The Slow, Deliberate Death of Game Ownership
July 3, 2026News this month that Sony Interactive Entertainment would stop producing PlayStation physical discs in 2028 wasn’t very surprising, but the way it was delivered was.
Pointing to “consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry’s … shift away from physical discs,” SIE framed the decision to cease disc production for new games starting in January 2028 as a natural direction shaped by consumer preferences.
While it may be true that digital copies of PlayStation 5 games outsell physical editions, the decision really comes down to money: Saving it and making it.
The reality is that in most cases you’re not actually buying a physical game, you’re renting it. Thanks to often odious DRM rules many developers or publishers retain the right to simply take what you paid for. I don’t mean they’ll break into your house, but only because they don’t have to. They just tell you you can’t download it anymore. Or that you have to check into a server to play, and they turn off the server.
The shift to digital isn’t mysterious.
What is more interesting, though, is how the different platform holders go about ushering in that shift.
You can read the full story, which was first published July 3, on Game.
