Sony to End Production of Physical Discs for New PlayStation Games in January 2028

Sony announced today that production of physical discs for new PlayStation games will stop in January 2028. After this date, new PlayStation games will only be available digitally via the PlayStation Store or via digital codes sold by retailers.

After Rockstar Games declined to release physical discs for the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of GTA VI, the writing was already on the wall for physical games. Sony’s latest console, the PlayStation 5 Pro, already shipped without a physical disc, though gamers could still purchase the company’s attachable disc drive separately.

“This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs. This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today,” Sony said today.

In addition to this announcement regarding physical PlayStation games, Sony also said today that it will shut down the digital PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita consoles in select markets this year. The PS3 PlayStation Store will first shut down in Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua in August 2026, with additional Latin American and Middle Eastern countries to follow in late 2026. The PS3 and PS Vita digital stores will close in all other countries in July 2027.

“As the PlayStation Store continues to evolve to support modern commerce systems, including updated payment processing standards, PS3 and PS Vita are no longer able to support these updates at the level required. As a result, we will need to close PlayStation Store on these devices,” Sony explained today.

As a reminder, Microsoft also shut down its Xbox 360 Store two years ago. However, Xbox 360 games that are backwards-compatible on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S consoles are still available to purchase digitally on the Microsoft Store.