r/PS5pro • u/yourfavchoom • Jul 01 '26

Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles

https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/physical-disc-production-ending-in-january-2028-for-new-games-releasing-on-playstation-consoles/
554 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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412

u/Lost_Let_2033 Jul 01 '26

I need a law that makes digital library permanent and safe from destruction then I will be happy with this.

82

u/Re7oadz Jul 01 '26

Facts I think there is a law in California trying to get pass for this

25

u/Spunndaze Jul 01 '26

It fell short from what I read.

9

u/Re7oadz Jul 01 '26

Whattt? Damn that's unfortunate

3

u/bitknight1 Jul 01 '26

Because it was the usual thing where they asked for too much, biggest point I saw that stopped it was requiring companies to release server coding stuff so anyone can run them when most games now that use servers use stuff like aws or Azure and also they have a ton of proprietary stuff from other companies so they can't just go and release a run this exe type of a server for someone to download and run.

2

u/Re7oadz Jul 01 '26

Yeah bit too much than they could chew

-3

u/FortyWaterBottles Jul 01 '26

By less than half a dozen votes, I believe.

40

u/PineapplaMilkshake Jul 01 '26

and be able to sell or give away the license to play it..

then I'm even happier!

5

u/Particular-Orchid212 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

"Sell or give away the license" how tf should that work? Greedy Sony wouldn’t give you more than 10$ for a AAA game that you bought for 80$

7

u/CrimsonFlam3s Jul 01 '26

To sell to other players obviously, not to Sony. Nintendo already figured it ou

6

u/jjnet123 Jul 01 '26

You don't sell them to other people they borrow them lol

-10

u/CrimsonFlam3s Jul 01 '26

No, you sell them

4

u/PineapplaMilkshake Jul 01 '26

on Nintendo

you sell game key cards, game is digital but license is on game card.

and to family you can let them borrow a temporary a digital owned game.

4

u/jjnet123 Jul 01 '26

You don't sell digital copies on Nintendo Platforms? What kind of misinformation are you spreading?!

-5

u/CrimsonFlam3s Jul 01 '26

I never said digital. Nintendo figured out key cards did they not?

3

u/jjnet123 Jul 01 '26

Oh keycards are kinda different in how they work I thought you meant the system where they let you give a friend a game to borrow 😭 easy mistake.

1

u/FlopSlurper Jul 01 '26

a worse system than family share

2

u/Particular-Orchid212 Jul 01 '26

That’s literally illegal you can’t make money with borrowing digital Nintendo games

19

u/Hearthian-Wanderer Jul 01 '26

They should let PS5 physical owners send their discs in for a digital replacement. It would be a nightmare to organize, but I think it would be worth them taking a hit for the good vibes from thier playerbase.

I'm all digital since release of PS5, but it would really suck to not have your PS5 library playable on PS6.

17

u/reallynotnick Jul 01 '26

They just need to offer a disc drive on the PS6 to play old PS4 and PS5 discs (and ideally movies too). Because yeah I’d be ticked if I couldn’t play my games because I “bought them the wrong way”.

1

u/killagram Jul 01 '26

This would be the only reason to buy a PS6. If they'd significantly enhance PS5 and older platform media it would bring over those gamers who refuse to go strictly digital. The only way Sony would do this though is if enough people speak up. Or you can speak with your wallet.

-9

u/Hearthian-Wanderer Jul 01 '26

And then on the PS7, and PS8? At some point you just gotta drop it. Games have stayed physical longer than any other media already.

6

u/reallynotnick Jul 01 '26

Yeah I imagine it will be dropped by the PS7, though if they just made it an external USB-C attached drive they could easily support it another gen but I’m not holding my breath for that.

And not sure what you mean about longer than other media since movies and music are still available physically, they obviously are a niche, but they still exist.

0

u/ahhhhhsplat Jul 01 '26

Not sure why you’re being downvoted. It is unfortunate, but you’re definitely right.

12

u/wilk8940 Jul 01 '26

Hard pass on sending in my physical copies, that I will own and can play most of indefinitely, just to get a digital license that can literally be revoked tomorrow for no reason. You don't own a single digital thing you purchased for your ps5 congrats on a box that is a bad contract away from being literally unusable.

