Sony: End of physical game disc production to ‘cautiously move forward’ despite ‘strong opinions’

During its fiscal year 2026 Q1 earnings briefing, Sony Group Corporation chief financial officer Lin Tao addressed the recent announcement that Sony Interactive Entertainment will end physical game disc production for PlayStation games starting in January 2028, stating that there were “various reasons” behind the decision and that, despite “various opinions” and “strong views,” the plan will ‘cautiously move forward.’

“We announced that from January 2028 onwards, we will no longer be manufacturing again discs—so one-and-a-half years ahead,” Tao said. “There are various reasons we made this decision, the biggest being that the digitalization of contents overall has been progressing—that’s the big factor. It’s not just PlayStation, but for all kinds of contents, digitalization is progressing.

Tao continued, “So when we think about the future, and we put in a lot of thought and time, and we cautiously considered this, we came to this conclusion, and we’re going to cautiously move this forward. And to this decision, we have received various opinions—people have strong views—and we understand that the community has put forth those views to us. Games are loved by many people. It’s a form of entertainment that’s loved by people, and it’s connected to people’s fond memories in many cases. And so we understand those emotions. We want to consider that. And in the future digital ecosystem, how do we engage the gamers is something that we would like to continue to explore. Thank you very much.”

Thanks, @EthanGach.