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In January 2028, Sony will stop making physical discs for new PlayStation games and release new titles as digital downloads or boxed codes.
More people are buying games digitally these days, Sony said in Wednesday’s announcement, and many gamers play online. As such, company leadership sees a future in which downloads, cloud services, and subscriptions provide most PlayStation content.
This decision also helps Sony reduce manufacturing and logistics costs and simplify global distribution. The January 2028 timeline may also signal that Sony’s next console, colloquially known as the PlayStation 6, could ditch the disc drive entirely.
Players without fast or affordable broadband or with limited data connections are likely to face new barriers, and many worry about long‑term access to games that rely entirely on online delivery and account‑based licenses. Owning an online game—or any digital media, for that matter—doesn’t really translate to you owning it fully; it’s always conditional.
Sony’s new timeline applies globally and includes both first-party and third-party games. Existing discs released before January 2028 will continue to work—on current consoles, at least.
