Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/physical-disc-production-ending-in-january-2028-for-new-games-releasing-on-playstation-consoles/

by Tiberium • 22 days ago

789 788 22 days ago

blog.playstation.com

sylens2• 21 days ago

From a business perspective, I understand this. The physical games sections of most retailers are pitiful these days - take a walk down the PS5 aisle in Target or Best Buy for example. They also have a need to shore up margins if they want to keep subsidizing the hardware during the component crisis. And their biggest competitor, XBox, is in the process of pivoting out of their current pivot and apparently is about to layoff a massive chunk of its workforce.

But at the end of the day, part of what makes a console a console to me is the ability to swap games with friends. If I can't do that easily, why wouldn't I just use Steam?

OuterVale• 21 days ago

Shutting down the stores on the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita, too.

https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/an-update-on-playsta...

Discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48745476

fredoralive3• 21 days ago

Closing the online store for older systems simultaneously with announcing the dropping of physical media leaves an interesting question for the future. Even if you’ve never bought an online PS3 or Vita game, you’ll still be able to use the systems for physical games. Presumably once the PS6 store is gone, any console is just an ornament if you don’t have access to an account with games already purchased (and how long will the download servers stay up anyway? What is the foreseeable future?).

AussieWog932• 21 days ago

The assumption is that it'll be jailbroken well before they shut down the store.

dice• 21 days ago

I was having this discussion with my 9 year old yesterday. He mentioned that a friend had Rocket League on their Switch 2 and "it didn't even need a game card". I told him that anything without a physical card can be taken away, the company that made it can decide to take it back or to stop letting it work. Compared that to my old DS which he found along with game cards for Lego Star Wars and Scribblenauts that still work ~20 years later.

I think he "got" it. He was certainly annoyed at the idea that something purchased could just be taken back. Maybe it'll stick and he'll be better able to understand why I'll push back on a new PlayStation or any digital only games.

tavavex2• 21 days ago

The two departments that made these moves might not be coordinating, but if they are, I imagine that Sony's implied pitch is something like "Games are temporary. Eventually, we will take them away. Want to play? Get going then, buy as much as possible, play as long as you can, while you still can."

mghackerlady19• 21 days ago

Shit, they tried a while ago with a lot of pushback. I hope they don't. I love my vita, and while realistically anybody playing one nowadays has it hacked and can get games from wherever they please, it sucks that the only official way is going the way of the dodo

Hamuko• 21 days ago

This is why I will not be buying a PlayStation 6. I've had my Steam account for 20 years (21 come October) and I can still download every single thing I've ever bought there. Why should I invest in buying PS6 games when they're gonna be made obsolete by Sony?

Uvix4• 21 days ago

You can still download games for PS3 and Vita after they stop selling them. It’s no different from how Steam no longer sells some titles it used to.

artisinal8• 21 days ago

If I am being a bit pedantic. Yes you can still download your old games, but they will likely be different from the original release. Grand Theft Auto games are known for dropping songs from the soundtrack due to licensing.

If you have Vice City on DVD and install it you can still enjoy Michael Jackson. Not with the Steam version.

ThrowawayR2• 21 days ago

As much as I like Steam and dislike Sony (quite a bit in both cases), I will point out that while you can still download every single thing you've bought on Steam, there's no guarantee that it will run on a modern PC. A handful of my past Steam purchases don't. Consoles still hold the advantage of being a tightly defined target platform and a game written targeting a console is compatible with it indefinitely.

makyavelist• 21 days ago

Step by step...

zache6• 21 days ago

Sucks to see this right after the Studio Canal movie situation [1]. I won't be getting another PlayStation.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48691346

MBCook4• 21 days ago

Why would anyone “buy” movies from PlayStation. That’s not their business, I would never have expected them to be in it for the long haul, just like MS did a rug pull on this a few years ago didn’t they?

podgietaru• 21 days ago

It was their business, because they sold them....

x13• 21 days ago

Convenience? Maybe a belief the media would be accessible for a long time, versus the ever-changing catalog available from streaming services?

Consumers are lured into walled-gardens all the time - consoles, app stores, hardware. Where would you suggest someone purchase a digital license for a movie?

steve19772• 21 days ago

Why not? Maybe people already have an account there with payment set up, the console hooked up to the TV and soundbar and don't want do sign up somewhere else?

Furthermore, Sony Pictures is huge, so selling movies is absolutely part of Sony's business as a whole.

stronglikedan• 21 days ago

Why would anyone buy movies from another service or use another device, when they already have a console that meets their needs and that they paid a premium for? There's no such thing as multitasking, so if you try to play a game while watching a movie, you're doing each in small increments, and neither well.

steve19772• 21 days ago

My thought as well. "Great" timing.

fredoralive3• 21 days ago

Well, I guess that answers the question of whether the PS6 will have an awkward snap on disc drive.

bigfishrunning8• 21 days ago

to be fair, the "awkward snap-on disc drive" on ps5 isn't really awkward -- it's a one time install and is now indistinguishable from a built-in drive.

MYEUHD2• 21 days ago

It will probably have one for backwards compatibility with ps4 and ps5 disc games

sevenseacat2• 21 days ago

you think the PS6 will have physical backwards compatibility? oh you sweet summer child

buran77• 21 days ago

Discs are less convenient so people have slowly moved to digital sales. This worked even better for console manufacturers, cheaper to drop that disc reader, and the second hand market is effectively dead which increases new game sales.

The side-effect most people didn't consider is that you never really own a digital copy. And the most relevant part is that you cannot transfer/sell a digital copy. For everything else around ownership I know I can count on Sony to still screw it up even with discs, like disabling a disc game with some online checks.

fzeroracer• 21 days ago

It's a weird trajectory to see because with the music industry people have started catching on and either support sites that offer more durable forms of ownership or have straight up reverted to physical ownership.

mittensc2• 21 days ago

And the most relevant part is that you cannot transfer/sell a digital copy.

EU or any other gov can pass a law to allow that and we'll have the option.

Uvix4• 21 days ago

Or they’ll just stop “selling” copies in those territories and only allow short-term rentals or monthly subscription services.

tokai3• 21 days ago

They did

https://curia.europa.eu/site/upload/docs/application/pdf/201...

cryptoegorophy• 21 days ago

I remember joke “you will own nothing and will be happy”, it is less of a joke now.

Telaneo11• 21 days ago

It's from a 2016 essay. I'm not sure it was ever only a joke. I didn't even perceive it as a joke back then (unless you wanted to joke about companies being knobheads). It was already clear by then that that was the direction they wanted to go.

Adobe Creative Cloud became the only option for new Adobe software in 2013, 3 years before that essay. Sure, Adobe is on the forefront of being knobheads, but still.

someonebaggy8• 20 days ago

I don't think it was ever a joke?

fennecfoxy• 21 days ago

And also quality.

I wouldn't think that the copy of some movie Netflix is streaming to me will be 60-100GB over the duration of the movie. Not to mention when their services have issues and you're watching 5-10 minutes of low quality content until it settles and snaps up to full (streaming) quality.

mghackerlady19• 21 days ago

Most people really don't care, which is a shame. The sheer quality difference between a 4k digital movie and a 4k bluray is astounding. Hell, oftentimes a standard bluray looks better despite the lower resolution since it isn't being compressed

antisthenes• 21 days ago

What's kind of an annoying side effect of this is that you have all this fancy new display tech, like quantum dot LED (marketing term, but w/e), or OLED, but it's all pointless because you're just watching it with crappy compression, negating the quality gains.

kuu• 21 days ago

"The side-effect most people didn't consider is that you never really own a digital copy."

I understand that this is the reality we live in, but I don't know how we have accepted it.

someonebaggy8• 20 days ago

People get tired of trying to push back a tsunami with their bare hands. Other people were born into the tsunami and just accept that everything is underwater.

wtetzner7• 21 days ago

The side-effect most people didn't consider is that you never really own a digital copy.

This is true for consoles, but on GoG for example you can download the DRM offline installer for the games you buy. So going purely digital doesn't have to be terrible on its own. But of course, for consoles it will be.

kjkjadksj5• 21 days ago

Discs are way more convenient. You can store how many multi hundred gb games on your internal storage before you have to start triaging. Also, want to play a game you haven’t played in a while after work? Sorry, 3 hour forced update.

In the old disc era you’d just pop in the disk and start playing in minutes. You could have as many disks as would fit in your house.

Oh no, you have to stand up and walk 10ft to put it in. What a great inconvenience.

ncr100• 20 days ago

Yes.

When you die, your digital assets may simply disappear.

There's no inheritance practice, that I know of, of transferring digital assets.

rvz• 21 days ago

Unsurprising. [0] This is even before 2030 and you will own nothing and be happy.

Get ready for your games to be delisted [1] as you never owned them in the first place (unless you have the disc)

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33362792

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32049626

croes4• 21 days ago

There is a simply countermeasure.

Don’t buy their consoles and games

mDyJzDPmBdG• 21 days ago

unless you have the disc

Is that really enough? AFAIK many PC games with SecuROM won't ever work without crack, as that entire DRM is incompatible with modern OSes.

Wowfunhappy• 21 days ago

It's enough on consoles.

On PC, discs (when they even exist, which is rare) have basically just been digital keys for a long time.

Anamon5• 21 days ago

SecuROM can be re-enabled on Windows 10/11 with some reasonably simple steps. But I think that's comparing apples to oranges. That SecuROM game will continue to work fine on a system it was designed for. Playing a game from the Windows 98 era on a Windows 11 system is entering the territory of backwards compatibility. Same as a PSX game will keep running on any PSX, but there are no guarantees on a PS2.

kuerbel10• 21 days ago

Aaaand I'm not going to buy a PS6.

On pc there is some competition at least between Steam, epic, gog (the odd one out but I like it) and such. I have no interest in buying a vendor specific computer with only one storefront and no competition.

Cthulhu_4• 21 days ago

But those are still digital-only platforms, with a chance of them disappearing. Epic is the biggest risk there, I think.

GoG is an interesting case though, it has loads of games that by and large were available on physical media, but because said physical media is either gone, broken, or in the hands of collectors, getting a physical copy of those games is difficult now. Them being a digital platform re-enables people to play these games.

mghackerlady19• 21 days ago

GoG is also DRM free, so if GoG dies it's not like you'll lose access to your games. Even if you lose the files, archives will exist. Plus, if you're really that morally opposed to file sharing, you can always put it on a NAS or flash drive. Heck, put it on a bluray if you want to

bigfishrunning8• 21 days ago

It's important to note that that vendor specific computer is 1) cheaper then a PC that can play equivalent games, and 2) much more reliable (i never have to mess with drivers, updates just work, etc...)

fluoridation7• 21 days ago

cheaper then a PC that can play equivalent games

There are no savings to be had. What you don't pay one way you pay another.

much more reliable (i never have to mess with drivers, updates just work, etc...)

So do you not own a computer? How do you avoid dealing with those issues, otherwise?

keyringlight• 21 days ago

I wonder if this signals anything about Sony's attitude to blu-ray movies. Aside from games one of the reasons their consoles have sold well is because they've been excellent physical media players. The PS2 for DVDs and the PS3 onwards for blu-ray.

If I remember well PS3 was during the period where blu-ray lasers were production constrained and more expensive with Sony prioritizing their own devices, so the console was price and availability competitive against dedicated disc players by third parties. And the PS3 had pretty long term update/support. I'm fairly sure that had an impact on the financial side as it was in the era when console hardware was subsidized on the expectation they'd get a slice of game sales, except those consoles bought for primarily for movies didn't reimburse them so well.

fredoralive3• 21 days ago

I’m not sure if Sony has been pushing their video disc formats with PlayStations for a while. PS4 Pro was the “4K” upgrade over PS4, but didn’t support UHD Blu-Ray. And there’s been a disc drive-less PS5 since launch.

Stuff like Blu-Ray seems to be becoming a Laserdisc like enthusiasts niche system, I don’t think it’s been a big thing for Sony for a while.

nsbk• 21 days ago

Bummer! Based on the current trajectory, PS6 will be the first non-handheld PS I will not own.

jespinel• 21 days ago

I thought CDs were (mostly) no longer being produced. I'm surprised this decision was not made years ago.

Shank• 21 days ago

They're Blu-Ray discs.

bilekas3• 21 days ago

This is ridiculous, and not long after they've been updating their ToS to require you to sign in and phone home in order to continue to be allowed access to your digital library.

In response to shifting trends in consumer preference.

I hate this corporate speak. If buying isn't ownership, then pirating isn't stealing.

bigfishrunning8• 21 days ago

If buying isn't ownership, then pirating isn't stealing.

You're not buying a game, you're buying a license to play the game. If you don't agree with the terms, don't buy that license, but that doesn't mean you're entitled to commit copyright infringement.

If I buy a movie ticket, that means I get to watch the movie once. That's the agreement.

bilekas3• 21 days ago

There's an expectation that once the sale is finalised they should t be able to just take it back when they like. Agreements or not that's not how things are supposed to work.

Telaneo11• 21 days ago

If I buy a movie ticket, that means I get to watch the movie once. That's the agreement.

Good thing I don't recognise copyright. Can't infringe on that which does not exist. I'm sick of pretending it does good in the world when I constantly see its consequences are things like this.

If I buy a movie ticket, that means I get to watch the movie once. That's the agreement.

