PlayStation kills the disc: What does this mean for the next generation?

Responding to “shifting trends in consumer preference” is the justification Sony provided in a recent blog post announcing an end to their production of physical games in 2028. If the online uproar that followed is anything to go by, however, the preference among a considerable number of consumers remains firmly unshifted.

Ironically, physical media is an undeniably substantial part of PlayStation’s legacy; the success of DVD and Blu-ray was deeply intertwined with the release of the PS2 and PS3 respectively, and they famously bested the competition at E3 2013 by mocking Microsoft’s attempts to restrict the sharing, re-selling and offline enjoyment of game discs.

So, how have they come to make such a shocking, controversial move?

As much as there is to criticise about the brief, callous announcement, it does make some accurate points. For one, digital has indeed won over an overwhelming majority of customers – it was reported in May that only 15% of PlayStation game sales from January through March 2026 were physical, and that is a shift that has been brewing for a very long time.

It seems we are heading towards the first disc-less generation since the early 1990s.

The introduction of convenient digital storefronts throughout the early-to-mid 2000s changed the very culture surrounding gaming. While this included some welcome developments, such as frequent flash sales and more opportunity for success among independent creators, it also involved a plethora of less welcome developments, from the loss of many game retailers to the death of the pre-owned game market.

This phenomenon and its associated impacts have only become more pronounced over the past 10 years with the advent of streaming services such as Xbox Game Pass, consoles such as the PS5 and Xbox Series launching with all-digital variants, and, most recently, Grand Theft Auto 6 – the most anticipated game of the decade – being set to release as a code in a box.

That is not to say that Sony’s decision is just the natural next step or that it should be taken lightly – on the contrary, it is difficult to understate its significance. Though it is yet to be confirmed, the 2028 cutoff will undoubtedly coincide with the launch of the PS6 – so, considering that Sony are the current leaders of the home console market and Microsoft are set to tentatively bow out of dedicated hardware altogether with their all-digital PC-console hybrid Project Helix, it seems we are heading towards the first disc-less generation since the early 1990s.

In the eyes of many, removing the physical aspect ruins a core part of the gaming experience.

There is, of course, Nintendo with their trusty cartridges – a company whose staunch traditionalist nature could well prove to be a saving grace for physical collectors moving forward. However, between their recently introduced “game key cards” – select third-party cartridges containing just a download – and pricing changes which made physical games more expensive than their eShop counterparts, they too have been moving in a decidedly digital direction.

Perhaps most consumers really are indifferent – but in the eyes of many, removing the physical aspect ruins a core part of the gaming experience. There is, after all, something magical about getting your hands on the box when a new title comes out in your favourite series, sifting through whatever garbage Wii games they’re selling at CeX, and finding an overlooked movie tie-in you used to love at the bottom of a drawer.

Sentimentality aside, there are many more pressing reasons to be worried about an all-digital future. It complicates legal game preservation and raises security concerns – especially given Sony’s track record. Additionally, the organisers of the “Don’t Kill the Disc” petition, independent Canadian retailer PNP Games, rightly highlighted that physical games support “an entire industry”, including “thousands of jobs and countless small businesses”.

They also cited perhaps the most damning argument in favour of discs and cartridges – that of consumer rights and property ownership. It is an idea that has haunted entertainment discourse since the advent of digital distribution: if I don’t physically own the products that I’ve bought, what’s stopping the provider from taking them away?

This fear was, unhelpfully for Sony, brought back into public consciousness at the end of June, when they announced that they would need to remove 551 StudioCanal films from UK customers’ libraries due to licensing changes. Since Ubisoft’s The Crew – a mostly single-player game – was similarly pulled in 2024, the Stop Killing Games campaign has pushed for legislation that prevents these injustices. However, despite some progress, it seems digital media will, for the foreseeable future, come with the risk of being revoked without a refund.

It is equally important to consider the most compelling argument for going digital. While the Sony blog does not even attempt to leverage environmentalism as justification for this clearly business-oriented move, many publishers in a similar position do, and for good reason – any change that drives down arguably unnecessary plastic production and carbon emissions has its
benefits.

I think it is fair to conclude that the driving force behind Sony’s decision is simply the very positive impact it will have on their profit margins for each sale.

The impact of physical games must not be dismissed, and more sustainable means of manufacturing and distribution must continue to be advocated for. However, this element of the conversation is slightly more nuanced than an all-digital future being an undisputed win for the environmental impact of the industry. Digital distribution is not free of its own negative impacts – especially as games and their updates get bigger and more intensive, repeatedly putting more and more pressure on energy-consuming data centres.

It could be suggested that alternative changes, including promoting trade-in services so old parts can be re-used, encouraging and supporting a healthy used game market instead of actively eradicating it, and pushing back against the adoption of generative AI, would be more favourable positive steps towards sustainability than a move as anti-consumer as this one.

Make no mistake: with their statement and all the drawbacks in mind, I think it is fair to conclude that the driving force behind Sony’s decision is simply the very positive impact it will have on their profit margins for each sale. And the notion that the market leader is ready to change the precedent forever for a reason like that,t regardless of the consequences, is a deeply unsettling one.

If this news and its subsequent fallout have made one thing clear, it is that despite the statistics and their bleak implications, there remains a passionate, dedicated community eager to keep buying, sharing and re-selling game discs and cartridges. With that in mind, it is not difficult to imagine a future where physical games, in one way or another, keep their place on our shelves. But that future now feels more uncertain than ever.

Is there a limit to the lengths the industry’s biggest players will go, or the drastic decisions they will make, in an attempt to improve their bottom line and please investors? It seems likely, as we enter an unnervingly different new generation of consoles, that we are about to find out.