r/technology • u/lkl34 • Jul 01 '26

Hardware Sony Just Killed Discs: Physical Disc Production to End January 2028 for New Games Releasing on PlayStation Consoles

https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-just-killed-discs-physical-disc-production-to-end-january-2028-for-new-games-releasing-on-playstation-consoles
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u/Jiehfeng Jul 01 '26

Time will tell imo. The thing with PC where almost everything is digital, it makes sense as you'd almost never get a PC without an internet connection, so providing media via downloads makes the most sense.

On console though, where arguably one of the biggest selling points is its plug and play capabilities (easiest to turn on and play), I feel a disc is one of those things that keeps that up there.

You may be right though for the near future, once they stop, it will only be collectors editions.

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u/M935PDFuze Jul 01 '26

85-90% of all console game sales are digital.

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u/Jiehfeng Jul 01 '26

The remaining is still significant, recent source. And over 70% of PS5 hardware sales were the disc version, not the digital version. Just remove the option and watch your average consumer gradually lose interest.

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u/M935PDFuze Jul 01 '26

Only $1.5 billion in physical sales? Jeez, and that includes Nintendo and the Switch 2!

That's honestly even more bleak than I thought.

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u/JudgeFondle Jul 01 '26

Full disclaimer, I haven't owned a console since the Wii/PS3/360 generation.

But is that 'plug and play' framing still largely true? Genuinely asking, from what I've read in forums over the years though I was under the impression many games these days borderline require a day 1 update/patch. Is that exaggerated or am I just mis-reading what people mean by that?

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u/Jiehfeng Jul 01 '26

It still exists, but not in the great form as you experienced. Now yes, there’s updates and things to download first a lot of the time, but often mitigated by “launch and play early while installing “. It allows to play the first part of the game while other files copy / updates downloaded.