Given the amount of agreements out there that have unfair terms from the get go, or are otherwise Darth Vadered, why should anyone care what deal the corps give you?

tacticalturtle3• 21 days ago

It’s not corporate speak - they have hard data in digital vs physical sales that they report on every quarter:

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-just-reported-a-new-r...

bilekas3• 21 days ago

Even more reason to call this out, they know the exact figures they need to create physical copies of, they're claiming a complete trend to reduce their expenses. I don't believe they have some agenda to simply turn off games for people for no reason, but needing to check in every few months to keep a game active is actively hostile to the customer.

phire4• 21 days ago

With this news, I have to wonder how much longer bluray will live.

Will we continue seeing new bluray releases of movies and TV shows for decades, or are their days numbered?

The loss of console gaming presumably removes a guaranteed revenue source that was keeping Bluray pressing plants alive.

Sales of DVDs and Bluray have been declining for years [1] [3]. Some people have been excited pushing the news that UHD bluray sales increased in 2025, [2] but that ignores the fact that the total optical sales still dropped.

[1] https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=...

[2] https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=...

[3] This article has a more complete graph: https://www.statsignificant.com/p/the-rise-fall-and-slight-r...

dylan6043• 21 days ago

I can't imagine content owners wanting the physical media to continue any longer than they can get away with. The control they have from digital only must make them feel so powerful. At least as long as everyone continues to buy into their DRM systems.

I've recently looked into purchasing a dedicated 4K Blu-ray player to start building a disc collection again. I'm assuming there's some pretty decent deals in the used bins now. One by one, I keep canceling my streaming subscriptions. At some point, that physical media will be the only thing left. Makes me feel like a prepper of a different sort

phire4• 21 days ago

That's part of what I was thinking. The idea of digital-only must be very attractive for content owners, so I don't think they will put much effort into preventing that outcome.

3D30497420• 21 days ago

I do this. I'll buy used disks and rip them to a personal media server. It works great. A friend actually created an eBay bot which monitors listings of disks he wants and will automatically buys them.

The ripping part is a bit annoying and time-consuming though. Ironically, it would probably be easier to buy a disk then download a file rather than ripping.

vachina• 21 days ago

The control they have from digital only must make them feel so powerful.

I hope they continue to feel this way. WEBDL can come faster.

TFNA2• 21 days ago

Why not just get everything on the high seas for free, instead of paying for used-bin stuff which is cheap but still costs something? I’m a huge cinephile with a collection on my hard drives of ripped Blu-ray and DVD images, a number running now into the four figures, and I have almost never paid for a physical disc; I own something like 6 that are in a box somewhere.

jeandrek4• 21 days ago

In NZ 4K Blu-rays are too expensive, at least by my standard (there's about one store chain, JB Hi-Fi). Never seen a single one at a second hand shop. (Though I guess a used bin is a place for 2nd hand goods at an otherwise first-hand shop? Which we don't really have.)

ktallett• 21 days ago

They won't be releasing new Blu Rays for decades. Outside of collectors, why would they? Unless there is a hidden market for the discs elsewhere it's not worth it

bakies2• 21 days ago

Libraries :(

kuerbel10• 21 days ago

Collecting is going strong, though. My husband collects physical media, and media books, including a booklet and a nice cover, sell very well. As are special editions of more mainstream movies. Give people something extra and they will gladly buy it. I'd have expected them to go down that path, sell nice steelbooks, media books with an included art book and so on. Add a blu ray with interviews about the development process and so on. I'd pay good money for that and others would as well. Even if they sell the console only with an external disk drive.

miiiiiike2• 21 days ago

I saw my first Dolby Vision Blu-ray and immediately started a Blu-Ray collection. The Blu-ray player on the PS5 is fine, but a nice dedicated player from Sony blows it away.

I would pay for my favorite albums on Blu-ray too. I wish more artists released their entire discography on a really well produced Blu-ray. NIN would be perfect for this. So many Halos, so many videos, all in release order. A real release of Purest Feeling?

kuerbel10• 21 days ago

dedicated player from Sony blows it away

If I might give you a heads up here, they are not the best. For a reference player look at Magnetar.

My dream setup is a Magnetar UDP 900 MK II and a Leica Cine 1...

mghackerlady19• 21 days ago

You can still buy CDs. They don't come with music videos usually but they sound greatr

maherbeg• 21 days ago

What's better about the dedicated player out of curiosity?

owlninja• 21 days ago

I just pre-ordered the 4K UHD remaster of The Sopranos, and while on the Gruv site I saw another UHD remaster of a movie I enjoy and ordered it. I am excited to experience this (haven't watched physical media in forever), but I was planning on using my PS5. My research also confirms that standalone players are legit, but they are more expnsive than I figured! I guess I'll give one a try and hope this isn't another addiction...

wing-_-nuts• 21 days ago

Huh, I bought a ps5 specifically so i could have a up to date playstation console with a 4k blu ray player. Planet earth / blue planet are achingly beautiful on a 4k oled. Sadly the market for 4k blu ray seems to be pretty thin, but I do hunt for good docs in the format.

Telaneo11• 21 days ago

Even if Sony keeps a token factory or two open to produce blu-rays, I'd imagine we'll see fewer and fewer new releases. Maybe we'll only see them as part of collector's sets that have enough margin to afford a cut of the more limited supply.

This feels like the beginning of the death spiral for blu-ray. Sales aren't going to go up enough for it to be worth it keep factories going, much less spin up new ones.

jonhohle2• 21 days ago

Years ago I did a podcast[0] on physical media and hypothesized UHD would be the last physical movie format (and was shocked that it was even a thing).

The next two years are probably going to be a mess as collectors snatch everything up annd inventory gets cleared out.

0 - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cherry-bombs-the-under...

mghackerlady19• 21 days ago

I honestly doubt they'll stop. Sony is a Japanese company, and they seem to still enjoy buying blurays

Teever2• 21 days ago

But is there enough of a market for blu-rays of newer western releases in Japan to keep the entire production and distribution chain alive around the rest of the world?

everdrive• 21 days ago

I think blu-ray will live for quite a while, but will be a bit like vinyl; there will be a consistent, niche market.

TheAmazingRace2• 21 days ago

Hilariously, DVD production could potentially outlive Blu-Ray discs, since DVDs are still popular enough 30 years later, and surpass the sales of Blu-Ray movies.

pcl• 21 days ago

Why is that? Vinyl has some unique characteristics. But as far as I’m aware, blu-ray is just a storage format for bits, so other than the box art, what is compelling about a blu-ray pressing?

Taikonerd• 21 days ago

With this news, I have to wonder how much longer bluray will live.

I hope that physical media sticks around. DVDs and Blu-rays often include something that digital releases don't: director's commentaries, "making of" featurettes, and other extras.

For me, it adds a whole new layer of fun to movies I already like.

jaggederest• 21 days ago

I wish companies would release these for promotional purposes on e.g. youtube or equivalent.

TFNA2• 21 days ago

The heyday of commentary tracks and extras was long ago, over a decade ago. Except for a few boutique labels like Criterion, distributors found that adding such extra features often wasn’t worth their while in the face of declining physical media sales. So, increasingly one just got the film and little else.

lathiat• 21 days ago

Apple includes these in digital purchases from the iTunes Store. It’s part of “iTunes Extra”.

But I never see them anywhere else. Especially streaming. A real loss.

account4224• 21 days ago

Personally I'd rather see those bits spent on a better encode of the main feature.

saturn86017• 21 days ago

The PC burners/readers are disappearing. We had like ASUS, LG and Pioneer manufacturing. Pioneer had thrown in the towel last year (they were heads above the best in quality). I think ASUS might be gone as well. LG's drives are super hit or miss and I wouldn't be surprised if they give it up eventually.

This is probably due to the fact that they relied on Intel SGX security which has been busted wide open and itself been discontinued by Intel so instead of redesigning the security model, just depreciate the entire format on PC.

I don't think there is that much of a market left for set top players either.

Of all the companies you'd think are committed to the format, it would be Sony right?

Well they currently list one model of set top player on their website and it is the same design since at least the pandemic(when I bought my player). The SKu has changed since then but after looking at the differences, the only design update they have done in those ~6 years is upgraded menu software and removing built-in smart or networking features.

8K hasn't taken off as far as I know but eventually it might and right now there is no transition path to that for physical media.

account4224• 21 days ago

IMO they should just release BDXL drives with open firmware. Then "security" is not their problem.

And I don't think 8K will ever take off. 4K is already at the point where much (but not all) of the additional resolution is just noise. Meanwhile 4K pixels are already small enough even for 70"+ TVs at fairly close movie viewing distances so where 8K will provide any advantage at all is exceedingly limited.

IshKebab• 21 days ago

Yeah I wouldn't give it more than 20 years. Obviously they won't suddenly stop; it will just be rarer and rarer for things to be released on bluray until it's only super popular stuff and collectors editions and things like that.

pryelluw2• 21 days ago

Guess I’m throwing my PS5 out the window and going to PC. This war on physical media is ridiculous. Pretty soon they’re going to require us to buy the console but rent the controllers for the very low price of $79.99 a month.

functionmouse• 21 days ago

steam games don't have discs either

the real problem here isn't lack of plastic circles

callamdelaney4• 21 days ago

Valve have shown themselves to be reasonably trustworthy unlike say, Sony and Microsoft. If there are no disks then there is no point in consoles in my view, they're just worse computers.

asimovDev4• 21 days ago

On PC you can fight this by buying from GOG DRM-free digital storefront or the second more sinister option

pryelluw2• 21 days ago

Can’t I back them to physical media?

henriquecm83• 21 days ago

Yeah, but games get bigger and more frequent discounts on pc, besides the base game price for a lot of games sometimes decreased after some years.

I have a PC and PS5, and bought game for PS5 just because they were on disk, despite that they would've ran and look much better on my pc.

Sony is releasing like 2 single-player games a year, I might get a PS6, but I'll be in not rush with so little offering, anything else I'll get on PC.

overfeed4• 21 days ago

steam games don't have discs either

Disc > Steam > Digital console

Steam games exist on physical media that players have some control over: I can copy my Steam data directory across PCs/Steam Deck, I would not be able to do that on a PlayStation.

Sure, I can't resell my Steam games, but the openness of the PC platform has advantages over closed consoles. Valve can't brick old games the way Sony can - a new computer in 2046 will be able to play single-player games backed-up from Steam, not so much for consoles.

kaishin• 21 days ago

To solve what exactly? Sure you will punish Sony but that won't bring optical media back. We need to accept and move on with the times.

Nekorosu• 21 days ago

It is still possible to actually buy PC games, not rent them.

gdulli3• 21 days ago

Steam normalized the loss of resale rights on PC long before the consoles caught up. Younger people don't even realize it's a right that prior generations gave up.

alightsoul2• 21 days ago

and yet, Steam is seen as the superior service that deserves to keep their monopoly.

z0r• 21 days ago

Steam has existed for an eternity compared to any console specific game store. It's not great that you can't resell what you have on Steam, but at least you get to 'keep' it.

deadbabe4• 21 days ago

I used to think this was bad, but honestly? It’s just games. Some people buy tons of digital games they literally never even play. If they were physical games, imagine all the e-waste.

And what’s the point of physical games? So you can play the game in 30 years from now on some retro console you’ve diligently maintained?

Get over it, you’re not going to do any of that. There’s no mythical third act where you go through some library of physical CDs and reminisce about an old ass game. There’s constantly new games coming out all the time, you will just keep buying and buying games, you play them for a bit, and then you move on. It’s not “buy it for life”, it’s buy it for right now have fun and move on. Live in the present, don’t worry about the future.

Even people who have retro consoles and collect physical copies seem to mostly do it for collector purposes. When they die, their kids will send all that to a dump or pawn it off. Pointless.

RiverCrochet• 21 days ago

I agree with most of this, which is why emulation is generally better unless you specifically want to operate/show off a museum.

Maybe things will be like the Nintendo BS-X where people will reverse engineer consoles with games downloaded to extract the game from it.

That being said I do have a physical Atari 2600 with a few games. Astroblast with paddles is still a fun game today, and Video Olympics (the Atari VCS version of Pong) is extremely fun to bring out at parties.

mghackerlady19• 21 days ago

the Atari 2600 is probably my favorite console to collect for. The games cost next to nothing and old games like that are fun to just grab a stack of and play each game for 5-10 minutes each

fluoridation7• 21 days ago

There’s no mythical third act where you go through some library of physical CDs and reminisce about an old ass game.

Huh? You won't replay every game, sure, but once in a while you'll find a game that you keep coming back to even many years after first playing it. The last time I played Pokémon Red all the way through was only a few years ago. I have permanent Deus Ex, Crysis, FEAR, and Duke Nukem 3D installations on my hard drive, so I can run them for a bit whenever I feel like. Maybe once you put down a game you never pick it again, but don't assume what is true of you is true of everybody.

Rodmine2• 21 days ago

Maybe remember the experience but grow up?

Telaneo11• 21 days ago

Replace 'games' with 'books' in your comment. Would you feel the same way?

deadbabe4• 21 days ago

No because shelves full of books make great decorations and sound proofing in between walls.

rcxdude• 21 days ago

There are a ton of amazing games that people still enjoy today that would be essentially impossible to get ahold if they were only available through DRM'd digital downloads. I agree the physical media is more of a nostalgia thing in principle, but a) that doesn't make people's enjoyment of that part invalid, and b) it's not a like-for-like, because digital downloads on the whole do not allow the resale that physical media does, nor apart from some notable exceptions do they even guarantee continued access to the game. I feel like what you're saying here is implying that there is no value at all in older games and you would rather people stop enjoying them.

Noe2097• 21 days ago

Wow that doesn't sound great.

We won't own games anymore, we won't be able to sell/acquire used games, we won't be able to play disconnected.

