On July 1, Sony announced that no new PlayStation games will ship on-disc from January 2028 onwards. This move to a digital-only future has sparked widespread backlash and concerns about game preservation and ownership, including in Sony’s homeland of Japan, where developers and fans have also expressed disapproval of the move.
Hideo Kojima, although not addressing the situation directly, topically reposted his previous comments on the pitfalls of a digital-only future. In two tweets dating from August 2021, Kojima said that, “Eventually, even digital data will no longer be owned by individuals on their own initiative. Whenever there is a major change or accident in the world, in a country, in a government, in an idea, in a trend, access to it may suddenly be cut off. We will not be able to freely access the movies, books, and music that we have loved. I would be a have-not. That’s what I’m afraid of. This is not greed.”
Shueisha Games’ Masami Yamamoto, who has been involved in game production for decades within the Sony group, discussed how PlayStation moving to a digital-only future might affect game publishing timelines. “We’ll have about one-and-a-half months more to really polish the master if we don’t have to make a disc version,” Yamamoto said, before explaining that “even nowadays when day one patches are the norm, if there is a disc version you still need to get the game into a finalized state in which there are no serious flaws that would hinder gameplay.” He added that on an ideal schedule, the master should be completed two months prior to the game’s release.
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There is a lot of concern that going digital-only will deal a big blow to Japan’s second-hand game stores and market. Voice actor and gamer Masaru Yoshimura was among those who expressed shock at Sony’s announcement, commenting that, “My hobby is browsing PlayStation titles at game stores and I prefer physical game cases so this makes me way too sad.” Others opined that one of the ways that PlayStation currently has an edge over PC is the option to buy your favorite games on disc. “Some people choose to get the PlayStation version instead of the PC version because it’s on disc or it’s a limited edition physical version,” one person said.
Others questioned Sony’s timing of this announcement, noting that it came on the same day as the announcement about shutting down the PS3 and PS Vita online stores. “Announcing them both at the same time was bound to make customers anxious and think, ‘Does this mean that corporate decisions could make digitally bought games I bought unplayable at any moment!?” Indeed, the announcement also comes hot on the heels of Sony’s upcoming deletion of over 550 movies purchased by PlayStation users — with no refund — prompting further distrust of a digital-only future. “Digital is convenient but it only grants the right to play the game. Owning things seems like it’s becoming a value from the past, doesn’t it?” said one X user on the topic.
On the flip side, some commenters pointed out that the writing has been on the wall for physical console games for a long time. Digital sales have been on an upward trend with Sony reporting that 78% of game sales in 2025 were downloads (although, this also includes games that do not have a physical release). In its PlayStation Blog post, Sony described phasing out discs as the company adapting “to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs.”
If games continue to get physical releases, it seems that they will be ‘code in a box’ affairs, like Grand Theft Auto 6’s disc-less physical version, which caused a stir last month. All of this points towards a digital-only future for consoles, with both PS6 and Xbox’s upcoming console, Project Helix, reportedly launching without a disc drive.
Elsewhere, the official UK Domino’s Pizza account has been grilling Sony for the decision like its personal, issuing a mock statement that it will switch to digital pizzas only in response to gaming industry trends. KFC also dunked on Sony in a similar manner.
A recent IGN poll found that 90% of readers do not support an all-digital gaming future, but recent statements from Sony suggest it is unlikely to backtrack on its decision, and it’s already moving to reassign disc production workers to other areas of the business.
Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
