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Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

blog.playstation.com

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Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#611

Post by minitech »

fcsp wrote: post #435

Great buildup on Sony's side to gain trust in this move in the gaming community ahead of this announcement when just this week they again pulled hundreds of "purchased" movies from customer's libraries without refund, reminding everyone that digital content is rented, not owned. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/sony-erases-digital-...

Digitally rented content is rented. My music via Bandcamp/iTunes, my games from their developers’ websites/itch.io/GOG, and my ebooks are owned (for the purposes of the “owned”/“rented” distinction people are making here). Not all physical things are owned, either. Wrong distinction. We can ask for better with respect to digital.

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#612

Post by jeandrek »

dylan604 wrote: post #39
phire wrote: post #23

With this news, I have to wonder how much longer bluray will live. Will we continue seeing new bluray releases of movies and TV shows for decades, or are their days numbered? The loss of console gaming presumably removes a guaranteed revenue source that was keeping Bluray pressing plants alive. Sales of DVDs and Bluray have been declining for years [1] [3] . Some people have been excited pushing the news that UHD blu…

I can't imagine content owners wanting the physical media to continue any longer than they can get away with. The control they have from digital only must make them feel so powerful. At least as long as everyone continues to buy into their DRM systems. I've recently looked into purchasing a dedicated 4K Blu-ray player to start building a disc collection again. I'm assuming there's some pretty decent deals in the used…

In NZ 4K Blu-rays are too expensive, at least by my standard (there's about one store chain, JB Hi-Fi). Never seen a single one at a second hand shop. (Though I guess a used bin is a place for 2nd hand goods at an otherwise first-hand shop? Which we don't really have.)

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#613

Post by AussieWog93 »

mghackerlady wrote: post #352
ZenoArrow wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> switch line is nearly impossible Nah. Switch 1 is already compromised and I'd predict we'll see modchips for the Switch 2 in the next 3 years.

Sorry, I should've specified soft mods. iirc there's only been 1 softmod for the switch that was patched out extremely early on before we knew about it

Nah, Switch has been blown wide for almost a decade now.

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#614

Post by donkey_oaty »

binsquare wrote: post #463
fcsp wrote: post #435

Great buildup on Sony's side to gain trust in this move in the gaming community ahead of this announcement when just this week they again pulled hundreds of "purchased" movies from customer's libraries without refund, reminding everyone that digital content is rented, not owned. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/sony-erases-digital-...

Sony also used to mock digital only approaches. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSIFh8ICaA Now at a time when memory and storage prices are at an all time high - they pull a move that directly hurts the customer.

I remember when the ps3 released Sony mocked controller rumble as a 'last gen feature'. Now their haptic feedback is the only distinguishing feature of their console.

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#615

Post by soulofmischief »

underlipton wrote: post #586
soulofmischief wrote: post #453

This sucks, especially given the recent content rug pulls by Sony, but as someone who has never owned a current-generation console outside of the PS2/Wii, I'm out of the loop: What percentage of game discs sold today are even playable without first connecting to the internet and downloading additional content? Not in defense of Sony, I just think this battle may have already been lost and not enough people noticed.

Many games re-release as "complete" editions with updates and sometimes DLC. I don't know if those always find their way on to the disc proper, but unless they're relabeling and re-boxing dead stock, I have to imagine "stamp it with some extra bytes" is more economical than "make all-new discs put in all-new boxes but it's just the base, non-updated game AND we have to keep the servers running."

I just checked around, and according to Doesitplay?:

- over 1/3 (34%) of PS5 games on disc from their sampled games are either too buggy or missing required/advertised content without downloading something from a server before first play. 13-18% are unplayable without an initial download.

- 40% of games on Xbox One/Series X are too buggy/missing required or advertised content, and 10-11% are unplayable without an initial download.

Some of these games may even have hardcoded download requirements.

https://www.doesitplay.org/methodology

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#616

Post by protocolture »

reactordev wrote: post #597
Marcan wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And don't forget closing the PS3 and Vita Playstation stores, which they announced at the same time: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/an-update-on-playsta... This is a weird marketing strategy. They must feel free to do as they please since they know consumers are trapped.

Sony is dead to me now.

Parasocial relationship with corporation update from love to hate.

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#617

Post by cindyllm »

tavavex wrote: post #602
zarathustreal wrote: post #577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

This is hilarious. Should we stop criticizing all politicians because we don't know them personally? These are not just some guys, you know. These are the most powerful people in the world. You will be affected - everyone has a 'real stake' in what they do. Frankly, the amount of scrutiny and consequences of said scrutiny that powerful people receive are at all-time lows - there should be more. For Trump specifically…

[dead]

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#618

Post by rubyfan »

II2II wrote: post #576
Marcan wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And don't forget closing the PS3 and Vita Playstation stores, which they announced at the same time: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/an-update-on-playsta... This is a weird marketing strategy. They must feel free to do as they please since they know consumers are trapped.

> They must feel free to do as they please since they know consumers are trapped. My take is somewhat difference: Sony is offloading the cost of their prior decisions onto consumers. For things like movies, they should have negotiated a contract where sold copies are sold copies and cannot be revoked (even if their right to sell/rent copies lapse). For things like the PS3 store, it cannot be run indefinitely. That sa…

> They would have to refund everyone for every purchase in the long run.

That is the minimum they should do. At best they should offer the movie collections for free through competitors.

Re: Physical disc production ending in Jan 2028 for new games on PlayStation

#619

Post by PostOnce »

One of the selling points of consoles is the secondhand market, and the physical games.

If digital only, then consoles have fewer differentiators to PCs, and PCs let you play online without a subscription.

It's not a given, but it's a plausible future that steam boxes outsell playstations, and that Sony loses its lucrative cut of game sales because people moved to PC since there was no differentiator for consoles other than extra hassle and costs compared to steam.

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