I'm curious whether Nintendo will be following the same path.

Cthulhu_4• 21 days ago

I'm curious whether Nintendo will be following the same path.

Probably, they're already heavily invested in digital-only games, e.g. virtual console, or selling game boxes with just a download code.

But this goes back years already, physical copies of their games have remained expensive for ages. Relatively modern and/or very common "everyone has these" games like various pokemon games going for full price to 2-3x that.

phire4• 21 days ago

TBH, 100% offline gaming has been problematic since day-one patches became the norm in the PS3 era. Sure, you might be play version 1.0 of the game from the disc, but often the experience was pretty compromised without the patch, often very buggy, or sometimes even features missing.

And the PS5 is meant to be able to play digitally downloaded while disconnected (at least the ones you own, not the PS+ games). It's just the implementation is little buggy, it sometimes breaks for some people and you get a bunch of vocal people complaining about how it doesn't work.

So IMO, you aren't losing much there. The digital-only experience isn't that different from needing to have internet to download a day-one patch.

It's the used game sales that are the biggest loss from this move.

Anamon5• 21 days ago

I remember getting some Gran Turismo game for my PS3 back in the day, having to wait for it to slowly copy XX gigabytes of data to the hard drive, then being stupid enough to want to start the game while being online which meant having to download once more the exact same number of gigabytes (hello, incremental patches?) over an even slower Wi-Fi connection. I bought the game on a Saturday afternoon and was looking forward to it, but by the time I got to play it, it was Sunday.

So I figured that the last console with which I really felt like I had a collection of games that were mine, that I got to keep and could play whenever I wanted, was the PS2.

officeplant4• 21 days ago

We won't own games anymore

Some of us do because we only buy from non-DRM encumbered platforms like GoG.

Don't buy games on steam, windows store, apple store, etc.

Stop giving companies money for something you don't own.

Buttons840• 21 days ago

We will own the games we purchase digitally if we change the laws to say that we own them. We've reached the point where politicians are talking about this issue, and I suppose support for copyright reform will only continue to grow.

K3UL• 21 days ago

One of the major reasons I upgraded to ps5 was because it would also allow me to play blu-ray movies.

If the PS6 comes out with no disc player at all, not a chance I buy it.

Also, that's a definite middle finger to second hand and physical stores then ? Hoping MS will make a bet in the opposite direction (but I don't see it) and the players will follow..

Cthulhu_4• 21 days ago

Ironic that you mention MS because also ironically, around the PS4 launch there was a lot of brouhaha about MS not allowing transfering games, while for the PS4 launch video they showed how easy it is to transfer games (just hand over a disk).

I hate it. I hate digital only games. I get that the numbers and reality are against my wishes but that doesn't make it any better. I want to unpack my console from storage in 20 years and play the games I bought for it even if the company or servers no longer exist.

Cpoll• 21 days ago

middle finger to second hand and physical stores

They've seen the writing on the wall for at least a decade; that's why GameStop has more shelf space for Funko Pops than for games.

Imustaskforhelp3• 21 days ago

Genuine question but is this why Gamestop was thinking about buying E-bay which ironically had some of the most greatest meme about "half cash, half stock" if someone remembers that in terms of the immense stupidity displayed in botching up the deal or the finances of it.

but what is the plan for shops like GameStop then if nobody buys or sells games anymore via offline shops. as you mentioned with Funko pops (and I had to search up with that), but they could perhaps transition to merchandise focused goods but I think that even within that online could have a valid competition?

accrual• 21 days ago

Sony's announcement follows Rockstar's announcement that Grand Theft Auto 6 will come with a download code in a box rather than a physical disc. It's a move that most notably stamps out second-hand reselling of a game.

This is the big point for me. If one buys a digital PlayStation game there's virtually no easy way to transfer it to another owner or sell it like one could do in past console generations. There will always be modding and ways to play game dumps, but it limits that level of "ownership" to those technically inclined to make it work.

alightsoul2• 21 days ago

they weren't happy about people reselling their games for 5 dollars each, when they could charge 75 dollars to each of those people instead

vinyl7• 21 days ago

Jokes on them if they think a significant portion of those sales will convert

antiloper• 21 days ago

There will always be modding and ways to play game dumps

There won't because advances in defensive cybersecurity have made it so that software exploits are extremely rare (if they exist at all), and modern chips contain hardware defenses against electrical attacks like voltage glitching.

dandellion• 21 days ago

There are already more game dumps and mods than anyone can play in single lifetime. There are plenty games without DRM and always-online protections in GOG alone.

Gigachad4• 21 days ago

What we need is legal change rather than relying on hackers and piracy to cover the obvious issues with copyright and DRM in the modern era.

r0ckarong• 21 days ago

Most games with retail copies drop in price soon after the hype window is over. They stay full launch retail price in the PSN store unless there is a "sale". Anti-consumerism at its finest.

gdulli3• 21 days ago

I wonder if that's because there's a downward price pressure on physical inventory because it needs to get liquidated to free up physical space for new inventory.

toast0• 21 days ago

That's certainly a factor, especially if demand was less than predicted, stores don't want to hold on to stock that's not selling, distributors and manufacturers don't want it returned. Better for everyone to reduce the price and sell the product.

kjkjadksj5• 21 days ago

I never saw actual downward price pressure on unsold new physical games. At most they’d go for $45 instead of $60. Only at gamestop with the most ratty booger infested chewed by dog used copy would you see real deals. That or boomer parents selling off their kids childhood when they went off to college for pennies on the dollar, but I think going forward gen x parents are smart enough to check prevailing values on electronics, so that source of deals are gone too.

postexitus2• 21 days ago

Ok great don't buy them in digital form so Sony learns a lesson?

koeliga• 21 days ago

So this pretty much confirms that GTA 6 won't be sold as disc later on

Imustaskforhelp3• 21 days ago

Oh man, I had forgotten about GTA 6 releasing on Playstation earlier than PC's. So all the hype around GTA 6 and the fact that people have been waiting for so long would drive up the demand of newer playstations and with all the 4 changes that I talked about in one of my other comments[0]

No physical disc + shutting down online stores + deleting movies from customers accounts + dynamic pricing.

This basically becomes a sunk cost fallacy, both in buying the games or subscription models.

Because there are people who want a game so badly and want to play on release date and that game has partnered up with a console company that they will only release (first) on some consoles with the 4 factors discussed above. It leads to an incredible sunk-cost fallacy which somewhat capitalizes on the fact of the hype of the game and they are looking for any and every ways to capitalize on it for as long as possible.

I imagine some Playstation subscription yearly discount might also happen near the launch of GTA 6 so that they could tie users up to an yearly subscription perhaps.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48746439

lelandfe2• 21 days ago

To illustrate why this is stupid, I will furnish two links to purchase Dark Souls 3 (PS4, 2016)

Ebay, to buy: $11 + shipping[0]

PS Store, to rent: $60[1]

[0] https://www.ebay.com/itm/298370753624

[1] https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/dark-souls-iii/

exitnode• 21 days ago

It's sadly not stupid from their perspective

somenameforme10• 21 days ago

Except it really is. I don't see how businesses don't understand how this sort of anti-customer predatory behavior, MBA stuff, is directly driving reduced sales. The PS5, for instance, has only managed 96 million sales. For contrast the PS2 managed 160 million sales to a smaller market with much fiercer competition.

And I'm one of those tens of millions opting out. The PS2 felt like a great consumer-focused value. Modern consoles feel like opting in to get kicked in the balls and squeezed for every single penny they can get out of you.

The reason modern consoles aren't selling 300million+ units is because of myopia. And the worst part is that it's a vicious cycle. They see their sales shrinking so the penny pinchers and MBAs get even nastier squeezing the ever-shrinking userbase even more resulting in less sales meaning they need to squeeze those that remain even harder and so on.

At seemingly no point is anybody asking 'Hey why do our sales keep falling even though the potential market's way larger and the competition is pretty meh?' I guess that doesn't look as good on a powerpoint slide as trying to kill the used game market and pretending it will have no knock-on effects.

giwook4• 21 days ago

You've illustrated exactly why Sony is getting rid of physical media.

Money.

xp84• 21 days ago

Also, remember the marketing idea of the "Disney Vault"? In the 90s, Disney would take all their movies in and out of print basically, only selling tapes some of the time, and they'd charge top dollar for them, because you couldn't just walk into Walmart and grab a copy of "Cinderella" anytime. They created scarcity easily this way, since before ebay, finding specific things like a certain videotape at a thrift store or something was a lot more work. So they would charge like $25 for a decades-old movie and say "Get it now, before it goes back in the vault!"

I can see this happening with games more after the death of physical media. Create artificial scarcity with limited time windows and charge top dollar for old games because there will be literally no way to get them besides on their digital store terms.

smgpie• 21 days ago

But that's not how the numbers work. I bought a PS5 (instead of gaming on Steam or Xbox) because I could buy physical discs, and I like having them. I buy digital games from time to time as well, but if the PS5 hadn't supported physical games at all, I wouldn't have bought one in the first place, just as I most likely won't buy a PS6 because of this announcement.

nottorp5• 21 days ago

You don't even need to go used. Discs constantly drop in price even new.

asimovDev4• 21 days ago

in europe it's often cheaper to buy a game new in box from the retailer than from the PS Store. Not for long maybe. I will mourn the loss of physical games as they are such a big part of console experience

cortesoft• 21 days ago

Yeah, and Sony agrees it is stupid... they don't want a used games market.

CommanderData• 21 days ago

Yes stupid for shareholders and until the EU comes in and saves the day again this will continue.

There's something to be said for creating a near monopoly and also having the ability to digitally revoke someones right to use something they purchased legally, which we'll see more of.

Regulations are needed to protect us.

sipos• 21 days ago

This is what happens when you have a market controlled heavily by one player - they use that to their own advantage.

mrandish3• 21 days ago

It's not just games. For several years the cheapest way to buy a legit U.S. Office 365 sub is to order a physical box from Amazon on Black Friday. Inside the box is nothing but a scratch-off card with the online license key. It's literally cheaper to get printed color packaging overnight delivered to my door than to sign up on the webpage.

someonebaggy8• 20 days ago

This is a form of market segmentation.

palmotea2• 21 days ago

To illustrate why this is stupid, I will furnish two links to purchase Dark Souls 3 (PS4, 2016)
Ebay, to buy: $11 + shipping[0]
PS Store, to rent: $60[1]

Yeah, Sony is stupid to be leaving money on the table like that. Lucky for us, we live in a market system that we can trust to optimize for maximum consumer benefit (like Sony is doing here). It's our revealed choice that we want to pay more for old games.

lelandfe2• 21 days ago

Although it's just anecdata, after spending $600 on the console, I certainly was dismayed to find 10-year old games only being sold at their original prices. Surely they should at least track inflation?

Perhaps Sony could add an optional tipping screen before digital checkout for the good customers.

wtetzner7• 21 days ago

Yeah, Sony is stupid to be leaving money on the table like that

Are they though? Console sales have been dropping. It's only money left on the table if people are also purchasing consoles & games in the same quantities. How many people are just not buying these games because they are digital only?

TBH though, I think the ship has sailed a long time ago. Many games with physical media aren't really playable without downloadable updates anyway. Another reason the modern gaming experience has gotten worse.

account4224• 21 days ago

That's exactly why we need stronger legislation to curtail blatant attempts at circumventing the right of first sale.

bsammon• 21 days ago

I own a Nintendo Switch, and I've noticed that in the Nintendo store, old games regularly go on sale for in the ballpark of 80% off. Does that happen in the PS store?

mghackerlady19• 21 days ago

third parties do. Good luck buying a nintendo game for less than it was at launch

ectospheno• 21 days ago

I already own Dark Souls 3 but were I to purchase it again I’d still pick PlayStation over eBay. Even at this price point. I get I’m not the average consumer but I have money and discs are annoying.

throwaway219450• 21 days ago

We do this with movie night now. It can be 15 bucks to rent an HD movie - not even a new release! Frequently it’s cheaper to buy a copy and give it to a thrift store afterwards.

I’m considering trying one of the mail order rental companies again.

ReptileMan• 21 days ago

AAA game industry is in such a state, that not justifying piracy becomes harder and harder with each day.

Imustaskforhelp3• 21 days ago

So physical disc production is ending for new games on Playstation.

At the same time, as @outervale has said: they are shutting down PS3 and PS Vita online stores as well.

AND at the same time as @zache has said & previous discussions about PlayStation Deleting 551 Movies from Customers' Accounts.

WHILE at the same time, Dynamic pricing[0] is occuring where people who buy games are charged more because PS expects them to be able to cough up more money from my understanding

Combining all of this: No physical disc + shutting down online stores + deleting movies from customers accounts + dynamic pricing.

These might basically just be planned obsolence devices while trying to extract as much profits as humanly possible from your wallets.

I remember the dynamic pricing debate and that some people were somewhat tolerable of that, but I think that being tolerable of that is what is causing more and more precedents and an overall situation has occur where things are just increasingly more actively consumer-hostile.

[0] https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-reportedly-testing-dynamic...

legitster• 21 days ago

In contrast, Nintendo's idea to sell physical games that are essentially transferrable keys seems like a much smarter compromise.

Part of the appeal for the Switch and Switch 2 is the stability of their resale market. It's easier to pay for a new game when you know you can get 50% of your money back on the used market.

