below.

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