{"id":507224,"date":"2026-07-03T03:03:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T03:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/507224\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T03:03:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T03:03:16","slug":"sony-to-stop-releasing-playstation-games-on-discs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/507224\/","title":{"rendered":"Sony to stop releasing PlayStation games on discs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sony said the upcoming shift \u201chas no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing, prior to January 2028 in disc format\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sony began its move towards digital downloads in 2020 with the release of the latest console, PlayStation 5, which had a version without a disc drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remain committed to delivering a world-class gaming experience to our fans,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

Piers Harding-Rolls at Ampere Analysis said \u201cthe purchasing trends of gamers are clear\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a catastrophe\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2013, when the PS4 launched, only 13% of game sales were digital, but had risen to nearly 80% in 2025, he noted.<\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t stop gamers from complaining, however.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a catastrophe,\u201d said gamer and content creator Conkerax on YouTube.<\/p>\n

\u201cInevitably there will be concerns from PlayStation gamers around various aspects of this announcement including choice, accessing older physical games on new consoles, the ability to collect physical games, and game preservation,\u201d said Ampere\u2019s Harding-Rolls.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: New high score: West Auckland video game firm\u2019s revenue explodes to $526m<\/a><\/p>\n

He noted that the shift towards digital would have a negative impact on specialist games retailers, and would also hit the second-hand market.<\/p>\n

The announcement renewed speculation about the next-generation PlayStation 6 console.<\/p>\n

Sony\u2019s announcement \u201cpretty much confirms PS6 will be digital only\u201d, said Daniel Ahmad at Niko Partners, a video game market research firm.<\/p>\n

Harding-Rolls agreed, and said it will likely mean a delay.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmpere\u2019s current expectation is that the console will launch at the end of 2028,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

-AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sony said the upcoming shift \u201chas no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing, prior…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[19330,3311,158025,129416,5504,6489,68199,111,139,69,90,10661,88973,4990,312,5258,6361,1324,145,61,416,1533],"class_list":["post-507224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-19330","tag-consumer","tag-disc","tag-discs","tag-following","tag-games","tag-january","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-playstation","tag-preferences","tag-releasing","tag-says","tag-shift","tag-sony","tag-stop","tag-technology","tag-to","tag-video","tag-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}