Uvix4• 21 days ago

Sony wouldn’t see any benefit from switching to game key discs. Nintendo introduced them to save on manufacturing costs, but game key discs wouldn’t give Sony any additional market or reduce costs any; they’d only shrink the physical market further.

cheesecakegood• 21 days ago

Except the same companies have shown (see: closure of the DS online storefront) it's still an issue, just 20 years delayed instead of 10. Sure, it's better, but it's not good. I'll still take it of course, but we need to pressure lawmakers to set up something more fair and stable.

MBCook4• 21 days ago

This was bound to happen. I’ve long suspected the #1 reason physical games exist was to placate a few big retailers like Best Buy and Walmart and Target so they’d continue to carry the console.

Clearly that’s no longer necessary. Download-only retail boxes or gift cards or whatever are enough.

I know some people really care about physical releases, but I think the writing has been on the wall for years that this was coming.

nottorp5• 21 days ago

The Sony that has just proved you can't trust them to maintain access to the digital content they "sold" you right?

kakadu• 21 days ago

This is another opportunity for the EU to reign in and create a proper definition of ownership so that this does not pass.

Of course, it would be interesting to hear the freemarketeering on this site and how people should "vote with their wallet" and sites/movements such as $freeplaystation.whatever sprouting pseudopolemic nonsense.

p0w3n3d2• 21 days ago

Voting with wallet works, unless there is a cartel there. Which probably is. Similar as with Samsung's RAM

officeplant4• 21 days ago

Rip main stream physical game market.

Long live independent physical game market. We already see people with 3d printed carts, designing labels and making their own homebrew games for retro consoles. Some people are also producing their own big box PC games for the hell of it.

As I continue to largely ignore AAA & mainstream gaming companies I look forward to how the indie gaming market takes advantage of everyone's growing nostalgia for physical ownership of games.

deadbabe4• 21 days ago

Nearly all of the people who sell third party physical carts and media are also selling digital versions as well, which sell in much greater numbers.

The physicality is a novelty, much like vinyl records. It’s a market sure, but not a significant one that calls for a paradigm shift.

officeplant4• 21 days ago

also selling digital versions as well, which sell in much greater numbers.

Happy for them, I'll even buy it if it's DRM-free with off-line installers I can back up.

dude250711• 21 days ago

Last step is for them to say that due to rising components' cost, they are transitioning to rent-only model for consoles.

This way you will finally own nothing except for maybe console rent arrears.

techdmn• 21 days ago

Never been happier that I've turned into a retro-gamer. This is more the result of being old than a principled stance, but never the less. Increasingly I don't view myself as actually owning anything that connects to the internet. Minecraft is delightful on my disconnected Xbox-360, thanks. Nobody can break it by forcing an update or shutting down a server.

Insanity• 21 days ago

Haven’t bought a physical game in at least 15 years (because of Steam). I do wonder how many people still buy physical copies these days.

Not sure what the sales are like on PS but at least on Steam you can find great deals for the digital copies as well. (You lose the reselling though)

rrreese• 21 days ago

Due to the steam sales and deep discounting its easy to buy games on steam for much cheaper then the consoles. For console where a game may be £60 for several years, buying physical means you can resell. For anyone with a budget, it makes a huge difference on how many games you can play.

artisinal8• 21 days ago

Red Dead Redemption 2 is €59.99 on Steam and if you wait for a sale €14.99

For PS4 you can buy the disc version for €19.99 regular price and €17.99 on sale. Used discs start from €9.

If you don’t mind waiting for a sale then Steam is great. Otherwise PlayStation is a better deal.

petetnt• 21 days ago

Unlike Steam keys, there are no ways to distribute Playstation keys outside of Playstation platform. By removing retailers and second hand markets, what exactly would make Sony or any other publishers to continue offering any deep discounts on their products on a closed platform, especially when their biggest competitor Xbox has dropped the ball heavily.

asimovDev4• 21 days ago

When a Sony studio Insomniac Games were hacked and a lot of internal documents were leaked, there were statistics for Sony's first party titles and their sales stats and what the split was between physical and digital sales[0] and for some of the titles, they sold mostly physical compared to digital. Apologies for poor quality, couldn't find a better image

[0] https://imgur.com/lDhRmUh

crumb1e• 21 days ago

I constantly rotate physical games for my PS5.

I'm in the UK, and CeX is a great shop to trade in a game for store credit once I'm finished with it, then pickup whatever I want to play next. Most of the time I can completely cover the cost of the next game with the credit received from the trade, or use some store credit leftover from a previous visit!

seanalltogether• 21 days ago

I've reached an age where I don't actually buy games anymore, I just load up my wishlist with games and between Christmas, birthday and fathers day I get all the games I will care to play for the year. My wife, parents, extended family likes being able to buy me a physical gift, wrap it, and hand it to me. I understand that this is just getting rid of the disc and keeping the box, but pretty soon there's gonna be no box either, and I know my wife will hate the idea of just handing me a gift card on special days. I just hate how all physical products are evaporating.

ghusto• 21 days ago

As consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continue to shift away from physical discs to digital

_Goddamn citation needed!_

jackgavigan• 21 days ago

"You'll own nothing, and you'll be happy."

paolfs• 21 days ago

Imho this is no issue, as long as the game is playable after download without some kind of server or account.

The moment you need an account or server to play you don't own the game. I think governments should step in here. They must force stores to use words like rent or lease instead of buy. That way it is way more clear where you are going to spend money on.

jonhohle2• 21 days ago

How do you purchase or download a game without a server or account?

simonh• 21 days ago

purchase /= run

doubled112• 21 days ago

I think they mean to say that it is fine as long as you no longer need a server or account once it is downloaded from their server.

You would be allowed to keep a backup, play the backup, transfer the backup, etc.

thimabi• 21 days ago

In a few years Sony executives will be wondering why a portion of their consumer base decided to prioritize other forms of entertainment. I can speak for myself in that I’ve never upgraded past the PS3, and I feel no regrets about it.

butlike• 21 days ago

PS4 is a great system, but I feel it may be my last Sony console. Steam Deck/Steam Machine will probably become the king of the household, as I don't see video games ever really leaving my life.

tapoxi3• 21 days ago

There is a tradeoff, the Steam Machine is double the price for worse performance and less storage.

mghackerlady19• 21 days ago

I personally see no reason to buy anything more than a PS4. I have a PS3 and it plays all the same kinds of games I'd want to play on a 4 or 5, with similar graphical fidelity. I have a 4, but only really have used it to play a remake of a game I can already play on the 3. I also have a vita which is used for indie games since that thing has nearly every indie game you'd ever want to play available (either officially or via homebrew)

tacticalturtle3• 21 days ago

At this point it’s a pretty small portion.

Last quarter 85% of all game sales were digital.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-just-reported-a-new-r...

techwizrd2• 21 days ago

They've also been pushing digital-only PS5s and PS5 Pro so there are fewer reasons to get a disk if you have no disk drive. They have created the problem that they are "solving."

henriquecm83• 21 days ago

I wonder how many units the 15% represents, and what the percentage would be compared to number of sales in 2010.

Yeah, the percentage has got smaller, but the industry also got much bigger.

techwizrd2• 21 days ago

The PS5 is great. We have a PS5 and PS5 Pro, both with disk drives (internal or external). But I really hate this policy. My brother comes over regularly to watch my pets, and he can simply bring a couple of his PS5 games over and play them rather than rebuying them and digitally downloading them. This breaks the in-person social aspect of gaming and game sharing that we've become accustomed to for decades.

brendoelfrendo2• 21 days ago

I don't buy every game on a physical disc—I don't see the point for live service games, for example—but I do have a fairly large collection of physical PS5 games because I like that assurance that I can continue to play that game forever. I guess what we see here is that after 2028 I have no reason to own a PlayStation ever again.

p0w3n3d2• 21 days ago

Starting 2029:

  we don't have your game! and what are going to do now?

(Polish movie quote paraphrase btw.)

callamdelaney4• 21 days ago

I will no longer buy playstations starting now

maxwellito• 21 days ago

This didn't age well : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSIFh8ICaA

Telaneo11• 21 days ago

Sony won a whole console generation on not being knobheads (as much as MS).

bigstrat20032• 21 days ago

I wonder if MS could eat their lunch in the same way, or if the market has changed enough that it won't matter.

naet• 21 days ago

I have a PlayStation and I exclusively buy my games via discs. On the other hand, these days I exclusively buy computer games via digital download (mostly via Steam). I have more consumer confidence that digital games on my computer will remain accessible vs games on my console, maybe because Sony controls the entire console ecosystem.

Interesting timing to announce this at around the same time as the PS3 digital store is discontinued signaling that digital only doesn't last as long as physical.

My old Nintendo Wii is modified with homebrew software that keeps alive some otherwise inaccessible features since Nintendo shut off their servers. I hope the community can do similar for newer consoles when they reach the end of their life.

freetonik• 21 days ago

There are almost no new physical releases on PC, sadly. I’ve been collecting older games on CD and DVD.

snarfy• 21 days ago

If they are going digital only then they are competing with Steam. They will lose.

avaer• 21 days ago

They aren't competing with Steam. The console market is a closed cabal where console makers sell the machine at a loss and make up for it with locked down software where publishers pay a significant proportion of the sales to the console maker, who controls supply and dealflow with private contracts.

They might lose, but it's nothing like PC.

asimovDev4• 21 days ago

https://www.doesitplay.org

I guess this resource is relevant to the topic at hand. It lists games and whether you can play and complete them fully from disc without an internet connection

nzach• 21 days ago

I really don't understand their thinking here. Sure they want more money, I get that.

But 'physical media' is one of the reasons why a lot o people make a distinction between PC and console games. Removing this will make it easier for consumers to compare a PS5 to a Steam machine, and I don't think that is a good thing for Sony.

akmarinov2• 21 days ago

Since they're also shutting down the PS3 and Vita stores - https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/an-update-on-playsta...

That means that when the PS8 rolls around, any games you've bought for the digital-only PS6 will be unplayable, so think about that when you buy digital games when that (and for PS5 now) comes through.

akmarinov2• 21 days ago

This comes a week after Sony deleted 500+ movies from people that legally bought them

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/sony-removing-over-50...

Who's to say that the games you buy for the PS6 will be playable in a couple of years?

NDlurker• 21 days ago

And this is coming right after the news about how Sony will be deleting movies from people's accounts.

ai_ja_nai• 21 days ago

what will happen when in 10 years they will want to discontinue those games? will they be hosting them forever? how are we going to preserve all the videogames production from 2028 on?

explosionpunch• 21 days ago

The unfortunate thing is that there actually already is a government mechanism for this, in the US at least, but it's been lobbied against by the industry [0]. So like, there already is a way to do this, the same way that libraries are allowed to preserve copies of every book, but the video game industry blocks it from happening.

[0] https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/u-s-copyright-office-...

CM303• 21 days ago

Well, if Nintendo and Microsoft go the same route (and sadly, I see that being almost inevitable at some point), that's probably the end of my interest in gaming as a whole. I generally refuse to 'rent' or 'license' things on a temporary basis, and have decided in this generation that every game I'll get for Switch 2 will be a physical game on cart version, without exception.

And the reasons for that are pretty simple. I like being able to resell games when done with them. I like being able to lend them to friends, or play them on as many consoles as I want. I like the idea of having something that companies (generally) can't remove due to licensing changes or an always online requirement.

This sort of change just feels like yet another step towards constantly renting rather than owning, or streaming games and media without any control over how or when you can use it.

criddell• 21 days ago

I'm guessing you know this already, but I thought it's worth saying - some Switch 2 carts only contain a game key and not the actual game.

https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/...

iamjake648• 21 days ago

At least they clearly label them and make them easy to avoid!

arm• 21 days ago

Even that Nintendo Switch 2 Game-Key Card implementation still works better for parent’s game reselling use case (for a limited time) than outright removing the physical media option as Sony is doing.

From the link you posted:

“Game-key cards are different from regular game cards, because they don’t contain the full game data. Instead, the game-key card is your "key" to downloading the full game to your system via the internet.

After it’s downloaded, you can play the game by inserting the game-key card into your system and starting it up like a standard physical game card. An internet connection is only required when you launch the game for the first time. After this, the game can be started even without an internet connection. However, like regular physical software, the game-key card must be inserted into the system in order to play the game. A Nintendo Account is not required to download the game data.”

So lending and reselling game-key cards is still possible in the same way as physical media… at least until Nintendo’s servers stop serving the game, heh.

fg1372• 21 days ago

Unfortunately some switch 2 games are only available as digital download codes (e.g. Split Fiction) even though Xbox and PS5 physical versions are real discs. For now.

CM303• 21 days ago

Yeah I've seen those, and I deliberately haven't bought any games only available in that format.

They're theoretically a tiny bit better than download codes, but the same applies. If this is the format going forward, I'm out.

purpleflame1257• 21 days ago

GOG will let you download the offline installer for every game they sell, IIRC.

gonzalohm• 21 days ago

What about PC gaming? There are stores that sell you the game and it's yours to keep

CM303• 21 days ago

Like GOG? Yeah, I'm a bit more accepting of those, since they're DRM free. Being able to just copy and paste from one computer to another or what not is how I feel digital games should work, and how I know they don't work on console.

mywittyname4• 21 days ago

Counter-argument: I have a Steam account associated with a day 1 purchase of Half Life 2 (so, 25 years or so). Every game I've ever purchased is still available for me to download, while I lost probably 50% or more of my physical games collection.

If I'm renting those games, it sure seems like a good deal.

I do appreciate that console online market places have not historically been as well managed as Steam.

