PlayStation's disc-less future didn't happen overnight, strategy was planned for 'some time'

Sony's decision to cut production of physical game discs by January 2028 was in the works for a while, sources tell Österreichischer Rundfunk's local Salzburg branch.

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New reports indicate that Sony's plans to kill off PlayStation discs may not be easily reversible. According to ORF's Salzburg news org, Sony's DADC (Digital Audio Disc Corporation) is retraining staff at an Austrian-based media production facility in Thalgau, with various restructurings happening behind the scenes. The plant will now produce Sony's advanced Micro Optics technology instead.

According to ORF Salzburg, people close to the matter say that this process has been planned for "some time," however it's unclear how long Sony's plan to cut game discs has been mulled over. It's possible that this decision was years in the making, as Sony started to cut Blu-ray disc production as early as July 2024. At the time, the decision only affected recordable media like BD-R discs.

It's said that the facility in Thalgau can produce 600,000 discs per day.

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Data shows that demand for game discs has significantly waned over the years.

For example, in FY17, which pre-dates the PlayStation 5, Sony had shipped 168 million game discs; by FY25, that number dropped to 70 million. (Editor's note: One point I'd like to reinforce is that Sony recognizes how effective physical media can be, has been, and currently is, however it's not that physical media doesn't work, it's that digital just works better and it also helps insulate mid- to long-term profits in a more agreeable way).

Sony's move to nix physical PlayStation games comes at a pivotal time in the games industry when corporations are trying to set up their next-gen console platforms for maximum profit potential, especially since those profit margins are highly challenged by the component crisis.

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Experts do not expect pricing to return to normal pre-crisis levels, indicating that the new normal of digital-only consoles in excess of $1,000 may be here to stay.