From The Verge · Sean Hollister · · 1 min
Sony’s Disc Phaseout Isn’t Happening as Fast as Thought
Sony clarified its last disc plant is cutting production by 10 percent instead of 90, but physical games are still on borrowed time.
In brief
Sony clarified its last disc plant is cutting production by 10 percent instead of 90, but physical games are still on borrowed time. Sony is still phasing out new PlayStation game discs by 2028, but re-orders for existing titles mean its last disc plant will scale down gradually. Originally reported by The Verge.
Disc death delayed slightly
Sony still plans to end new game disc production by January 2028, but its last disc manufacturing facility isn't scaling back quite as fast as initially reported.
Misread math on production
Reports suggested Sony’s Thalgau plant would slash production by 90 percent. A spokesperson clarified the facility anticipates a volume decline of just 10 percent.
“in that statement Dietmar anticipated an overall product volume decline by 10 percent, not a decline down to 10 percent”
Restructuring remains uncertain
Sony DADC declined to confirm whether the Austrian plant is still actively retraining all 300 of its employees to manufacture microlenses instead of optical media.
Re-orders keep plants open
The disc factory will stay active partly because publishers can still place re-orders for existing PlayStation disc titles after the cutoff date.
The war on game ownership
Despite the slower taper, media ownership is fading. Sony recently argued legally that consumers cannot reasonably expect to own the games they purchase.
“reasonable consumers couldn’t possibly believe they own a game after they buy it”
In short
Sony is still phasing out new PlayStation game discs by 2028, but re-orders for existing titles mean its last disc plant will scale down gradually.