But also, GoG exists: you can buy a PC game and get a DRM-free download that you can play offline and store forever.

carra• 21 days ago

People have got too used to Steam doing things well, but don't forget that: 1) that's not the norm, and 2) there's no telling when it will change. Gabe Newell will retire not too long from now. Will the next one in charge be so lenient? Don't forget what happened with Unity, for instance.

quacker• 21 days ago

Right. License pulls happen extremely rarely for digital video games[1]

And delisting a game from a store isn't a license pull. Delisting prevents new purchases of the game, but owners of a game prior to delisting can still download and play[2]

For example, even though Sony is closing the PS3 store to new purchases after 20 years, existing owners of digital games can still download their digital copies. So my entire PSN digital library for the past 20 years is still downloadable and playable. Same for Steam.

I love GOG, and prefer a DRM-free digital copy for PC that I can backup redundantly, as it is the most future-proof option, IMO. Physical media can get damaged or lost and digital storefronts won't last forever (even Steam could shut down one day). Even my hard drives can fail and lose data. But even so, when I purchase a digital license for a game, I have good confidence it will be playable for years and years to come.

---

1. Of course, many online multiplayer games have had their servers shut down, after which the game becomes effectively unplayable. But this is a separate problem that isn't solved by choosing physical over digital media.

2. As long as the digital storefront exists and as long the console hardware still works, if I purchased it for a console.

kjkjadksj5• 21 days ago

Your library on steam is tied to you. When you die, it is gone. Your children or family using it is against terms of use.

NoPicklez2• 21 days ago

I agree with this as a PC gamer.

Every game I have purchased on Steam still exists to be played, apart from those where multiplayer servers may have diminished naturally.

If I had these games as physical copies I'd need to have lugged around multiple boxes of games of which I'd probably have lost or damaged the disks.

saghm6• 21 days ago

The other reason that a PC is a bit different for this is that the backwards compatibility for console generations is almost always going to be worse than the ability to run games (even if they came out on previous versions of Windows) on whatever the current OS you have installed. Plus, even when stuff doesn't work by default, you'll still likely have a much easier time modding it to get things working than on a console. For years before they re-released the older Sims games on Steam, there was forum post where someone had meticulously documented a process for working around various issues that would crop up when trying to install the Sims 3 on a modern version of Windows, and even though it was error prone and the game crashed a lot, it still worked (and tbh the game apparently just crashed a lot back in the day too, so it was arguably just being true to the original behavior).

ksjaixjwjx3• 21 days ago

I agree with you wholeheartedly, however, even buying physical games nowadays is a meaningless practice (one that I still do, mind you, physical over digital, that’s me any day). But with the sheer amount of updates, online checks, DLCs and whatnots, our physical media is nothing more than a pretty case to display on the shelves. They can pull the plug on all of that nowadays just as easily as any digital media.

The ideal solution would be an industry-wide change where games should always be required to be able to play as sold on disc—pipe dream though.

Gigachad4• 21 days ago

Even before the era where physical copies became nothing more than license keys, the copy of the game on the disk was a buggy 1.0 release that was expected to get a day one update. So if the download servers go offline, you’d never be able to download the updates to fix it.

ytoawwhra92• 21 days ago

One thing I've noticed with other streaming media is that it keeps changing in often subtle ways that I just don't appreciate.

Albums will be replaced with remastered, "deluxe", or anniversary editions with different versions of the same songs.

Movies and TV shows will have different edits which aren't communicated. Songs from the soundtrack get replaced when digital rights expire. Jokes get censored[0].

None of this is communicated by the streaming platforms. You only notice it when you go to listen/watch to that media and realise it's not what you're familiar with. But you've already sold your CDs & DVDs so you have to take what you're given.

I'm sure this will start happening to games soon, if it hasn't already.

[0] https://i.redd.it/rvghujccsap21.png

oliyoung2• 21 days ago

Microsoft go the same route

There's a reason Game Pass and the Series S exist, they just hadn't had the courage to say the quiet part loud yet.

account4224• 21 days ago

If you care about owning what you buy then why accept consoles in the first place?

ihaveone• 21 days ago

Sony just literally stole 500+ movies from PlayStations last week.

jmclnx• 21 days ago

Didn't Sony get in trouble for deleting movies from devices ? I guess they want to do the same for their console too.

So people should just stop buying games that are not on phyical media. THat will get Sony to change fast.

guyomes• 21 days ago

Some libraries let you borrow Playstation video games. I wonder if those libraries will have access to a system that allows people to borrow digital video games.

Pooge2• 21 days ago

Lol, no

tavavex2• 21 days ago

Libraries? Where we're* going, we won't need libraries!

* 'we' - book, film and gaming industries

ProllyInfamous4• 21 days ago

I have a PS4pro; technically I also already own a PS5 (kid-brother arrangement; not currently in my possession). When he gets his PS6, I'll get my PS5 back... then still keep the PS4 (always been offline: RDR2; GTA5; &c).

If Sony doesn't offer GTA6 on disc, offline: I'll sell the PS5, too. I just got a 5070Ti, so it's probably back to PC-MasterRace I'll go...

Reasons like this [Sony's 2028 disc-stop] are exactly why I won't be purchasing a PS6. At least (in Sony's defense) they're telling us oldtimers about this now, as opposed to on the day of [stopping disc retail sales].

tapoxi3• 21 days ago

Rockstar has already announced there's no disk for GTA 6, if you buy a physical copy it's just a download code.

artisinal8• 21 days ago

So not only will a PS5 Pro and GTA6 Ultimate combo cost me €1000, I’m not even getting a disc?

I was planning to purchase a PS5 for GTA6 after the first trailer but I’m not sure about that now.

sixdimensional• 21 days ago

You're assuming that you'll still be able to get a personal computer in the future. With the rate that we are losing the ability to purchase new affordable equipment, I am not sure how much longer personal computers will remain a thing except for hobbyists, and if they will get much more expensive.

ProllyInfamous4• 20 days ago

My goodoleboi 1080Ti (equivalent) just gave up the goose... so I did the only honorable thing and futureproofed myself into a 5070Ti.

Godspeed, good generatively-transformed futures - may you forever remain pretrained...

Pooge2• 21 days ago

I can't wait to see the impact this will have on game prices due to the monopoly Sony is creating on selling PlayStation games.

Thanks for the fish but enshittification is only getting started.

wprstw• 21 days ago

The PSN store does have sales often and digital games can be up to 90% off even AAA titles. This news has me wondering how the supply of used physical copies drives game prices lower. It's possible that eliminating physical releases gives Sony the pricing power to eliminate sales, or at least cut back from the huge sales they do currently.

somepleb• 21 days ago

Wow. Looks like I'll be skipping the PS6 and exclusively gaming on PC.

Fire-Dragon-DoL3• 21 days ago

That will put them in direct competition with Steam, though. Suddenly their cheaper console will result in way higher cost for the lifetime of the console.

Killing the used market is a very bad idea. Remember what happened with xbox?

kouteiheika• 21 days ago

That will put them in direct competition with Steam, though. Suddenly their cheaper console will result in way higher cost for the lifetime of the console.

...funny that so many people were complaining about the recent Steam Machine not being worth it compared to just getting a PS5; maybe now it's not that bad of a deal after all, huh?

Fire-Dragon-DoL3• 21 days ago

It still costs double a PlayStation, but yeah, I just bought one. I have kids and a big Steam library, so I am actually saving money with that over a console

bhelkey4• 21 days ago

When buying a gaming console, I imagine folks think more about the upfront cost ($600 for PS5 vs $1,050 for steam machine) as opposed to the total cost of ownership.

The steam machine may be cheaper in the long run once you consider:

* Playing PlayStation games online costs $11/month.

* PlayStation games tend to be more expensive than steam games.

somenameforme10• 21 days ago

Steam isn't the Steam machine. If somebody's on a budget a PC you could get for a couple hundred is way more than enough to run nearly all games on Steam; $600 could get you a beast of a machine. I don't really know who the market for the Steam Machine is, because that price is kind of insane. I suppose we'll see how things look in a year or two there.

0x45710• 21 days ago

I never understood why disc versions of current gent console exists at all. Don't @ me about internet speeds: even if game does come on a disc, day 1 patches got out of hand before this generation was launched or in works.

artisinal8• 21 days ago

For me: resale value and being able to buy used games for cheap.

simjnd• 21 days ago

Exactly this. Today I can get a physical copy at release date for ~10 EUR cheaper than on the Playstation Store, then resell it for 3/4 of the price, or lend it to a friend easily.

Everything about digital-only is anti-consumer. Games will be more expensive with fewer and less important discount, the second-hand market will be dead, and so will be sharing games to friends so they can experience it for free.

Nintendo has implemented lending a digital game, but with arbitrary limits (you HAVE to be in physical proximity for the lending process, it lasts a maximum of two weeks, and you can lend 3 / borrow 1 game at a time). Sony and Microsoft don't let you do that.

_rwo• 21 days ago

resale value and being able to buy used games for cheap

This is exactly how I do it - I don't have much time for gaming as much as I would like to so I just buy one game at a time (~90% of the time it's used one), finish it, sell it and possibly look for another one; as the catalogue is so big there is no point of hoarding games

I used to own xbox and had digital collection of games - most of them I never even started (much easier to hoard stuff when it's digital); I don't have that console anymore and I was left with a useless collection of stuff I don't own tied to my online account - never doing that again

Overall I hate this news so much, I probably will give up with 'modern' gaming altogether

j454• 21 days ago

If the console is diskless, it will be the last console I ever buy from that company. Sucks to say that about Sony but this is an incredibly out of touch move, that will always linger in the back of gamers minds that it could be tried again in the future if rolled back.

Disc consoles are superior in nearly every way:

- Disc consoles also have a hard drive, best of both worlds.

- You own the physical game. You don't own the digital version, just a license to it, which can be revoked, and deleted.

- You can trade games in 2 seconds.

- People can collect and play hundreds of games over the years on an moments notice, not waiting to download something. Games do try to compete to have the most of the players time, but it's not how all gamers play.

- Patches are normal for all games, and patches are usually smaller sizes than the entire game.

- Vintage is kind of popular now. None of those vintage systems, the original PS1/2/3/4 or Nintendos would be able to be experienced easily or at all if the physical media still didn't exist and survive. Digital platforms disappear when the system is EOL. Emulators can help, but it's a specialty and niche crowd. Handing a Nintendo to kids is something else.

0x45710• 21 days ago

You own the physical game.

When it comes to consoles - you do not.

integricho2• 21 days ago

Because Sony and all digital publishers with the exception of GOG are lying thieves. This is just another step in getting rid of ownership, and we are too naive and passive to stand up against it. Physical copies are a must to retain any sense of ownership over purchased games. If this is done, it must be forbidden to show "Purchase" on playstation store as that implies ownership,which it will never be. Also just look at the parallel issue that happened exactly these days with Sony deleting purchased movies from libraries. The same will happen with games. This is legalized theft.

0x45710• 21 days ago

I saw a photo of Destiny 2 for same at Walmart. First, game is Free-to-Play for years now, second version of a game that is on that disc cannot be played.

Tell me how does physical disc protect ownership? Then compare it to my digital downloads in steam where I can just copy game files between computers (if it's DRM-free)

Also just look at the parallel issue that happened exactly these days with Sony deleting purchased movies from libraries. The same will happen with games.

I don't think Sony is much to blame here. They lost rights to distribute that content, so they can't distribute it. Blame copyright laws, not Sony.

garciansmith2• 21 days ago

One reason is control. You control the physical media. You can sell it, you can buy used games, let people borrow them, etc.

This affects less people, but there are also many who like collecting them. Physical objects are nice, especially if you've been keeping all your old games for old consoles.

Which also ties into control of course: you can still play your games, even if the companies that made them and the console no longer exist, buy old games from retro shops, buy new games for old consoles from new indie devs, etc.

0x45710• 21 days ago

One reason is control. You control the physical media. You can sell it, you can buy used games, etc.

Unless that game ties to your account and disc becomes useless, or you game need a day 1 patch or day 412 patch or game is online or disc actually just a dummy that lets you download the game. Yes, the (in)convince of physical media totally worth it just so can sell what I got for $40/60/70 for $4 store credit at gamestop. All to have less control than I have from digital download from steam or GOG on PC.

j454• 21 days ago

One huge downside for this is allowing kids to understand how things work.

A digital delivery world does not teach the same way as children learning to put a DVD into a player, hitting play, and understanding how things get somewhere.

Physical game disks, were also about community, gathering.

This is surprising because Sony obsessed over the isolation it was creating when it released the walkman.

0x45710• 21 days ago

A digital delivery world does not teach the same way as children learning to put a DVD into a player, hitting play, and understanding how things get somewhere.

What did putting a disc in disc reader thought you?

This is surprising because Sony obsessed over the isolation it was creating when it released the walkman.

And they have the only online storefront on PlayStation, therefore 2nd-hand market is gone. So what is surprising here?

j454• 21 days ago

Good point about the second-hand market disappearing digitally, if anything it might renew efforts to jailbreak consoles.

The disc is a step along the way, from record players, to reels, to cassettes, to video tapes, to discs.

Instead of experiencing changes forward, it can be experienced step by step backwards.

