Overview
- Sony announced in July that it will stop manufacturing physical PlayStation game discs starting January 2028, and the company says it does not plan to reverse the decision.
- This week PlayStation’s new “It Happens on PS5” advertisement and a Phantom Blade Zero State of Play livestream drew heavy user protests in comments and live chat with repeated “no disc no buy” messages and disc emojis.
- Sony has left comments enabled on its channels and maintains it expects no negative business impact while offering boxed download codes and letting publishers reorder discs for titles released before the 2028 cutoff.
- Game retailers and disc manufacturers are beginning to repurpose plants and retrain staff, and publishers face the risk that third‑party launches will be overshadowed by the disc controversy.
- The decision is rooted in steep digital sales shares reported by the industry and low 2026 physical sales numbers, and it has prompted petitions, coordinated online protests and legal complaints in several regions.