Sony is killing discs — and showing us why it’s a terrible idea

The future of video game preservation just took a major hit. This morning, Sony announced that, starting in January 2028, the company will no longer produce physical PlayStation discs , which means that from that moment on you can only purchase new PS5 games digitally. At the same time, Sony also announced that it’s going to start winding down the digital stores for both the PS3 and PS Vita , helpfully illustrating one of the most pertinent issues with a digital-only future for gaming: Once the stores are gone, so are the games. It’s a terrible blow for preservation of the medium. In a lot of ways, both announcements seemed inevitable. It’s clear that consumers have largely — though not entirely — shifted to buying games digitally . According to Sony’s most recent financial results from May , around 80 percent of PS5 games sold are digital. Meanwhile, just last week, Grand Theft Auto VI developer Rockstar Games announced that when the next GTA shows up in retail stores in November, it will actually just be a code in a box , with no disc. Digital games are in some ways more convenient for players. You can prep downloads in advance, keep a big library of games on a single console, and take advantage of frequent sales. There are also some notable immediate drawbacks, like the inability to sell used games or simply share a copy with a friend . …