Much like Gen Z are rediscovering the 90's, along with single use devices, music players, dedicated cameras, etc, and hopefully remember some people got to experience it as their real present life.

germandiago• 21 days ago

Bye bye then. I love physical collection. If I buy it, it is my copy, not my provider's copy for rent.

sehw2• 21 days ago

We use M-disc for archival. Fuck Sony.

charcircuit• 21 days ago

Now Sony can take away your entire game collection at any time. If you get flagged by some random AI system and your account gets flagged you can kiss goodbye to hundreds of dollars worth of games you have.

fhn• 21 days ago

just in time for Sony to sell you a digital game and delete it at their whim

ex-aws-dude• 21 days ago

This sucks but I guess PC has been like this for a long time and no one seems to care/talk about it

LetsGetTechnicl• 21 days ago

Gaming is in a really tough spot right now, and it's not being made easier by the drain AI has put on chip and RAM prices. It's absolutely insane that Sony and Microsoft have had to raise prices on their years-old consoles.

cbolton• 21 days ago

I wonder if piracy will eventually fill for physical releases of movies and games. It might be a fun project to make an online store game work on blue ray with nice packaging...

dominictorresmo2• 21 days ago

In Brazil we have some websites that do this with old console games. Like this one: https://oldgame.com.br/

henriquecm83• 21 days ago

This is really nice, some even come with a manual that looks like the original.

dominictorresmo2• 21 days ago

You'll own nothing and be happy

MrGilbert2• 21 days ago

This will hopefully backfire. As soon as there are no more physical copies of games available, Sony will run into the same situation that Apple is currently, which will make them a Gatekeeper in the EU. That will eventually mean that they need to open their platform for third-party-vendors. But, yeah. It will be bad for a few years at least, I'm afraid.

jwitthuhn• 21 days ago

Why would physical copies matter for this? All physical games have to be signed by Sony anyways so it's not like a third-party can produce them.

testfrequency• 21 days ago

Retailer exclusion. Monopoly behavior. Total market control of goods.

raro11• 21 days ago

They'll be forced to embed alternative stores in the PlayStation.

I won't wait for it though. After 28 years of always having a Sony at home, it ends here for me at the age of 35.

MrGilbert2• 21 days ago

That doesn’t matter. It’s about the end-users perspective in that case. You can sell physical copies in physical stores or online on competitive pricing. The main point is that the customer has a choice. As soon as the physical discs vanish, they won’t. And that’s where gatekeeping starts.

comandillos• 21 days ago

It backfired with the PSP Go. It will backfire again. No-go I would buy a console without disks. Sorry. No.

zuzululu• 21 days ago

If buying isnt owning a physical disc

then burning dics isnt stealing

sleepybrett• 21 days ago

total capture of gaming by cloud streaming by 3030. You thought you owned that thing you paid for? pshaw.

yieldcrv• 21 days ago

Sid Shuman (he/him)

Ironic to be excluding the same percent of the population as the population he is being inclusive for

I find this comment substantive in that it may spark introspection by the decision makers in his or similar positions

azraellzanella• 21 days ago

I bet people who bought the PS5 with a disc reader will be really happy...

1-62• 21 days ago

I wonder why Sony or Microsoft don't try to 'game' the used market by becoming the used marketplace for virtual copies. They can charge a commission for every game that changes hands.

hootz• 21 days ago

Why would someone ever buy new, if that was the case?

1-62• 21 days ago

I'm sure they can think of some things to make new copies a differentiator such as DLC's and perks in game.

Also, 'new games' eventually get discounted as the title gets old. It's one way of keeping money in the game store ecosystem constantly changing hands.

postexitus2• 21 days ago

Maybe introduce virtual scratches? Or like maybe blur the textures a bit every time it's played?

bhelkey4• 21 days ago

Because if they don't offer a used virtual marketplace, everyone has to buy new games directly from them.

A used game market provides downwards pressure on new games.

AJRF3• 21 days ago

I wonder if the leadership at Playstation and Xbox understands they are killing themselves.

guax3• 21 days ago

They're not. The tide changed once gaming became a mainstream activity and a common item on lots of households. Most people want to play the same games. In Brazil there are play stations that never saw any other game other than FIFA whatever year. And people will be happy to pay the subscription to keep doing that. Sony loves those people more than anyone that was loyal before because we are too demanding.

AJRF3• 20 days ago

If you don't think Playstation and Xbox are dying I would suggest looking at their performance and statements from the past 24 months.

Xbox hardware sales down 30%, 5% on services and revenue. Sony PlayStation operating revenue is down -41%.

These are not healthy businesses, and the future looks even more bleak.

Years away from new hardware sales, and the franchise front is desperately bad - which means when hardware eventually does land, the drivers to buy them don't look like they are going to be there.

I'd love to bet against you on these businesses dying.

markus_zhang2• 21 days ago

That ship sailed and was sunk many years ago. I'll educate my kid to play real games from decades ago, and if he really wants to rent games he can work his ass off to buy them.

Same reason I prefer GoG over Steam -- at least I can download the installers and store them, and there is no string attached.

autoexec• 21 days ago

Same reason I prefer GoG over Steam -- at least I can download the installers and store them, and there is no string attached.

Mostly. GoG sells games with DRM now and they don't tell players about it in advance either. Not only are there many multiplayer games with DRM on GoG but there are also single player games. For one example see https://www.gog.com/en/game/cult_of_the_lamb

I have no idea why they allowed that, maybe it happened when they changed owners, but I hope it doesn't keep spreading.

markus_zhang2• 21 days ago

Ah that was said. At least I only purchase classic games.

bromuk• 21 days ago

How times change https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSIFh8ICaA

dtech2• 21 days ago

Microsoft just tried a generation too early. They could have gotten away with it this gen, and assuming 2028 will be start of next gen it looks like next gen it will go over without a fight.

mrandish3• 21 days ago

assuming 2028 will be start of next gen

Estimates for next gen used to be 27 or 28. With the RAM shortage, end of 28 is considered the earliest.

complianceowll2• 21 days ago

Modernity, ladies and gentlemen.

stego-tech• 21 days ago

My household has been tied to the gaming industry in some form for decades. We’ve owned at least one of every console and handheld during that time, and a myriad of games for each. Collectors Editions, physical copies, digital if there was no other way or it was on sale.

We all agreed that we’re done with this. Nintendo gets a pass for making physical carts, but we’re done with paying full price to rent content in general. That also means no PS6, no Xbox-Whateverthefuck, and avoiding Game Key Cards where possible on Switch 2 (or buying them used).

If it’s not on GOG or Itch.io free of DRM, or there’s no physical copy available for sale, then we’ll wait for a deep discount on Steam or use our family library instead.

Fuck this noise, we’re out.

mrandish3• 21 days ago

Between DRM, DLC, mandatory connectivity and the end of physical media, the future will look back on this era as the 'dark age' of digital gaming history. Maintaining activation servers, cloud storage and digital delivery costs money. If it doesn't disappear when the title reaches EOL, it certainly does when the company is gone or shifts business models. And draconian copyright laws create legal jeopardy around orphaned games from long-dead companies while the DMCA makes it illegal to remove DRM.

We simply have no way to preserve games.

mywittyname4• 21 days ago

For now, it's still possible to crack consoles and extract the games from disk. However, we are probably approaching an era where encryption / trusted computing is so good that future systems will never be cracked.

However, the flip side is that so many games are built using common game engines, and receive multi-platform releases. So there's a broader surface area for potential preservation. Maybe the PS6 version is permanently dead, but the PC version lives on.

cjk• 21 days ago

Sony in particular is doubling down on platform exclusives again. I was waiting for Ghost of Yōtei to come out on PC, but Sony cancelled the port. We're well and truly fucked without physical media for exclusives like this.

logicchains• 21 days ago

However, we are probably approaching an era where encryption / trusted computing is so good that future systems will never be cracked.

If AI lives up to its promise then in 5-10 years it should be possible (and affordable) to just point an AI at the screen and let it clone all the graphics, then have it implement the engine.

sikim• 21 days ago

encryption / trusted computing is so good that future systems will never be cracked.

I highly doubt this. The platforms that didn't have any jailbreaking scenes weren't because the devices were so secure; it was because there was not enough demand for it. If given enough time, there will always be hacks and bypasses just like Denuvo or hypervisor bypass like the recent hack.

i1856511• 21 days ago

Yes, those things cost money, but the money that we want to make, we want to make it today. And this is how we make it. What economic incentive is there for preservation?

(/takes off devil's advocate hat and puts on flame suit)

wtetzner7• 21 days ago

The economic incentives will only come when enough people stop buying these kinds of games. Whether or not that will ever happen remains to be seen.

slg• 21 days ago

What economic incentive is there for art museums? Maybe society shouldn't be designed primarily around economic incentives.

madrox• 21 days ago

Especially when you have a passionate community willing to work for free to preserve things, am I right?

RajT882• 21 days ago

Nintendo has shown the way, for better or worse.

Tightly managed first party IP with a lot of retro throwback games/compilations/crossovers/virtual console and an overly aggressive copyright approach to managing what people do with their IP (even if fair use).

Nintendo plays the long game. They do not compete directly with Sony, Microsoft and the like.

downrightmike• 21 days ago

Game companies should have to submit full copies of everything to run the game , servers and clients to the Library of Congress or Smithsonian for preservation

tokai3• 21 days ago

They should do legal deposit in the country the game is developed. Some places they have to. The Hitman series is in the collection of national library of Denmark.

canthonytucci4• 21 days ago

Why?

Is there a lower form of “art” than always online AAA garbage?

Im not going to lose any sleep over _COD 75: More of the Same Bullshit_ becoming lost media

gchamonlive• 21 days ago

Just these big titles. The indie scene is thriving really well. I'd say let AAA die, we don't really need massively expensive cultural production to enable us to tell stories to each other

fcsp3• 21 days ago

Absolute shame, but to be fair the games that ship on disc without any patches are often in no shape to actually be played, so without the corresponding digital patch infrastructure it's already kinda problematic.

Obviously, preservation is in no way in the interest of the companies, they just want to keep selling you the same game over and over as remakes and remasters ad infinitum

BillFranklin• 21 days ago

I reckon Sony get a few more years of even more profitable rent seeking before the EU regulates them like Apple’s App Store and forces a game purchase to be valid on all platforms it’s playable on.

pcchristie• 21 days ago

What would that look like? Genuinely not sure what you're suggesting. Do you mean a PS4 purchase means you have it for life and they must support it (or at least not revoke it)? Or you also get it on PS3/4/5 (as applicable)? Or you get it on PC and Xbox too?

BloondAndDoom• 21 days ago

I feel like dark age of gaming started with MTX and since then it’s only getting worse. The fact that we have capable hardware like iPad without a very limited gaming ecosystem system itself shows it.

We have so many problems with the gaming unfortunately, in addition to what you already said, MTX, gambling disguised as loot boxes, console and store exclusives, AAA pricing, lack of creativity in the AAA market etc

m463• 21 days ago

We simply have no way to preserve games.

You can spend your money on GOG.com.

account4224• 21 days ago

Don't forget that a lot of games these days are "live services" that significantly change over their lifetime. What's left to preserve after the developer/publisher gets bored with the game is not the same game that the initial players experienced.

VectorLock2• 21 days ago

They want this even more than they want $100 games. Rockstar not shipping discs for GTA6 and PlayStation ending disc production is the perfect two pronged approach.

Honestly gamers have been stomaching this for decades with Steam so Sony wants in on some of that sweet sweet action as well.

overfeed4• 21 days ago

They want this even more than they want $100 games

Killing the secondary market for games hasten how soon they can sell $100 games.

somenameforme10• 21 days ago

I don't think this is really comparable at all. Sony is trying to kill off the used game market in hope of being able to coerce people into paying more. Steam is basically one giant used game market in that you get stuff constantly for 50-90% off.

And pirating stuff off Steam is generally extremely trivial, so it's a largely coercion-free business-customer relationship, and I think that's a large part of why they're doing so well. People like to support businesses that treat them well. And for those that don't? Well I think there's a reason that video game piracy is plummeting, while film/media/streaming piracy is surging.

Jiro2• 21 days ago

Prices on Steam are set arbitrarily. Getting things at "50-90% off" could just as well be described as sometimes getting them at normal price and otherwise getting them at 2-10 times normal price.

It's not a used game market unless you can transfer it to other people an unlimited number of times without the original company getting a say.

VectorLock2• 18 days ago

Steam is basically one giant used game market in that you get stuff constantly for 50-90% off.

I don't think thats comparable at all. You're not buying used games, you're buying discounted games. Sony can discount games too. Steam doesn't have a secondary market either.

We just seem to trust Valve more to not rugpull our purchases.

djhworld• 21 days ago

I feel the physical disc died a long time ago, most games require heavy patching to fix bugs or download new content, or even in some cases download whole portions of the game, so they rely on PS servers to even function anyway. The only advantage they have is you can sell them or buy used.

I know there's a strong desire for physical media, but games are not the same as movies or music and haven't been for a long time.

Jigsy6• 21 days ago

I don't own a PS5, I do own a PS4 however and still buy physical copies of games - some of which of late have been secondhand from CeX - because 1. I don't like renting content, 2. I hate DRM, 3. physical copies are harder to censor.

Sony recently expunged copies of movies people had bought, so I honestly don't trust them not to do the same with games.

Also, they announced the closure of the PS3 store, so that's even less reason to trust that I won't be able to reobtain the games I've bought digitally in the future...

ivanmontillam• 21 days ago

Though you have a physical copy of the game, I don't discount a future where a console refuses to load a physical copy of the game because DRM impedes it. Much like when short-lived TLS certificates expire on their own, even by being offline.

Physical copies of games have in their EULA that the game is licensed to you, so theoretically they could still disable it.

Precedent? BlackBerry phones refused to connect to WiFi if you didn't pay for your mobile data plan. It became a 2G brick.

zerocrates• 21 days ago

They have easier options. For one, just don't put a drive in the newer ones.

Jigsy6• 21 days ago

Actually, thinking about this now, I tried to play PS1 games on my PSP about two years ago, but couldn't because they needed to be (re-)authenticated.

