Sony has responded to the backlash to its decision to end physical production of game disks. The company announced it would be starting the process of pivoting fully to digital media in June 2026, with January 2028 being the target for this to come into effect.
The announcement was controversial, with advocates of physical media raising their concerns and adding a new chapter to an already contentious debate. As originally reported by Kotaku, on an earnings call that took place on July 31, Sony acknowledged the pushback and commented on the situation for the first time.
“There are various reasons we made this decision, the biggest being that the digitalization of content overall has been progressing, that’s the big factor,” said Sony chief financial officer Lin Tao, through an interpreter. “It’s not just for PlayStation, but for all kinds of content, digitalization is progressing.”
Tao continued, “And so when we think about the future–and we put in a lot of thought and time, and we cautiously considered this–and we came to this conclusion, and we’re going to cautiously move this forward. And to this decision, we have received various opinions and 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.”
During the call, Tao was asked how ending disk production could affect Sony’s relationship with retailers worldwide. Tao responded by stating this would lead to empty game boxes being sold that contained a redeemable code instead of disk.
“About the retailers, there are regional characteristics, and for each regional partner, we try to have a thorough dialogue so that we can end up in a win-win situation,” said Tao on the same earnings call.
“We don’t feel that the disc is the factor to differentiate from the PC. There’s a certain way to play with the PC as a user. It’s a long tail. The curated content is one of our strengths, and the game environment being stable, that’s another strength. And compared to the high-end gaming PC, our product is more affordable. So we don’t feel that the disc itself is a strong factor for differentiation. Going forward, we can coexist peacefully with PC games.”