‘We’re going to cautiously move this forward’: Sony says it hears PlayStation disc backlash but will continue its plans

Sony has confirmed that it intends to proceed with its plan to cease manufacturing physical game discs for PlayStation consoles in January 2028, despite significant backlash from the gaming community.

Following its Q1 2026 earnings announcement, Sony Chief Financial Officer Lin Tao addressed the negative reception directly during a Q&A session, acknowledging the passionate reaction while reaffirming the company's digital-first trajectory.

Moving Forward with Digitalization

Sony originally announced the January 2028 end date for disc manufacturing in June 2026, providing an 18-month lead time for the transition. According to Tao, the decision reflects broader shifts across the media landscape rather than an isolated strategy.

"We announced that from January 2028 onwards we will no longer be manufacturing game discs, so [we announced it] one and a half years ahead," Tao said, as reported by Video Games Chronicle. "There are various reasons we made this decision, the biggest being that digitalisation of contents overall has been progressing, that’s the big factor. It’s not just for PlayStation, but for all kinds of content, digitalisation is progressing. And so, when we think about the future, 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."

Acknowledging Community Backlash

The planned phase-out of physical media sparked immediate debate among players concerned about game preservation, ownership rights, and secondary market access. Tao acknowledged the emotional weight attached to physical media while explaining how Sony plans to handle player engagement in a digital-only framework.

"To this decision we have received various opinions, and people have strong views, and we understand that the community has put forward those views to us," Tao said. "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."

Despite the pushback, Sony has made no indication that it will reverse course before the January 2028 deadline.

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• Video Games Chronicle Hero image: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/files/2026/07/PS5-disc-drive.jpg