Sony will stop producing discs for new PlayStation games from January 2028, but physical copies of previously released titles will not disappear immediately. The clarification sounds more reassuring than the original announcement, yet it ultimately confirms that discs will become a permanently outgoing format for all future releases.
When a company like Sony announces the end of physical discs, it is reasonable to expect clear answers to the biggest questions raised by such a major decision. That did not happen after the initial statement, and PlayStation has still not offered a detailed explanation through its social channels. Retailers, publishers and development studios have meanwhile voiced their dissatisfaction publicly, especially because ending physical distribution involves far more than a simple format change. A later clarification did, however, settle one important detail: physical reprints of games already released on disc can continue after 2028.
Sony Clarifies What Happens to Older Physical Releases
From January 2028, publishers and studios will still be able to order additional physical copies of games that were released on disc no later than 2027. This means a PlayStation 5 game already available physically before the cutoff can continue to receive new disc print runs even after Sony stops producing discs for all new releases. The original announcement did not make that distinction entirely clear, leading many to believe that every reprint of older games would automatically disappear in 2028. The real question now is what happens to titles released after that point, because those games will no longer have any path toward a proper physical edition.
Sony is offering publishers the option of putting new games released in 2028 into retail stores as boxed products containing digital download codes. In practice, this is the same solution where buyers purchase a plastic case but find no disc inside, only a code. A Resident Evil Veronica released in 2027 could still receive new physical disc copies in 2028, while a hypothetical Resident Evil 0 Remake launched in 2028 would leave the store shelf with only its cover art and a download code. That is not a rescue for physical media, but a slow and final phase-out of it.
The situation looks even worse because Sony’s largest disc factory, DADC in Thalgau, Austria, is also preparing to end production. The facility, which received investment of more than €30 million, will stop manufacturing PlayStation optical discs, Blu-rays and CDs by 2028, while its roughly 300 employees are retrained to produce optical microlenses. More analysts are now expecting PlayStation 6 to launch as a fully digital console, perhaps with an optional disc drive sold separately. What remains unclear is whether such a drive would exist only to support backwards compatibility with PlayStation 5 games, or whether Sony will ultimately leave any meaningful route open for physical game purchases in the next generation.
Source: 3DJuegos