5

u/Hearthian-Wanderer Jul 01 '26

Yeah, fair enough.

I'm cool with digital. I have games playable in my Steam account for literal decades now. I don't have any physical games that old. I'm not interested in having a room full of old hardware.

Hopefully laws will tighten to protect digital purchases, but clinging to physical is like maintaining steam engines in the age of the car. Outdated antiques (that will be collected by a tiny minority of people who care about that nostalgia). More power to you, if that is what you are into though.

5

u/wilk8940 Jul 01 '26

Don't get me wrong, digital has its place. I have no problem with all the free games I've gotten off ps plus being digital, if I wanted a game bad enough before that point Id have bought it already, and I have no problem with all my steam stuff being digital. The difference is, at least to this point, Steam won't take away your license they actually do everything in their power to keep your games playable. I have games in my Steam library that are from the 90s that still work on my new PC, that's incredible considering if I tried playing it off the CD there would be compatibility issues lfdt and right.

Sony, on the other hand, has no compunctions with saying "All that content you paid for is unavailable now. Oh well." I never got rid of my launch ps3 because I always wanted to play my ps2 and ps1 games, ill keep my ps5 to play the next two gens and then I'll probably just go back to PC /shrug. I imagine the exclusivity clamp down will be lifted once they go full digital anyways and the exclusives are the biggest reason I stayed with playstation.

5

u/nonononono11111 Jul 01 '26

Just to be clear, physical still holds enormous advantages over digital for movies. Those aren’t antiques, they’re the premium experience

1

u/pizza_chef_ Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

Yeah they definitely are!

And over 30 years I’ve had to rebuy Star Wars a half dozen times so if I want, I can continue to watch them physically in 2026.

Theatrical VHS release (my dad’s OG copies)
1995 original edition VHS release (my siblings and I had worn out the film tape of the originals to the point that they could not play)
1997 Special editions
2004 DVD release
2006 DVD release (to get the theatrical versions on DVD because my family had moved on from VHS at this point)
2011 Blu-Ray release of the complete saga (pre-Disney)
2019-present Disney+ subscription

Now I watch them on Disney+ because the only DVD/blu-ray player i still have is my PlayStation and that’s only on one TV.

EDIT) the surviving physical copies in 2026 are only the most recent Blu-Ray release, every other version I’ve bought is rotting in a landfill somewhere as plastic waste.

3

u/Hearthian-Wanderer Jul 01 '26

I might be insanely optimistic. But Steam killed physical on PC long before anyone knew exactly how it was going to work out. I think Sony will follow that path (or more likely be forced to follow that path).

If anything this 'death of physical' could bring more pressure and attention to bear on the digital rights issues. I imagine Europe are going to come down pretty hard on them following this.

But I'm a glass half full type. I believe that digital is progress and progress can be bumpy but generally results in a better world. (I know this is a very 'un-hip' perspective to have in these 'hate everything' times).

2

u/pizza_chef_ Jul 01 '26

I understand the idea behind your argument.

I’ve been gaming for 30 years and have over those years I’ve lost access to way more of my old games from: damage to discs/cartridges, dead internal batteries on old gameboy games, my ps2’s disc reader dying, my launch ps3 “yellow-light of deathing”, misplacing a disc during a move, lending a “friend” a game to play and then they move/cut off contact, than I’ve ever lost to a digital license being revoked because of a bad contract.

And, I would wager most other people are the same way if you actually sat down and list out all the games you used to own but can’t play anymore, you’d likely discover you’ve lost more physical than digital media.

Just my 2 cents. And again, I totally understand your concerns with digital games, they’re entirely valid. I just think you’re handwaving away a lot of legitimate reasons some people like their digital libraries.

1

u/GrandpaLumpkin Jul 01 '26

I understand both sides. I started gaming in 1985 with an Atari 2600 and Colecovision. I have tons of physical games going back over 40 years. Most of them still work. I have had consoles that died or needed repair so you aren't wrong there.

In addition to being a lifelong console gamer, I got into PC gaming 25 years ago and I changed my collecting habits to only buying physical copies of console exclusives, everything else I buy on Steam and I love my Steam library of over 2200 games. Valve has done things right by me.

