Sony has heard the persistent feedback over their decision to kill off physical game media in 2028, but still plants to “cautiously move this forward”, per comments following the latest earnings call.
In an investor Q&A following the release, analysts asked about the decision to end disc production for PlayStation console games, with Sony CFO Lin Tao taking up the answer (via an interpreter) – you can see the clip here.
She said, “There are various reasons we made this decision. The biggest being that the digitalization of content overall has been progressing. That’s the big factor. It’s not just for PlayStation, but for all kinds of content, digitalization is progressing.
“And so when we think about the future, and we put in a lot of thought and time, and we cautiously considered this, and we came to this conclusion, and we’re going to cautiously move this forward.”
I’m not sure that ‘cautiously’ is the right sentiment when Sony has set a hard date to end production for new physical games and all the knock on effects that this will have across the games industry, but it could indicate a slight softness to the stance.
No doubt referencing the Save Physical Games Change.org petition, a PlayStation gaming boycott planned for August, and thousands upon thousands of YouTube comments, she continued, “We have received various opinions and people have strong views, and we understand that the community has put forth those views to us.”
Elsewhere (via Reddit) Sony noted that they made this announcement 18 months early in order to prepare the market for the change, to communicate with retailers and publishers that codes in game boxes would be an option after 2028. They also don’t see discs as a major differentiator between console and PC, but rather the historically lower cost and stability of the platforms. And also have not yet seen negative impacts on sales following this announcement, and don’t really expect to.
And look, they’re not wrong that digital gaming has grown and grown over the past decade. FY2025 (ending on 31st March) saw 78% of all games on PlayStation be sold digitally, though that figure ranged from 72% to 85% depending on the season. The last October through December was at 76%, no doubt because it’s easier for your granddad to wrap up a disc in a box than an email with a code in it. Additionally, the “full game sales” figures are skewed by digital-only indie games, where retail releases are much less common. The full breakdown would show that some countries lean more towards physical games still, and that single player games are also more evenly split digital to physical – we know from data leaks that Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 had sales of around 54% on disc.
Yet physical game sales are dropping. According to Mat Piscatella, Senior Director and Video Game Industry Advisor at Circana, only seven PS5 games have sold more than 100,000 physical copies in the US during 2026. Additionally, you have publishers like Capcom who are already down to the single digit percentage in terms of physical games sold.
The decision is Sony looking to get ahead of the curve and increase their profitability. A game console without a disc drive is cheaper and less complex to produce – even an optional disc drive adds some complexity – and more game sales then being direct to the PlayStation Store would increase their cut of the sales, and also increase the long-term price of games – physical games are often on sale for lower prices and more often than digital ones.
But, if the push back lasts long enough, if game sales do actually drop or gamers do push back towards physical in a noticeable way, if people do start to move towards gaming on PC, there is still a future timeline where Sony reconsiders.
Source: Sony Investor Relations
