A historic step has been taken in the gaming world, announcing the end of a nostalgic period that will deeply upset fans of physical copies and boxed games. Technology giant Sony has decided to close its huge factory in Austria, which has been producing millions of PlayStation discs for years, and convert it to another area. The company, which is preparing to fully transition to the digital future, has already sacrificed millions of dollars of investment for this radical transformation.

Sony Turns CD Production Facility into Optical Lens Factory

According to the report shared by Austria’s national broadcasting network ORF Salzburg, Sony is located in the Thalgau region of Salzburg. Digital Audio Disc Corporation (DADC)It ends the production of CDs and discs in its factory. The company uses this legendary facility in camera sensors, AR/VR glasses and fiber optic networks. optical micro lensesIt turns it into a center that will produce. Sony is already planning this transformation. 30 million eurosHe even invested.

The factory management made an official notification to the employees working at the facility. According to the shared information, PlayStation, It will switch to a completely digital game model as of January 2028.. This attack clearly shows that the boxed game option will disappear completely in the new consoles that will be released in the coming years.

600 Thousand Discs Were Produced Daily

Currently the plant in Thalgau uses approximately 600 thousand discsPlayStation games accounted for more than half of this production. However, Sony DADC CEO Dietmar Tanzer stated that they expect the disc production volume to decrease to 10% of the current capacity by 2028.

Sony had previously closed its huge factory in Indiana, which produced billions of discs from 1983 to 2022. Now it is choosing to stop disc production at its home base in Europe and adapt the facility to new generation technologies.

Employees Will Not Be Dismissed, They Will Be Retrained

Although the radical transformation decision in the factory brought to mind the employment problem, Sony made a welcome move. CEO Tanzer announced that the 300 employees working in the factory will not be laid off, on the contrary, they will be specially trained for the production of optical micro lenses, which will start next year.

This step by Sony shows that we are officially approaching the end of the boxed game era in the gaming industry. The biggest trigger for this decision was the fact that digital sales on PlayStation Store overshadowed physical sales, especially in recent years.

So what do you think about this transformation? Do you think it’s a good move to make boxed games a thing of the past? Don’t forget to share your comments with us!