Sony to End Physical Discs for New PlayStation Games as Gaming Goes Fully Digital

Sony is cutting its disc production for PlayStation. Starting in 2028, the company is ditching physical discs entirely for its PlayStation games and moving to a fully digital-only strategy. That’s after years of dwindling demand for physical copies.

This new plan means all new PlayStation games will only be released on the PlayStation Store and by retailers that sell digital download codes. Pre-existing and yet-to-be-released games available before Jan. 1, 2028, will remain unaffected by this change.

Digital’s Dominance
“The continued shift towards a digital economy within the gaming sector represents a natural and inevitable evolution,” reads a Sony press release. Sony announced in its latest quarterly results that digital download games accounted for roughly 80% of full-game software sales in fiscal 2025.

“With 80% of our games sold as digital downloads, we plan to completely transition from physical game releases by January 2028, moving exclusively to digital games,” the company stated. “By eliminating physical releases, we can focus our efforts and resources on how players most enjoy gaming, be it through online gaming, game streaming, digital game libraries and PlayStation Plus.”

Sony says the decision is a direct response to how consumers currently play. The digital era, they claim, is already upon us, and the company just needs to make sure its business model reflects the changes.

This latest announcement signals the official end of an era for PlayStation hardware. The company has used physical discs since the first PlayStation in 1994. Successive consoles-PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5-have all heavily relied on physical media as the foundation of the PlayStation platform and expanded upon its services, but in recent years, disc sales have been in a decline.

All part of a wider shift
The industrywide trend towards digital only for games has been palpable for some time, and it has even led Sony’s direct rival Microsoft to pursue its own version of this, with it making the Xbox Series S an entirely digital console.

Some players remain committed to physical discs as they provide the ability to resell games, lend them out to friends or even put together collections of their favorites without a reliance on a digital store being constantly open or even being functional in the future. However, many see the benefits in the convenience of digital.

Furthermore, many concerned about the longevity of games and preservation see digital only as a significant hurdle. It becomes far more difficult for players or preservationists to access and play games in the future if the digital storefront is closed down or a licensing agreement changes.

Sony will also be phasing out the PlayStation Store for the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita consoles. Closures will start in certain regions in 2026 before gradually expanding to the entire world by July 2027. Players will still be able to download any previously purchased content after the stores are closed, but the new content will not be available for purchase.