What This Is About:
On July 1, 2026, Sony announced they will be ending production of new physical discs for all PlayStation 5 games starting January 2028. All new game releases after this date will be digital only, either as a direct download from their storefront or as a download code sold inside of a plastic box. At the same time Sony announced the closure of their digital storefronts for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, as well as the deletion of over five hundred purchased movies from their customer's libraries (for a second time). No one was offered refunds or store credit of any kind.
Had these movies been physical DVDs and Blu-rays it would have been illegal for Sony to take them, but because they were digital goods, as far as the law is concerned, it wasn't a crime. A disc is something you own - at least until it degrades (which I have yet to happen). You can lend it to a friend, trade it for other games, resell it on the second-hand market, gift it to someone, collect it, or pass it down to your kids. A digital game is a license - you are renting the game essentially and it can be revoked at any time for any reason.
Some individuals say that an all digital future was inevitable so we should all just accept it and move on; which is a really shortsighted and quite frankly defeatist stance to take. In this hypothetical all digital future, what will the libraries look like? How will people, especially low income families, access that media? How many pieces of media will be removed, lost, or have public access revoked forever? It quite frankly sounds dystopian to me and is certainly not something we can or should "just accept". It is easy to be dismissive when the issue doesn't impact you or isn't something you care about. But the argument that physical media is dead just isn't true. I can and still do read books printed on paper. I can walk into most retailers and buy new movies on DVD or Blu-ray. I can still buy new CDs and vinyl records of all things (which have seen a revival). So why not video games? The last few years have actually seen a "Physical Media Movement" among the younger generations that was born out of subscription fatigue, ownership concerns, rising costs, and anemoia, the desire to experience things from a time period they never got to enjoy.
There are video game titles that have never been ported or re-released in any form. The only way to access them is through physical media. Three unique gaming experiences of the PlayStation 3 era for me - Lair, Folklore and Afrika, can only be played (legally) with a physical copy as of 2026. An ongoing movement called, Stop Killing Games, was formed specifically to try and preserve games after so many digital-only games went the way of the dodo and left paying customers "holding the bag".
I am not opposed to digital games. Digital games are great for convenience and people without a lot of space to dedicate to physical media. But I am against digital being the only option. Many Americans (roughly one-third) lack internet that can handle 100+ GB game downloads and updates due to the "digital divide" - rural areas with poor cable infrastructure, one or no internet providers, and high internet costs. Physical games not only provide these communities with access but oftentimes cost less than their digital versions. Many game shops (both big name brands and mom & pop shops) rely on the second-hand market. In low income communities children would 'swap games' so even if they didn't have a lot of money to spend on luxuries like video games, everyone still got to experience something new. Sony themselves actually advocated for this exact thing once-upon-a-time during the PlayStation 4 era.
Why Is Sony Doing This?
The cold hard truth is that Sony doesn't care about anything other than their bottomline. They don't care about their customers, game preservation, poor communities, a lack of access, or mom & pop shops closing down. This move away from physical media was motivated purely by greed. According to released data, a quarter of PlayStation owners still bought physical media as of 2025, and that data may be skewed when you consider some games are only available as a digital version. The data also lumps all microtransactions and DLC purchases under 'digital'. In the case of Sony's first party titles, many actually sold better physically than digitally; Spider-Man (2018) for example, had a physical-to-digital split of 66% to 34%. God of War Ragnarök had a split of 76% to 24%. Sony shipped 70 million game discs in 2025 and made less than $1 billion dollars. They sold 248 million digital games that same year and made $7 billion dollars. Even if the physical supporters don't budge, the digital sales will be enough to more than make up for it.
The digital-only PlayStaion 6 will be releasing in 2028 with an estimated price tag of $1,000. Sony ending physical media now is their way of trying to shuffle everyone into a "walled garden" marketplace where they will have full control of game prices, availability and ownership. Nintendo already has this to some degree and it is why their $80 games never go on sale. Sony is currently being hit with multiple class-action lawsuits from the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and California due to their marketplace now constituting an illegal monopoly without physical media to offer a competing price point. PlayStation notoriously has a terrible refund policy, engages in dynamic pricing, and has been chasing live-service trends with games nobody wants, among them the infamous Concord, which failed so spectacularly it was given a place in the Museum of Failure. And Sony is pushing this all-digital future of theirs at a time when digital storage prices are skyrocketing. Sony has become the very thing they once mocked Microsoft (Xbox) for.
What Can Be Done?
1. Be vocal and let Sony know you want physical media as an option. Sign a petition, talk about it or contact Sony directly. The outcry after their announcement was already so severe that Sony had to step away from social media for several days. Do not let the pressure off. Even non-gaming chains like KFC and Domino's pizza have joined in to openly mock Sony, with jokes such as "at least Domino's has more options than Sony has exclusives" making the rounds. Some game developers, such as Billy Basso (maker of Animal Well) are considering skipping Sony platforms in the future as a form of protest.
2. Cancel your PlayStation Plus subscription. Loot Box Gaming specifically is urging people to cancel their PlayStation Plus subscriptions in protest. The subscription price keeps increasing and Sony has confirmed that more price hikes are planned in the future. Let Sony know how you feel with your wallet. It wasn't an accident that Sony announced the end of physical media on the first of the month. They knew their profits would take a hit and they're hoping to recover from the backlash before their next investor call.
3. Buy physical copies of games to show Sony there is demand, or if you're a digital-only person, buy games on PC instead of PlayStation. Unlike Sony's marketplace, the PC is an open-platform with a bigger game selection, better prices and deals, more storefronts to choose from, and a better refund policy. Worst case, Frank Cifaldi of the historical video game preservation institution has argued in favor of piracy due to Sony "failing to offer a meaningful alternative".
Show support to one of the many limited run companies. Some even release games for retro hardware:
Like many other game collector's and physical media enthusiasts I will no longer be supporting Sony past the PlayStation 5, unless they reverse their decision. I want no part in the future they're trying to push, even if it means I have to stick to retro gaming for the foreseeable future.
I don't expect Sony will last long as a hardware manufacturer past the PlayStation 6 without physical media. Physical media was the "loss leader" for consoles - an item sold at a loss to stimulate sales of more profitable (in this case digital) goods. It is not dissimilar to how Costco sells their rotisserie chickens at a loss to get people in the door and the other items people buy while they're there offsets the loss on the chicken. Consoles were the only place offering physical media (rotisserie chicken) and now that they have done away with it, people have no reason to stick around when other stores (PC) have better deals and customer protections.
