Overview
- Sony announced on July 1, 2026 that it will end production of physical PlayStation game discs for new releases beginning January 2028.
- The company says digital purchases accounted for about 78 percent of full-game sales in its most recent fiscal year and that moving to digital cuts manufacturing and distribution costs.
- Thousands of players and preservation groups have mounted petitions and filled comment threads to protest the loss of resale, lending and archival paths for boxed games.
- Independent retailers report immediate business impacts and plan to shift inventory toward collectibles or other goods, while publishers were allowed to reorder discs for games released before the 2028 cutoff.
- Consumer advocates and European groups have filed or prepared legal and regulatory complaints alleging closed-market and consumer-protection harms, a dispute that could determine whether Sony’s plan stands or is altered.