Sadly, there's NO way to authenticate PS1/PSP games on PSP anymore. Even connecting it to the PS3 via USB and trying to authenticate it didn't work.

(At least PS1 games still work on PS3 for now, though.)

Gigachad4• 21 days ago

I think about how much hardware and software is tied in to internet activation or fragile software like ios apps that need constant updating or they will be delisted.

All of this stuff is just starting to be shut down and deactivated now, the amount of ewaste is going to be massive. I now refuse to buy anything that requires an app or the interenet to use.

jeandrek4• 21 days ago

Supposedly you can still redownload your PSN purchases directly on the PSP itself (log in with a "Device Setup Password")? Unless like me you have a PSP Street, which sadly has no Wi-Fi.

ksjaixjwjx3• 21 days ago

Physical copies aren’t harder to censor nowadays, unfortunately. All they have to do is push a “you can’t start this game without the latest update, and the latest update is unavailable” update and it’s gonzo.

complianceowll2• 21 days ago

I'm done with companies whose only goal is maximization of profit via manipulative, engineered outcomes.

Lammy• 21 days ago

They also changed the way DRM works for digital games purchased after March 2026. It used to be a permanent license at purchase time and is now a temporary license that requires online check for the duration of the refund period with the claimed reason of combating “refund fraud”.

It's pretty hard for me to believe that going through the trouble to set up an entirely new Playstation account, buy a game, refund it, and have the dedication to stay offline forever to keep the game could possibly have been a widespread behavior. It will obviously be easy for them to ratchet that into online check required every 30 days once the current thing is out of the news cycle: https://kotaku.com/playstation-drm-ps4-ps5-support-30-days-o...

zuInnp• 21 days ago

I hope for the EU to come after Sony. Before you could argue that you could buy games as a disc and just play them. It of course was a monopoly before, but now it is pretty clear

Animats• 21 days ago

Note related article yesterday: "Sony Deletes 551 Movies PlayStation Owners Paid For". Seems to be part of a general anti-ownership policy.

The lord giveth, and the lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the lord.

mring33621• 21 days ago

Anyone with shitty internet, have fun!

gxs• 21 days ago

The sad thing is that the knee jerk reaction here is going to be “omg just vote with your wallet, don’t buy”

But the truth is it’s bullshit and this attitude that companies should be able to do whatever they want because it’s a free market is getting so tiresome

Clearly there is agreement that things can be taken too far - as soon as one single consumer protection/anti competitive/monopoly preventing law exists, you’ve admitted those types of laws are needed

So then you’re only arguing about degrees and companies shouldn’t be allowed to do shit that harms consumers this way

On the surface this seems reasonable - it’s inevitable - discs aren’t going to hang around forever

But this goes back to what it means to own something and we’re all being relegated to serfs who don’t own shit

You wanna get rid of discs? Fine, but give me an alternative so that I still own what I buy and can resell it at will

overfeed4• 21 days ago

A lot of people - rightly - pilloried Stadia for requiring a subscription and forcing gamers to "buy" games. It turns out Stadia was 1.5 generations ahead of its time.

Google - give us Stadia 2 in 2027, you cowards.

benguild• 21 days ago

This sucks. It’s better to have physical copies for retro gaming down the road

napolux• 21 days ago

i’m a console gamer from 10+ years, bear my stupid question

isn’t this the same with steam? can i buy a game on steam and copy and use it on another pc i own without downloading it from steam again?

chrisjj2• 21 days ago

can i buy a game on steam

No you can't. When you pay for a Steam game, you rent not buy it.

tokai3• 21 days ago

Not true. The wast majority of games can be backed up locally and reinstalled indefinitely without online access.

yumraj• 21 days ago

This is an opportunity for MS to make a contrarian bet and keep supporting physical media. IMO they will benefit from acquiring gamers who want to keep using physical media.

Though, I think they will follow what Sony is doing.

catapart• 21 days ago

I remember having a goal of eventually publishing on a Nintendo and/or PlayStation console, when I first got in to game dev. Now they've both gotten so far away from gaming as I knew it that I would be embarrassed to publish on either company's consoles.

Now my focus is to be able to publish high quality games that run well on those anbernic/miyoo/ayn-style handheld devices. Those things are actually priced for consumers and the ones that have card slots provide a method for physical media. And of course, using those as a floor, the games could always upscale for more powerful machines.

I'm just so tired of this continual march toward investor appeasement at the expense of the consumers. They're games. They're entertainment. For people to play. Not how I want them to play them; how people want to play them. People shouldn't have to have an account to play them. They shouldn't have to invest a month of rent to play them. They shouldn't have to worry about me revoking their ability to play them. It's just so frustrating to see how far we've gotten from "drop in a quarter and enjoy". The industry is in sad shape and getting sadder by the day.

t1234s• 21 days ago

My last unit was a PS2 many years ago. Back then you could bring your disc over to a friends house and play on their PS2. Is that still a thing people do?

oybng• 21 days ago

No, all games require updates, they do not function without them

vel0city8• 21 days ago

Back then it seemed like a lot of the big games actually bothered having local multiplayer support.

Varelion• 21 days ago

This move, executed when storage prices are as outrageous as they are? Again, class warfare is being waged one-sidedly.

metrognome• 21 days ago

To play devil's advocate here, imagine a world where the exact opposite has occurred: physical media (CDs specifically) is the norm, and there's no DRM, so the raw data can be copied right off of it. In this world, scalpers scoop up all available inventory of physical media from local retailers, consumers pay a premium to them for the original product, the scalpers sell cheaper copies where the game binary has been modified to insert advertisements or mine cryptocurrency, out of the woodwork appears a cottage industry of companies offering services to modify game binaries and connect them to the ad networks and crypto exchanges. The scalper gets a cut, the gamer gets a cheaper game, everyone is happy.

xpct• 21 days ago

Yes, phasing out physical discs is predatory. I'd like to also add that buying a console which can only run vetted games has already been predatory, and digital games are only the next natural step.

madhacker• 21 days ago

PS6, see ya wouldn't want to be ya. Sony u can keep your crappy console.

animal_spirits• 21 days ago

I think this is good. We don't need more e-waste for disks that get used for a year and thrown away. The games can live on a tiny hard disk that takes a fraction of the resources to produce.

junon3• 21 days ago

Not really. If the services that grant you access to your own hard disk ever go under, you lose it. You do not have access to the files. You're effectively paying for a licence to play the game for a finite amount of time, for the same (if not higher) price that physical media used to cost.

fcsp3• 21 days ago

Great buildup on Sony's side to gain trust in this move in the gaming community ahead of this announcement when just this week they again pulled hundreds of "purchased" movies from customer's libraries without refund, reminding everyone that digital content is rented, not owned.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/sony-erases-digital-...

Marcan• 21 days ago

And don't forget closing the PS3 and Vita Playstation stores, which they announced at the same time:

https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/an-update-on-playsta...

This is a weird marketing strategy. They must feel free to do as they please since they know consumers are trapped.

dogwalker50003• 21 days ago

they know consumers are trapped.

Gaming is a luxury good. We can all just walk away.

fcsp3• 21 days ago

Well it's just for new sales, access to purchased content remains "for the foreseeable future". How long the future is foreseeable for Sony? Might want to ask the Concord team maybe.

snovymgodym• 21 days ago

I mean the PS3 was launched in 2006.

The fact that the PS store has still been supported on the console for this long is kind of incredible.

neilv2• 21 days ago

This is a weird marketing strategy. They must feel free to do as they please since they know consumers are trapped.

I've been on PlayStation family since PS2, and used to think I was married to it, with my game library and my player character stuff/gear/creations in various games.

But the platform no longer lets me play many of those games, anyway, whether due to console gen or server shutdowns. And nobody cares about my PlayStation gamer score or trophies. So there's little tying me to the platform for the next game I buy.

Sony, please don't make me move to "Linux" gaming, via Valve/GOG/Epic (since I don't want to endorse Microsoft hegemony over the low-level gaming "standard"). PlayStation should be a beloved brand and platform that can be trusted to keep games working -- not one that throws away history, nostalgia, and community. You already impose rules on publishers, so this is within your power.

Related: Project Aces, I was fairly highly ranked in a couple of the Ace Combat installments, but when you shut down the servers, you took away what I'd invested in. I reluctantly bought AC7, but found I didn't have the heart to invest in it, just to have it taken away again, and I won't be buying AC8 nor anything else in the franchise.

PaulHoule3• 21 days ago

I made a decision to get away from other consoles and only invest in Steam a while ago. In the 2010s I was a big Vita player but Sony backed away from investing in the Vita and I saw that the kind of Japanese games I liked were coming out on Steam so I sold my Vita.

II2II2• 21 days ago

They must feel free to do as they please since they know consumers are trapped.

My take is somewhat difference: Sony is offloading the cost of their prior decisions onto consumers.

For things like movies, they should have negotiated a contract where sold copies are sold copies and cannot be revoked (even if their right to sell/rent copies lapse). For things like the PS3 store, it cannot be run indefinitely. That said, from my understanding, the authorization keys expire if the clock battery on the PS3 dies. That should not be permitted.

I don't think that this is a "do as they please" situation. I think it is a case of bad decisions being made in the past. For some, like the movies, there isn't much they can do to fix the problem after the fact. There is absolutely no incentive for the rights holders to let consumers continue to access previously purchased content (especially with Sony taking all of the blame). Even something like offering refunds to people who purchased the movies is problematic. In all probability, all of their contracts have similar terms. They would have to refund everyone for every purchase in the long run.

Other stuff, like access to PS3 purchases, are likely fixable. The question is: where is the incentive? They could create a patch for old consoles, but it would only affect a small number of customers who still have those consoles. (Worse yet, it wouldn't do anything for those who stored their consoles in the closet -- only to pull it out later to discover the authorization keys are invalid.) The math probably doesn't work out for them so they aren't going to do it.

reactordev• 21 days ago

Sony is dead to me now.

pseudosavant2• 21 days ago

And it doesn't have to be this way. I started buying Xbox games digitally for the Xbox 360, and with their backwards compatibility that ended up being a great choice. My current XSX plays games for the last 3 generations of digital purchases I've made.

raxxorraxor• 21 days ago

In the long run I think consoles might get replaced to "consolerized" PCs (they are already technically, but I guess we might see more advanced software environments like steam boxes).

Neither Sony nor Microsoft had a consumer orientation and they will likely loose against the competition.

Physical media was a method to have a "plug & play" game, although that changed in recent times. With that I don't think classic consoles can compete, especially with their new price points.

binsquare• 21 days ago

Sony also used to mock digital only approaches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSIFh8ICaA

Now at a time when memory and storage prices are at an all time high - they pull a move that directly hurts the customer.

Dylan16807• 21 days ago

The storage price isn't really an issue. For the average game it's probably $2 of storage on a hard drive when it's not currently installed on your console. And digital versions see discounts more often.

I'd say screwing up ownership is a much bigger issue.

donkey_oaty• 21 days ago

I remember when the ps3 released Sony mocked controller rumble as a 'last gen feature'. Now their haptic feedback is the only distinguishing feature of their console.

musicale3• 20 days ago

Official PlayStation Used Game Instructional Video

this is how you don't share games on playstation :(

rdschouw• 21 days ago

Also let us not forget the rootkit malware Sony BMG distributed on their audio CDs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootk...

MoonWalk• 21 days ago

If you hadn't brought that up, I would have.

Sony should not be let off the hook for its offensive (essentially criminal) behavior.

I won't even review Sony's decades-long efforts to undermine industry standards...

minitech• 21 days ago

Digitally rented content is rented. My music via Bandcamp/iTunes, my games from their developers’ websites/itch.io/GOG, and my ebooks are owned (for the purposes of the “owned”/“rented” distinction people are making here). Not all physical things are owned, either. Wrong distinction. We can ask for better with respect to digital.

musicale3• 20 days ago

This is a very good point. DRM is not the same as digital.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of clarity though around reselling digital downloads the way there is with physical media (first sale doctrine, etc.)

pseudosavant2• 21 days ago

The sad reality of DRM is that only rentals and subscriptions can honestly be done with it. You can guarantee access to a subscription library (Netflix, Xbox Game Pass, etc) for 30 days. You cannot guarantee access 30+ years in the future. And selling access like that is just a lie.

mchusma• 21 days ago

I do think if you are claiming something is not permanent you should basically have to make some specific claims about the timeliness of it (eg you can use it for at least 10 years or your money back).

secretslol• 21 days ago

Utterly brazen they are. You'd think they'd be keeping a low profile after the pulled all of those movies, but no - they are doubling down on the asshattery.

ChrisRR2• 21 days ago

It probably reduces the amount of media attention if they do it all at once instead of spreading it out over months

sylware• 21 days ago

This is fraud: they all know what 'to buy' means to own and they are abusing people with it.

A less scammy terminology must be setup then.

animitronix• 21 days ago

Lol "shifting customer prefs" my ass. Will never buy another Sony product until this is reversed.

self_awareness• 21 days ago

Well, if people would prefer physical discs over digital distribution and would insist of having a proof of ownership, I guess Sony wouldn't have a choice but to prefer physical distribution.

But since customers don't care, who else should care?

I always prefered physical disks. That was my #1 pro-console argument. Without those disks, I simply won't buy anything console related. I vote with my wallet, simple as that.

