Sony discontinuing physical disc production for new games in 2028, and closing PS3/Vita stores throughout 2026/2027

[Spacething7474]

Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles

In response to shifting trends in consumer preference, new games will be released on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only.

blog.playstation.com

Sony has announced today that physical game disc production for new PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting in January 2028. New games in that year onwards will be only available digitally, both on the PlayStation Store and at retailers.

This is in response to shifting trends in consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continuing to shift away from physical discs to digital.

An update on PlayStation Store for PS3 and PS Vita

Changes start this year in select markets, followed by global changes in 2027.

blog.playstation.com

Speaking of PlayStation stores, after reverting the initial closure of the PS3 and Vita stores in August 2021, Sony has announced the shutdown dates for those two storefronts.

-Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua (August 2026, PS3)
-Additional Latin American and Middle Eastern countries (late 2026, PS3)
-All other countries (July 2027, PS3 and PS Vita)

players will still be able to download previously purchased content after the closing date for the foreseeable future.

 

[RandomMe]

So the future will just consist of digital games. And what happens when the servers shut down?

 

[Spacething7474]

So the future will just consist of digital games. And what happens when the servers shut down?

I guess only the first 7 years of PS5 games (that got a physical release) will survive!

 

[RandomMe]

I guess only the first 7 years of PS5 games (that got a physical release) will survive!

I mean, I get that. I've seen this happen with defunct services even from the 2000s.

 

[Spacething7474]

I mean, I get that. I've seen this happen with defunct services even from the 2000s.

Even then, there was still usually physical options for those services and platforms of those years.

 

[Light Lucario]

I've never had a Playstation system, but I do feel bad for fans who play their games. I still greatly prefer getting physical copies of my games and only having them available digitally sounds like a big step down. The responses I've seen from this announcement have been less than good to say the least. Just recently there was some news about Playstation removing games people had already bought digitally because of licenses expiring, so that's not the best sign either.

 

[the_joker]

Well ****. And Sony has announced the end of themselves producing blank blu-ray discs at some point. Anyway, this wasn't much of a surprise since a majority of PS players bought and played digital games instead of physical, but the announcement of this news was always gonna suck. And with the PS3 store shutting down, that means all-digital consoles (which will definitely include PS6) will be on a (somewhat long) timer. I guess Sony wanted to get the bad news out of the way as quickly as possible.

I buy physical games since that gives more of a sense of ownership than digital games. Digital games would only be around as long as Sony or the respective studio kept their games around on their servers. And one would also have to be online to enable playing digital games offline. How the hell did Sony screw up the ability to play offline single-player games? Those issues wouldn't have arisen with physical games.

Of course, I have been buying digital games as well because not all games I wanted were available physically. At least, not cheap in some cases. I regretted buying Dishonored physically after not really caring too much for the game as I spent more money on it than I would have if I bought it digitally even at full price.

This would be a bigger concern for bigger budget games since smaller games tend not to be available as discs because that option would've been more expensive for the smaller studios. Still, it would be nice to have multiple options available which was one point of having both physical and digital media, and people could also share discs for the more expensive games. Now with PS players only having the PS store to obtain games releasing in 2028 and later, it can be pretty easy for Sony to screw with the players even though doing so wouldn't be in their best interest.

And none of this is taking the all-digital PS6 into account which was apparently set to be pretty pricey since Sony didn't want to sell the new console at a loss. Things aren't looking too great for Sony and PS right now, but I still want to see what happens later.

 

[Asa]

With the PS3/PS Vita store closures occurring next July, this truly marks the end of an era for seventh generation digital stores.

Wii Shop Channel was the first to go back in 2019, followed by the 3DS and Wii U eshops in 2023. Xbox 360 store would follow suit in 2024.

The PS3 store lasted a whopping 20 years compared to Nintendo and Xbox’s digital storefronts.

 

[Yojimbo]

So let me guess, the price will still go up?

 

[Asa]

Apparently, there’s a lawsuit going on about the PlayStation Store being a monopoly

 

[the_joker]

@Yojimbo Most certainly since Sony still wants to make some money from selling PS6 consoles. Even the price of a regular PS5 now is only $50 less than the initial price of the PS5 Pro (and that's $900 now), so things aren't looking so great for the PS6.

 

[Light Lucario]

I remember how fast PS5 were selling just a few years ago. I went to GameStop for a Pokemon event shortly after the PS5 came out and they had to limit the amount of people going into the store and how many systems they could buy to prevent losing their entire supply to scalpers. If the PS6 is going to be around a thousand dollars or higher, I don't think it's going to sell out as fast. I wouldn't be shocked if it's a huge hit on Sony since I'm not sure how many people have the disposable money to buy a thousand dollar game system, especially one where your digitally only games could be removed if they lose a license.