Sony to Stop Making New PlayStation Games on Disc Starting 2028

Sony announced Wednesday that physical game disc production for all new PlayStation games will end starting January 2028. Sid Shuman, Sony communications director, stated on the PlayStation Blog that after this date new games will be available on the PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only. Games already released or scheduled with retail versions will remain available on discs.

Sony said the shift follows consumer trends where digital purchases outpace physical discs. The company will also shut down online stores for the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita in select markets this year, with global closures in 2027. The devices, launched in 2006 and 2011, are incompatible with modern commerce systems including updated payment processing standards.

Grand Theft Auto VI will launch with a download code instead of a disc in physical releases. Daniel Ahmad of Niko Partners reported that 78 percent of Sony's full game unit sales in the past year were digital, compared with 90 percent for Xbox. Ahmad added that 70 million physical PlayStation games were still sold last year.

Mat Piscatella noted that U.S. sales of new physical games totaled $1.6 billion in the 12 months ending May 2025, down from $11.5 billion in 2009. Modern consoles do not have disc drives, he said. Sony co-developed the compact disc format and introduced CD-based games with the first PlayStation in the 1990s.