Of course I know that people will still buy digital disks and then cry when Sony will do something unthinkable like revoking access, but I guess that won't be my problem.

soulofmischief2• 21 days ago

This sucks, especially given the recent content rug pulls by Sony, but as someone who has never owned a current-generation console outside of the PS2/Wii, I'm out of the loop:

What percentage of game discs sold today are even playable without first connecting to the internet and downloading additional content? Not in defense of Sony, I just think this battle may have already been lost and not enough people noticed.

underlipton• 21 days ago

Many games re-release as "complete" editions with updates and sometimes DLC. I don't know if those always find their way on to the disc proper, but unless they're relabeling and re-boxing dead stock, I have to imagine "stamp it with some extra bytes" is more economical than "make all-new discs put in all-new boxes but it's just the base, non-updated game AND we have to keep the servers running."

soulofmischief2• 21 days ago

I just checked around, and according to Doesitplay?:

- over 1/3 (34%) of PS5 games on disc from their sampled games are either too buggy or missing required/advertised content without downloading something from a server before first play. 13-18% are unplayable without an initial download.

- 40% of games on Xbox One/Series X are too buggy/missing required or advertised content, and 10-11% are unplayable without an initial download.

Some of these games may even have hardcoded download requirements.

https://www.doesitplay.org/methodology

Getchowned• 21 days ago

It's a pretty cynical move for certain. Hang on to the disks/consoles you have, ready for the boom in the used disks market.

post_break• 21 days ago

The deal with consoles is if you buy physical discs, you can trade them share them or sell them. The deal with PC is if you buy with steam or GOG, you keep the games, upgrade your pc, keep playing them. You can download them to your hard drive and keep them.

Taking away physical discs from consoles means the worst of both worlds. You can no longer sell or trade your games, and they are essentially locked to that hardware.

guax3• 21 days ago

And because the hardware gets deprecated the store for that generation also goes away. So even if you keep the hardware working, the games are gone.

A PS3 is still useable today even with the store gone and will be useable for a very long time. The PS6 might become a brick if its secured enough.

vel0city8• 21 days ago

Taking away physical discs from consoles means the worst of both worlds....they are essentially locked to that hardware.

This isn't necessarily true, it really depends on how they go about implementing the sales. The question being, is the sale tied to the hardware or to the account?

I've bought a number of games on the Xbox store over the years. If I were to go buy a new console and log in with my Xbox Live account, I could re-download and play those games. The games aren't permanently associated with any particular piece of hardware, they're associated with the account.

Nintendo's processes have seemed like its tied to the hardware, but since at least the Wii U its technically tied to the account. This may not have been true for the Wii though, but I never really owned the Wii or Wii U. They have sometimes made it difficult to release your account from the old hardware to associate it with new hardware though, sometimes necessitating calling support if you weren't able to disconnect your account from the old hardware.

When transferring accounts to a new Switch 2, my wife's account somehow got locked and it required reaching out to their support for them to unlock it so it could be properly paired to the new hardware. Definitely a frustrating pain on the first day of getting the new console.

The "no longer sell or trade" part is almost always true though. I'm just talking about the game being locked to the hardware.

thraway3837• 21 days ago

I'm not sad about physical disc production ending, since a lot of those games already required a constant internet connection to play (check DRM status).

What upsets me more is removing games from the library that people have already bought. Or, not having a unified store strategy where games can still be downloaded if supported on that device. Much like Apple's App Store.

If compared to an iPhone/Apple, Sony takes the cellular carrier approach: tightly integrating the game developers to the platform and the platform can remove that game at any time because the "contract expired".

That is disgusting.

You can still download games onto the latest devices from ages ago on the Apple App Stores, as long as you performed some minor binary updates with a newer Xcode. That's it.

osmukka• 21 days ago

Now is the perfect time to jump ship and stop supporting these greedy blood-sucking soulless conglomerates. Game companies and brands like PlayStation, Nintendo, Activision-Blizzard and XBOX have demonstrated time and time again that they don't give a flying fuck about customer satisfaction, quality of service or such meaningless things. The only thing they care about is growing their revenue like cancer and sucking every last fraction of a penny out of customers like a dehydrated vampire. The only reason they are able to do this is because we are allowing them by voting with our wallets against our own benefit.

Luckily people have finally started to notice this and I really hope 20 years from now the previously mentioned companies, among others, have strangled themselves to death with their own greed. I just wish more people realized that they are not actually dependent on the services these companies provide and, in fact, it's quite the opposite. More people realizing this and acting accordingly would make the death of those greedy giants happen faster.

lenerdenator2• 21 days ago

There's only one thing that gamers love as much as gaming: complaining about how greedy gaming companies are.

But that's an equal love at best. They'll still fork money over hand over fist for games and the associated revenue streams. They're addictive and are literally designed by companies to be that way.

And it goes beyond that these days, really. There's identity and community wrapped up in these online games. Some dude who's been playing WoW since the late part of the Bush administration and who has tattoos and talks daily with his clan or whatever it is literally doesn't have anything else. He's in middle age.

The marketers won.

daytonix• 21 days ago

welp def not buying another ps product ever again lol. if i have to have digital games i'd rather just have the files on my pc where i actually own them.

insane_dreamer• 21 days ago

dammit

I only purchase physical games (usually used); I don't want a digital library.

Expect XBox to follow suit soon (maybe even Nintendo)

retinaros• 21 days ago

that will be my last gale console

petarb• 21 days ago

Not a fan of this and other consoles moving to digital only. Behind us are the days when you could share/borrow games with friends

tancop• 21 days ago

the backlash is already massive. 5k negative comments on the official blog post and counting. ign, dexerto, local non gaming news accounts from my country all full of people in comments saying they want to go pc or xbox if sony follows through.

i know theres a lot of defeatist talk here about how physical media is dead but almost everyone is taking this as a big deal even if they buy all their games on digital. people want that choice.

the only question is if they care about it enough to get the government involved. im not 100 confident its happening but when you look at stop killing games its proof that players can organize.

dzonga2• 21 days ago

I guess the steam machine just came in at the right time.

so if you want offline access what happens ? if I wanna trade games what happens. ?

dzonga2• 21 days ago

just to add - the only way I was able to play Last of US 2 - was buying the PS4 version and playing it on my PS5.

now that avenue is closed. :(

compiler-devel2• 21 days ago

I did the same thing with Ghost of Tsushima because I heard that the PS5 version had performance problems.

javierhonduco• 21 days ago

This is very sad. I bought a PS5 with disc precisely to “own” the games. End of an era, I guess.

sehw2• 21 days ago

You can buy copies of DRM-free games on GOG.

temporallobe• 21 days ago

Guess I’ll be boring and stick to my old hardware and games (PS3, Switch, GameCube, Wii, and even my SNES Classic).

compiler-devel2• 21 days ago

The PS5 will be my last Sony console. The PS4 probably should've been my last, but I got caught up in the new generation hype cycle. The PS5 has, practically speaking, no games. It hosts a lot of ports from other systems, but the number of unique, new, and interesting games is near zero. Just rehashes from the PS4 era in the form of DLC, remasters, etc.

NoPicklez2• 21 days ago

I think console players are going to enter the era PC gamers did over a decade ago, but this time it will feel forced as opposed to happening naturally as it did with PC's.

Heck, I have games I bought digitally over 2 decades ago that I can still download and play. There's no way I'd still have kept a box from when I was a teenager.

whatever1• 21 days ago

You will not have to deal with clutter if you don’t own anything.

PostOnce2• 21 days ago

One of the selling points of consoles is the secondhand market, and the physical games.

If digital only, then consoles have fewer differentiators to PCs, and PCs let you play online without a subscription.

It's not a given, but it's a plausible future that steam boxes outsell playstations, and that Sony loses its lucrative cut of game sales because people moved to PC since there was no differentiator for consoles other than extra hassle and costs compared to steam.

drdexebtjl• 21 days ago

They must think platform-exclusives titles are the differentiator.

PostOnce2• 21 days ago

There are far fewer of those than there used to be, because games take longer to develop now.

Nintendo has been the only one really good at that, and even there, they're slipping.

For example, the Switch 2 has been out for a year and has no exclusive Mario or Zelda games yet. They announced another Zelda remake.

oliyoung2• 21 days ago

PlayStation saw Microsoft's recent news and decided to take out the trash this week.

The entire console gaming industry has been decimated in the last few weeks.

rietta• 21 days ago

And thus demarcs the extinction of games published after that date. 100 years from now those disks will be all that is knowable to the extent libraries and museums preserve compatible drives.

DiabloD3• 21 days ago

Thats a weird way for Sony to announce the end of the Playstation

asdaqopqkq• 21 days ago

They should make a draconian law that if anyone for any reason caused by the vendor is unable to access the game afte paying for it, the vendor will have to upload that game in a torrent for free for everyone on the planet. The people will decide how long the torrent lives.

millerm• 21 days ago

This just means I am done with buying game consoles. I'll be done with buying any new games soon. I've been around long enough where there is a backlog of games that can last for the rest of my life. I don't need $2000 video cards, tomorrow's hardware, and MMOs driven by big corps. Indie devs will still exist for the people who wish to keep buying games for PCs. Hopefully Linux takes off in that world. Who even knows how much longer we'll be able to buy our own hardware that isn't infested with some sort of regulatory must connect to the Internet kind of garbage. I'm passing the baton. I'm just done.

VanTheBrand• 21 days ago

My first thought reading this was I wonder if Sony is planning to wind down or spin off Sony DADC, their commercial optical disc manufacturing subsidiary they’ve run since the dawn of the CD.

Sony DADC presses every PlayStation games but also has spent decades manufacturing CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, UHD Blu-rays, software, and other optical media for 3rd party customers across the entertainment and computer industry.

If PlayStation discs disappear in 2028, that removes one of the last massive, guaranteed sources of demand for optical disc production inside Sony. Even if the plants continue serving movies, music, and third-party clients for a while, it’s hard not to wonder if this announcement is also the beginning of the end for one of the last major end-to-end optical media manufacturers in the supply chain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Digital_Audio_Disc_Corpor...

https://www.sonydadc.com/productsandservices/manufacturing

p1necone2• 21 days ago

Ever since I had the disposable income to burn (so ~PS3 generation onwards) I've been someone that always eventually owns every console from each generation. Usually just one of them initially and then the others a few years later when they get cheap.

I think I'm going to stop buying new game consoles and games now and just stick to PC (mostly via Steam) and emulation. Might continue with switch stuff if they keep publishing proper physical media. I find myself revisiting console games that came out 20+ years ago often, and that's a large part of the reason I buy them.

It's still putting my trust in an online store, but I have much more confidence that my Steam games will still be usable a couple of decades from now than the xbox/ps stores. And historically Nintendo has totally axed the online store for each console when the new one comes out, including killing the ability to redownload already purchased games, although they did retain the same store between Switch 1 and 2.

Will be interesting to see whether Steam stays safe when Gabe eventually dies/retires. I think if he passes it on to a trusted successor it might be good for another few decades+, but if the company gets sold or publicly listed I have no hope.

(As a side note, if anyone is a console gamer primarily because of the nice "turn it on, get controller, play with no stuffing around" vibe of it - a pc in a small case with bazzite-deck installed that's just permanently hooked up to your TV is a very seamless experience, it's remotivated me to play a lot of stuff on PC that I would normally default to buying on consoles - JRPGs, racers, platformers etc.)

abrookewood• 21 days ago

Valve are one of the very few companies that I trust & respect. Of course, that could change ... which is why stores like GoG are so good as well (only sell DRM free games).

wackget• 21 days ago

Consumers need to fight back on this, and I don't just mean by protesting or complaining.

Consumers need to start buying more used media instead of buying new.

They need to use services like GOG.com instead of Steam, even if it's less convenient.

They need to decide that if they can't buy a DRM-free or a physical copy of something then they simply won't buy it, and be confident in that decision instead of caving in to FOMO.

It requires a mindset change which I fear will be too difficult for most -- which is exactly what Sony is banking on.

jimbobbam• 21 days ago

Great Sony, go to thumb drives.

Acrobatic_Road• 21 days ago

I've been thinking of diving into Kazeta. Its a linux distro for DIY physical media.

sevenseacat2• 21 days ago

Looks like the PS5 will be the last Sony console I buy.

rldjbpin• 21 days ago

time to short gamestop?

jokes aside, as someone who has never bought physical games, the landscape for physical ownership in this space was already shrinking.

there is a major chunk of playerbase who only plays online multiplayers, which are tied to always-online mode and constant updates. even if you could buy these titles on a disc, practically speaking they carried very little value of physical ownership.

we are just boiling the frog with little more intensity now. if it is possible to repurpose the bluray reader of ps5 to connect to pc, it might be a nice way to invest in one before they stop selling too.

jurgenburgen• 21 days ago

It was nice while it lasted. I usually borrow games from the library since I don’t really have enough time to play for justifying a 80€ purchase.

Will skip PS6 and probably just not bother with gaming.

poulpy123• 21 days ago

You will own nothing and will be happy

lofaszvanitt• 20 days ago

It was long expected. Sad news, but to be honest I can count on my one hand how many games I replayed throughout the years. Since most of them are one shot, the story and gameplay is usually not that strong to warrant a replay. So, other than becoming exposed to Sony's aggressive pricing antics, there is not much to be seen here.

At the same time this might bring people closer together (eeerrrm, it won't) by sharing their accounts between each other.

codingjoe• 20 days ago

Is that going into effect globally? It's hard to believe this will sit well with Japanese customers where second hand gaming markets are, dare I say it, culturally relevant.

SlightlyLeftPad• 20 days ago

For me: All incentive to purchase a console is now gone. PC and Steam is the way, at least while Gabe is around.

prios8• 20 days ago

Will this become the new vynil?

Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

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