PlayStation has confirmed it’s still going ahead with its plan to cease producing physical game discs despite widespread backlash.
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Earlier this month, PlayStation announced that it will stop producing physical games from January 2028. “This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs. This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today,” they explained in a short blog post. One report has claimed that just seven PlayStation games have sold more than 100,000 copies in the US this year.
However the announcement has received wide-spread backlash. Hideo Kojima called it a “scary” and “frightening” decision, especially after Sony deleted hundreds of movies from PlayStation 5 libraries over an expired rights license. One petition asking Sony not to “kill the disc” has more than 345,00 signatures and other fans are organising a week-long economic boycott of Playstation to protest the decision. “Sony wants to abandon fans? Let’s give them a small taste of their own medicine.”
Despite the criticism, Sony’s chief financial officer Lin Tao has said they’re not going to change their plans. “There are various reasons we made this decision. The biggest being that the digitalisation of content overall has been progressing,” she explained via translator at the company’s latest earnings call.
Sony responds to the backlash over ending PlayStation discs.
“We put in a lot of thought and time, and we cautiously considered this, and we came to this conclusion, and we’re going to cautiously move this forward…” pic.twitter.com/qRKkEX6TN3
— AmericanTruckSongs9 (@ethangach) July 31, 2026
“We put in a lot of thought [about the future]. We cautiously considered [scrapping physical discs] and we have received various opinions [about it]. People have strong views. Games are loved by many people and so we understand those emotions [but] we’re going to cautiously move forward [with this decision].”
Earlier this month, a report claimed that Sony’s decision to scrap physical discs will be the “doom” of brick and mortar retail stores. Some are already boycotting the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 after it was confirmed publishers Take Two Interactive will just be shipping a code in a box, rather than a disc.
In other news, the original soundtrack for 007 First Light is finally available to stream.
The soundtrack features 38 songs composed by The Flight but a few fan-favourite tracks are missing from the digital release including the ravey remix of the Bond theme from superstar DJ Dimitri Vegas and Grace ‘Gigi’ Ogun’s cover of ‘The End Of The World’.
The post PlayStation moving forward with end of physical discs despite backlash appeared first on NME.
