For diehard fans, Sony’s move to call time on physical games for its PlayStation console means game over on a series of treasured habits. No more boxes — aka gamers’ trophies — to line the shelves. No ownership, removing the ability to lend or sell, with potential knock-on effects on second-hand retailers such as CeX of the UK and GameStop in the US.
Conversely, it looks like game on for investors in the Japanese tech and entertainment conglomerate, which counts gaming and network services as its biggest division by revenue. Digital games zap pesky costs for pressing and shipping discs, and mean Sony no longer needs to leave space for retailers to add their cut. Inevitably, games sold through the PlayStation Store will be more profitable.
Sony is presenting the move, which takes effect from January 2028, as zeitgeist rather than greedy rent extraction. Some 85 per cent of its game sales were digital in the quarter ending March 31. The Japanese giant is the first in its field to pull the plug on physical discs — ironically perhaps, for a company that only just stopped production of Blu-ray Disc recorders and reverted to faxes in the wake of a 2014 hack. But others are moving in a similar direction.