Overview
- Sony has reaffirmed its plan to stop producing PlayStation game discs in January 2028, a decision that formalizes an industry move away from physical media.
- Capcom told investors it expects little disruption because roughly 90% of its unit sales are already digital, and the company posted strong quarterly growth in unit sales and profit.
- Nintendo’s latest results show 61.5% of recent sales were digital, which implies 38.5% remained physical when including subscriptions, DLC and download-only titles.
- Retail groups and consumer advocates have criticized the plan, and regulators and trade bodies have filed complaints or signaled scrutiny over resale, ownership and competition concerns.
- The change is already reshaping operations and markets as manufacturers repurpose disc plants, analysts warn the $7 billion second-hand games market could shrink, and platform makers explore disc-to-digital technical options to preserve consumer libraries.