End of an era!
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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. This transition has no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format.
This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs. This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.
We’ll continue to prioritize our resources to drive innovation in how players can access games and provide choices as to where players prefer to purchase new games, whether that’s at retailers or PlayStation Store. We remain committed to delivering a world-class gaming experience to our fans and we thank you for your continued support.
1 Jul 2026 14:50
The tradeoff for PC was games are cheap and sold by (theoretically) multiple storefronts...
If consoles don't have physical game that can be sold/traded/rented, then a lot less people are going to buy consoles. You're still locked to PS store and are at their complete mercy on prices with no second hand market.
This could kill PlayStation when they release their next generation. People with ps5s will keep using them, but very few will jump to PS6 if it's still like this.
1 Jul 2026 14:53
So, physical media has been going down constantly.
This was posted few days ago. I think companies don't think it's a big enough market now.
1 Jul 2026 15:37
I think companies don’t think it’s a big enough market now.
They don't want "used games" to be a market...
They don't want a rental market except their monthly services.
They're elimating the competition, when you want to do that without negative press, you convince people they don't even want the competition and it's better for them to have a monopoly on all games sold in their ecosystem
1 Jul 2026 15:45
This. The only reason I used to buy consoles was because I could buy a game at full price, play it and sell it the next week and still recoup most of its cost. When I switched to PC I couldn't resell my game so never bought above 10 bucks. It is fundamentally 2 different types of business/clients. Don't think it's gonna play well for Sony, especially in this inflated prices economy.
1 Jul 2026 15:49
Let's hope there's noise that they change their decision.
1 Jul 2026 15:50
This is sad, i always bought games physical. Which game key card on switch 2 und bad physical support on xbox, i'm just sad.
1 Jul 2026 16:34
That's a no from me, dawg. If I'm buying digital, I'm ABSOLUTELY buying it on computer, DRM free. Or on Steam. Or I'll just emulate it.
The only reason I continued to buy consoles and games was to build a physical collection. You've made that basically impossible now.
Sorry Sony. I've spent an obscene amount of money with you in hindsight. But I literally just saw you take people's content away. Why on earth should I trust you? Will all my games be playable on ps6? I know damn well my PC games will be playable on my next PC.
1 Jul 2026 17:00
I didn't leave gaming, gaming left me.
1 Jul 2026 18:13
just canceled my ps+ subscribtion, should made that way ealier, but was lazy. But maybe that's a nice sign for today.
1 Jul 2026 19:47
very very bad.
I'm using an old PS5 (the thick one) with a CD drive. I do buy my games on the second hand market and I do share the CDs with friends.
If I can't do that with the next gen PS, I will not buy it. as simple as that.
1 Jul 2026 21:25
Lemmy
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