New PlayStation Rumor Suggests Sony Could Reverse Course on Abandonment of Physical Games
PlayStation is still facing the backlash from its widely hated decision to kill physical media by January 2028. Even over two months later, outraged players are still brigading the company’s YouTube channel, official blog posts, and social media accounts with various messages meant to show their displeasure. PlayStation leadership undoubtedly knew this would be a big deal, but a recent rumor indicates that it may be testing the waters with third-party developers regarding its choice to stop supporting physical media and possibly thinking of reversing course.
Tech analyst YouTuber Moore’s Law Is Dead, who goes by Tom, said in a recent episode of his Broken Silicon podcast that PlayStation sent out a survey to developers. This survey was allegedly bigger than other surveys the company has sent out and, in his words, talked indirectly about the decision to stop producing discs and how that would impact the teams taking the survey.
Tom then speculated Sony might consider “some sort of mea culpa” if it gets enough negative feedback. Again, this is speculation based on a report, so this is in no way a confirmation PlayStation is going to start producing discs all of a sudden. However, if true and PlayStation hears from enough developers that don’t like this policy, it’s possibly a small step in getting the company to reverse course.
PlayStation Bringing Back Discs Is Complicated
But this is a complicated decision because PlayStation is financially encouraged to stop making discs. According to former Santa Monica Studio writer Alanah Pearce, her sources at some of PlayStation’s first-party studios said PlayStation knew this would spark immense backlash and thus enforced incredibly strict social media guidelines for its employees on the matter. Pearce said PlayStation “would only have done this if they knew [halting disc production] was going to be an enormous PR issue” and that “this is no surprise to them.” However, even though the backlash wasn’t shocking, it remains to be seen if the vitriol has exceeded expectations.
And, as noted by Insider Gaming, PlayStation sees this as a maturing market and wants to extract more money out of its users and not “aggressively sell” the console new players. According to director of research and insights at Niko Partners Daniel Ahmad, PlayStation has made 59% more per user when compared to the PS4 era. Along with monopolizing how players can buy games, PlayStation also gets a greater return on digital sales since the cost doesn’t have to be split with disc manufacturers and retailers. PlayStation even noted how more and more players are buying digitally, as its official data said 85% of sales were digital during the company’s Q4 fiscal year in 2025 (which is up from 19% in FY 2015). These elements make the move to a digital-only future much more lucrative for PlayStation, particularly in a sour economy.
There was initially a mistranslation or misinterpretation regarding PlayStation’s disc-making facility in Thalgau, Austria. At first, it seemed as though the plant was almost solely switching to microlenses, but a later clarification noted Sony Digital Audio Disc Corporation expected a 10% decline in volume, not 90%, the latter of which was first falsely reported. Many employees are being retrained, though.
Even with the aforementioned financial incentives to stay on its current track, keeping around its disc-making facility and potentially taking in feedback both give PlayStation the opportunity — however small — to keep making discs. With a constant stream of bad news regarding rising prices, shuttered studios, disappointing tentpole games, removing digital purchases, lost exclusives, and the closure of digital storefronts, it would make sense for PlayStation to make a move that would win back players. It is still unlikely that it will announce a renewed interest in physical media, but it is technically possible, especially if this survey is to be believed.
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