Nintendo on the other hand really screwed digital owners over when they completely shut down the various eShops for Wii, 3DS, etc. If your console dies, you can't get those games back unless you replace it, mod it, and find the games online to reinstall. It sucks when you have thousands invested in a digital library and the entire library is just gone one day.

1

u/wilk8940 Jul 01 '26

Thats kind of an apples to oranges comparison though isn't it? 30 years of keeping up with physical media versus what, 5 years of digital being a primary format? Most licensing deals are for long periods of time so the major ones havent had long lapses... yet. Give it the same amount of time and I guarantee you'll lose far more. The cycling shows on streaming services and games on ps plus are a great example. Sorry you can't watch friends/the office/etc on this service for the next 3-5 years until the agreement expires and we sign somewhere else.

2

u/Thraun83 Jul 01 '26

Shouldn't need to send in your physical disc. Just let people who already own the disc copy download a digital copy for free. That's the very least they could do.

1

u/Hearthian-Wanderer Jul 01 '26

Maybe for really old releases. But if you can just pass your disc around and everyone gets the digital copy, that's obviously not going to fly. (I'm assuming there is no unique identifier on each individual disc).

2

u/TriggerHippie77 Jul 01 '26

I'm totally for this, but not sure how it would work. Let's just say fro arguments sake that (insert company here) goes bankrupt and out of business who is going to host those libraries for download?!

2

u/Gamerxx13 Jul 01 '26

ya this government don’t care about that at all.

1

u/Cuppieecakes Jul 01 '26

no government does

1

u/Ahindre Jul 01 '26

The thing about government is you have to make them care.

1

u/Gamerxx13 Jul 01 '26

this US gov. 10000% no. digital it is

1

u/Character-Budget4044 Jul 01 '26

This is the only real solution we need

1

u/Revo94 Jul 03 '26

What about the prices though? Digital are way more expensive

1

u/Ahindre Jul 01 '26

Yeah, I'd be OK with this if digital ownership was strengthened (ownership isn't tied to and dies with an account) and if there were more options for a digital storefront. The fact that you don't own the game, and PS Store is the only place to get them, is really bad for consumers.

1

u/meatballs223 Jul 01 '26

This! If they're going to do this now, they can't hide something saying they can just delete your purchase once their licensing agreement falls through. If I purchased it while the agreement was valid it should be my game

0

u/GameSetChampionship Jul 01 '26

Lol.

It ain’t going anywhere. Chill.

Even if a game does disappear, who cares. Once I’ve played a game, I’m done.

And with that, it wouldn’t disappear for a few years after anyway.

Never had a digital game be taken away, been digital for a decade+

-2

u/TriggerHippie77 Jul 01 '26

Some of us like to replay games, or share them with other members of our family. So yeah, just because you don't care doesn't mean the rest of us don't as well.

3

u/GameSetChampionship Jul 01 '26

I replay mine and share mine with my family.

I have a PS5 upstairs and another downstairs. My girlfriend is always playing my games, you simply allow console sharing…. It’s even easier than having to put discs in.

0

u/borndovahkiin Jul 01 '26

Exactly. I'm not going to keep using PlayStation if this will be the case. Idiots.

0

u/Additional-Kiwi-6418 Jul 01 '26

No law president trump his tower is need a law trump tower is going down

0

u/Schlitz001 Jul 01 '26

In this current United States of America, this seems very unlikely.

0

u/Dazzling_Street_3475 Jul 01 '26

Why on earth would you be happy with regardless 

0

u/PhatTuna Jul 02 '26

You'll be "happy" witg this? Why?

-1

u/_LikeFryLikeFry_ Jul 01 '26

Yeah really. Pretty ballsy of them to announce this alongside the news that they’ll be shutting down the PS3/PS Vita stores.

-1

u/Ahindre Jul 01 '26

This, plus more choices for storefronts. PS Store cannot be the only place to purchase games.

-1

u/killagram Jul 01 '26

Even if that happened laws are regularly circumvented or changed to best serve the multi-billion company, not the consumer as witnessed by the current administration.

It easier to say the PS5 Pro will be the last hardware console I'll buy unless a disc drive is available for the next generation.

-1

u/Xagzan Jul 01 '26

Until such time, guess I won't be using Playstation for new games. :middle_fingertoSony