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Sony has sparked a backlash for its decision to do away with video game discs on PlayStation consoles from 2028 — and the IGN audience’s feeling on the matter is crystal clear, too.
That doesn’t just affect PS5 games; most analysts agree that the PS6 will launch without a disc drive. Reports indicate the next-gen Xbox, codenamed Project Helix, will follow suit, although Microsoft is said to be working on a way to digitize physical games in preparation for the move. Only Nintendo, it seems, still believes in true physical media.
You know a video game announcement has hit the mainstream when the likes of KFC, Domino’s and, even celebrity comedians are dunking on it. As your Fallout 4 companion might have said, everyone disliked that. An IGN poll asking, ‘Do You Support an All-Digital Gaming Future?’, has seen over 13,000 respondents so far. 90.2% said no, leaving just 9.8% saying yes.
Perhaps these results aren’t particularly surprising, and you have to believe Sony knew what was coming when it decided now was the time to rip off the Band-Aid. So why do it at all?
Let’s start with Sony’s official explanation. Sid Shuman, Senior Director, Sony Interactive Entertainment Content Communications, said in a post on PlayStation Blog that the decision was “in response to shifting trends in consumer preference.”
“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,” Shuman continued. “This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.”
That’s pretty vague, but what Sony is essentially saying here is that when you zoom out and look at the PlayStation audience overall, digital is the overwhelmingly popular option — and the gap between digital and physical will only get bigger.
Piers Harding-Rolls, games industry analyst at Ampere, has said the data backs this up, and that a lot has changed over the course of the last two generations. “Console gaming is the last hold-out for physical media in the gaming sector, but physical product has been declining in importance,” he said in a post on the Ampere website. “Back in 2013 when the PS4 launched, Ampere data shows that only 13% of total full games unit sales for Sony consoles were digital (including digital-only games). Fast forward to 2025, and this digital share of full game purchases stood at almost 80% of the total.
“Inevitably there will be concerns from PlayStation gamers around various aspects of this announcement including choice, accessing older physical games on new consoles, the ability to collect physical games, and game preservation, however the purchasing trends of gamers are clear.”
Harding-Rolls also suggests Sony has money on its mind. Selling games digitally makes games companies more money than selling games in boxes, where publishers take about 50% of the sale price. Sony takes a 30% cut of game sales on the PlayStation Store, leaving 70% for publishers. When PlayStation goes 100% digital from 2028 onwards, the game companies including Sony will make more money overall from software sales.
Meanwhile, ditching a disc drive would in theory make the PS6 cheaper to produce amid the ongoing RAMpocalypse fueled by the AI boom. Analysts believe the PS6 will launch late 2028, given PlayStation will ditch discs from January of that year. It’s thinking ahead.
All this is to say, it’s unlikely that Sony will change its mind on discs. Its share price enjoyed a bump following the announcement, which suggests the market is in favor of it (unsurprising, given it will in theory make the company more money). And while there are a number of online petitions calling on Sony to reconsider, it looks like their pleas will fall on deaf ears.
One analyst said fans of physical media had their chance and blew it, so there’s no going back. “If gamers and preservationists had bought more physical games, Sony wouldn’t have seen the digital sales ratios that justify this decision,” Robin Zhu, a games analyst at Bernstein, told the Financial Times.
“Digital game sales carry essentially 100% incremental margin… the cost of the physical package, shipping and retailer margins can be more than 20% per cent of sticker price.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
