PlayStation without discs after 2028…the end of the time of selling, borrowing and swapping | technology

Sony announced that it will stop releasing games via physical discs, as was the case in the past, and move to rely entirely on releasing games in digital form to be downloaded from a game store or through retailers, according to a report by the German news site Deutsche Welle.

Sony’s senior director of content communications, Syed Shoman, described this step as a “response to changing user trends and preferences” in the company’s announcement statement, noting the recent decline in sales of physical game discs.

The Deutsche Welle report explained that this step would reduce various production and distribution costs, but it would also reduce the options available to users, especially those who prefer to sell games in secondary markets or keep game discs.

In a related context, a report by the American technical website TechCrunch revealed a decline in sales of physical discs at Sony during the last quarter of the fiscal year 2025, as sales of copies of digital games on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 platforms reached 85% of the total copies sold, while physical games represented only 15%.

This decline was also reflected in stores and companies that mainly specialize in selling physical games, at the forefront of which is the “GameStop” store chain, which relied on selling physical game discs for all platforms, as the chain closed more than 1,300 stores around the world during the past two years.

Sony’s announcement coincides with GTA 6 abandoning physical copies of its games and replacing them with digital codes sold in plastic covers instead of discs, a step that greatly dissatisfied players, according to a TechCrunch report.

Sony’s decision includes all games that will be released after January 2028, so any game released before this date will come in a physical and digital version as usual unless the game developer chooses otherwise, according to what was stated in the Deutsche Welle report.

Why is Sony abandoning physical discs?

Shoman explained in the company’s statement that Sony’s abandonment of physical discs is a natural trend for the company to adapt to new user preferences, stressing that the company will continue to work to push innovation in how players access games and provide many options for stores.

It cannot be said that “Sony” is alone in the direction it has taken, as “Microsoft” is considering following the same direction, according to a report by the British technical website “GamesIndustry.biz”.

Microsoft is considering launching the next generation of its gaming platforms without a disc player completely, which is what Sony has already done with the digital gaming version of the PlayStation 5.

Microsoft is testing a feature that allows users to convert their physical games into digital copies that can be played on devices that do not have a disc player without stopping the physical disc from working, provided that the digital copy is canceled when the disc is sold or loaned, according to the Game Industry Biz report.

Therefore, from a purely commercial perspective, abandoning physical discs and their players is a very logical and expected step, since the sales volume of these games in the two companies does not justify the additional expenses.

Do you still own your games after this decision?

The recent decisions of Microsoft and Sony have unexpected effects on you as an end user, as the two companies’ abandonment of offering physical game discs undermines your ownership of these games.

This step revives the previously ongoing debate about the ownership of digital games found in corporate game stores, since the company can stop the game store or even stop your copy completely with the push of a button.

On the same day, Sony announced that it was stopping the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita game stores. Although these platforms are old and many users do not own them, they own the games that they purchased at full price through the game store.

This step raises fundamental questions about the pricing of games in future generations that abandon physical discs and how to sell them, as the pricing of games calculates the final cost of manufacturing the game, including printing and distributing it in the form of discs, which is what companies will stop doing.