The last minute statement from Sony Interactive Entertainment formalizes that historical step that has been awaited for a long time in the gaming department but will upset many players.

According to the announcement made by the company’s Senior Director of Content Communications Sid Shuman, physical disc (Blu-ray) production for all new games to be released on PlayStation consoles as of January 2028 will be discontinued.

The rapid shift of consumer habits in the industry towards digital platforms pushes Sony to make this radical decision.

All new productions that will be released as of the specified date are offered to players only through digital download codes that will be sold through PlayStation Store or in retail stores.

Digital Media is on the Rise, Physical Games Are Becoming History

This comprehensive announcement made by Sony on the official PlayStation Blog actually constitutes the last and most definitive link in the digitalization process that has been approaching step by step for years.

Sid Shuman states that digital media has largely surpassed physical discs in the entertainment industry in general and in consumer preferences.

This decision aims to enable the company to spend its resources on digital innovations and to ensure that the player community adapts to the procedures for accessing new games in a more modern way.

Today, more than 85 percent of game sales on PlayStation consoles are made directly through the digital store.

In fact, according to market research company Circana’s branch reports, physical game spending in the USA in 2025 decreased to 1.5 billion dollars, reaching an all-time low.

When decreasing sales numbers are combined with increasing logistics and high production costs around the world, printing plastic boxes and game discs for giant companies is no longer a sustainable business model.

GTA 6 gave the first signals of this process

The recent breakthroughs of third-party game developers also play a big role in Sony’s decision to end disc production.

As you may remember, Rockstar Games announced that there would be no discs in the physical versions of GTA 6, one of the most anticipated productions in the history of the game, and that the game would be sold with an in-box digital code.

The fact that even the biggest game in the industry has given up on physical media makes this digital transition in the gaming world much more acceptable.

Since Sony doesn’t want to completely erase its presence in retail stores, gamers can still go to tech stores and buy a game box off the shelves.

However, just like in PC games for years, that box contains a 16-digit license code that can only be used on the PlayStation Store.

What Does It Mean for Collectors and the Secondhand Market?

This huge change, which significantly increases the profit margins of game companies, means a major collapse for collectors who have been collecting physical games for years, and especially for the second-hand market.

The time to trade games, sell them to someone else after finishing them, or lend them to a friend is completely closed for new games that will be released as of January 2028.

The disappearance of the second-hand game market causes players to be deprived of affordable second-hand alternatives and to be directly bound to the price policies determined by official stores.

In addition, “digital ownership” discussions are heating up again among gamer communities.

When you buy a digital game, you do not actually get a physical copy of that game, but only a usage license to play it.

The Concord example, which Sony released and completely deleted from the store weeks later, clearly showed everyone how fragile digital libraries can be when necessary.

Sony’s target date of 2028 also brings to light a very critical fact about the hardware architecture of the next generation console, PlayStation 6.

The possibility of having a standard disk drive in the new generation PS6 consoles is now almost zero. The company is expected to move towards selling an external disc reader accessory for those who just want to play older PS4 and PS5 discs.

In short, the console industry is going through a fundamental transformation, and those shiny game discs that we once opened with excitement are now taking their place in the dusty pages of technology history.