Whether you just like physical PlayStation 5 games or are a collector of some sort, we’ve got bad news for you. Or rather, Sony has bad news. In the future, those cases with discs that you can pick up at retailers will be no more. Consumer data has leaned this way for a long time, and Sony is poised to finally make the change.
Sony to End Physical Games for PlayStation 5 and Beyond
It’s difficult to tell when the PlayStation 6 is coming, but it does seem like it will be soon. Regardless, by 2028, whether the primary console is still the PlayStation 5 or the 6 has been released, there will be no more physical copies of games.
Sony revealed this troubling news in a blog on July 1, writing, “As consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continue to shift away from physical discs to digital, physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028.”
Games released in the next year and a half, such as God of War Laufey, Wolverine, or Grand Theft Auto VI (with a caveat for GTA, since discs won’t be ready at launch but available later), will get physical copies. After that, nothing released on PlayStation 5 or 6 will be anything but a digital code. Even the cases you buy at retailers will simply have a code.
Sony continued, “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.”
Unfortunately, they’re not wrong. While there are collectors out there keeping physical media across all formats alive, it is a dying trend. The digital age has brought forth the convenience of digital games, movies, TV shows, and even books. Physical, tangible copies have slowly been going by the wayside.
Sony and PlayStation are not the first ones to go down this road, but they are the first ones to effectively put a date on the end of physical discs. Nintendo began this journey recently with the controversial introduction of Game-Key Cards, physical cases with a generic cartridge that didn’t actually house the game itself as previous cartridges did.
The blog post also added, “We’ll continue to prioritize our resources to drive innovation in how players can access games and provide choices as to where players prefer to purchase new games, whether that’s at retailers or PlayStation Store.”
This is bad news across the board. However, it seems sadly unavoidable. Manufacturing the cases and discs does cost money, and the convenience of a digital copy has driven gamers in that direction. Sony’s not innocent, though, as the frequent sales (which, to be clear, are a great thing for consumers) on the PlayStation Store further drove players to the digital space and away from the physical one.
While most games were just the standard case with a disc inside, there were some special collector’s items. I happen to have a steelbook copy of Marvel’s Spider-Man, and recently, special steelbooks with collectors items were announced for several new games, including Fable and the Persona remake.
Presumably, that practice will end. Of course, steelbooks are even more expensive to produce than the standard physical copies, so this is totally unsurprising. It is sad, though, because it’s the first time a company has completely stopped production of physical media. And based on how things are going, it’s unlikely that anything will happen between now and 2028 to change Sony’s plan.
