PlayStation may stop making game discs in 2028: Sony’s all-digital future looms

Sony, the company behind PlayStation, is reportedly getting ready to stop making discs for new game releases after January 2028. If that date holds, it would mark one of Sony’s clearest moves yet toward an all-digital future. Reports say Sony has already told publishers and partners that the plan reflects the steady shift away from physical media and toward digital buying. New games released after that January 2028 cutoff wouldn’t get Sony-made disc editions, though publishers could still reorder discs for titles released before then, which would keep older physical games in print.

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PlayStation games could still appear at retail after 2028, but some of those boxes may contain a digital code rather than a Blu-ray disc, the same reports say. That’s a real break from the old idea of physical ownership. Sony’s own sales figures help explain the thinking: in Q4 2025, 85% of PlayStation game purchases were digital. Digital distribution also removes manufacturing, shipping, and retail costs, while giving platform holders tighter control over pricing, promotions, and their direct relationship with customers.

For anyone who still buys boxed games for ownership, lending, used sales, or preservation, this is something to keep an eye on. Sony hasn’t said what the retail code format would look like yet. And with the company also planning to shut down the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita digital storefronts in July 2027, the impact of this change wouldn’t stop with players. Publishers and retailers across the PlayStation business would feel it too.