Sony Stops Making PlayStation Game Discs Starting 2028, the Digital Era is Getting Closer

JAKARTA - Sony will stop producing PlayStation game discs starting in 2028. This decision is a big step towards digital distribution, while making the future of physical games in the PlayStation ecosystem more limited.

Quoted from CNET, Monday, July 6, the decision was announced by Sony on Wednesday via the PlayStation Blog. Starting January 2028, new games will only be sold in digital format through the PlayStation Store and retail stores. Games released before that date will still be available in physical disc form.

This move also raises questions about the direction of PlayStation 6. The successor console to the PS5 has not been announced. However, Sony's decision to stop producing game discs makes the possibility of the next PlayStation console being fully digital more open.

"This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends, as the general preference for digital media far exceeds physical discs," Sony said in its blog post.

Sony says the change will make the company more in line with the way the majority of players access and play games today. However, Sony has not explained whether PS5 production with a disc drive will also be discontinued after 2028. A disc drive is a physical disc reader device on the console.

The shift to digital games did not come suddenly. CNET also quoted Matt Piscatella, Senior Director and video game industry advisor at retail analytics company Circana, who said physical game sales continued to fall from their peak of 11.5 billion US dollars in 2008.

In a post on BlueSky in March, Piscatella said last year's decline in physical game sales was the smallest since 2021, thanks to the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2. However, physical game sales of 1.5 billion US dollars in 2025 remain the lowest since 1995.

For players, this change makes game access more dependent on digital stores, user accounts, internet connections, and platform policies. Digital games are more practical because they can be purchased and downloaded without a disc. However, the space to buy, resell, or collect physical games will be narrower.

In addition to stopping physical discs, Sony will also close digital stores for PS3 and PS Vita. This means that users of the two old devices can no longer buy new games after the stores are closed in their respective regions.

The PlayStation Store closure for PS3 will begin in Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua in August 2026. Other countries in Latin America and the Middle East will follow starting in late 2026.

For other regions, the PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita will be closed in July 2027. Sony says players can still redownload previously purchased content after the store closes, at least for the foreseeable future.

Sony's decision does not mean that the PlayStation physical disc is immediately gone. However, starting in 2028, new games will be directed to the digital format, while stores for old devices such as PS3 and PS Vita will begin to be closed gradually.