'This is just one of the many reasons I will abandon Sony and all consoles,' says user

Sony is scrapping physical game discs across PlayStation consoles. Any new PlayStation game released after January 2028 won't be available on a disc you can hold in your hands.


Instead, players will need to buy their games digitally, either through the PlayStation Store or as download codes from shops.

Sid Shuman, Senior Director of Sony Interactive Entertainment said: "As consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continue to shift away from physical discs to digital, physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028.

If you have a PS4 or newer, this means you'll only be able to play new games digitally from the PlayStation Store.

This arrives as Sony also announced it's winding down the PlayStation Store on PS3, with closures beginning later this year.

Any PS2 or PS1 console owner will also be blocked from getting new access to games. This is due to the fact that the digital PlayStation Store didn't exist until the release of the PS3 in 2006.

The numbers tell the story of why Sony made this call. Digital downloads now make up a whopping 85% of all full-game sales on PS4 and PS5, leaving physical copies with just 15% of the market.

Mr Shuman continues: "This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs," the company said in its announcement."

This shift has also hit traditional gaming retailers hard. GameStop, once the go-to destination for disc-based games in the US, has shut more than 1,300 stores over the past two financial years.

Users have also taken to Reddit to express their disappointment in the company's decision.

One user writes: "Having everything on disc was the only reason I even got a PS5 in the first place."

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Another expresses the vulnerability of only having access to digital games writing: "The crazy thing is they can ban your entire account on a whim, and you can lose every game you’ve ever purchased.

"Thousands of dollars wiped away. Your whole account is gone, and your only recourse is to appeal to AI chatbots that won’t reverse a company decision."

They state: "When you create an account for PlayStation, you agree to obey the PlayStation Terms of Service, which includes the Code of Conduct.

If you breach these terms, we may suspend your account's social features or your account itself. Repeated violations can lead to further suspensions."

There's a silver lining for those who love their disc collections, though. Any games that come out before January 2028 will still be available in physical format, so you've got time to stock up.

The timing of Sony's announcement is interesting, coming just days after Grand Theft Auto 6 sparked a bit of a backlash. Rockstar Games revealed that the "physical" version of the hotly anticipated title would actually just be a download code inside a box rather than an actual disc.