Game News

Sony will stop making discs for new PlayStation games in 2028 and close the PS3 and Vita stores

Sony will stop producing physical discs for new games released on PlayStation consoles from January 2028, Reuters reported on 1 July, in a story carried by the Irish Examiner. From that date, new titles will be sold only digitally, through the PlayStation Store or as digital formats sold by retailers. Games released, or already scheduled for disc release, before January 2028 are not affected.

Reuters said digital downloads made up about 80% of Sony's full-game software sales in fiscal 2025, and that the company explained the move as a response to buying habits shifting online. Sony is also closing the PlayStation Store on the PS3 and PS Vita: closures start from August 2026 in Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua and reach all remaining markets in July 2027. For those consoles, Sony said the 15- to 20-year-old systems can no longer support the secure payment systems used by the modern PlayStation Network.

“shifting trends in consumer preference” — Sony's reasoning, via Engadget

Engadget put physical distribution at about 3% of PlayStation revenue last year and pointed to the 2024 PS5 Pro, sold without a disc drive, as an early sign. It said owners of PS3 and Vita games can still re-download past purchases “for the foreseeable future”. South Korea's Inven Global also reported the January 2028 end of disc production.

How each outlet framed it

• Reuters (Irish Examiner) — the business case: digital's 80% share and the timetable for the old stores.
• Engadget — the wider industry: Xbox moving away from discs, Nintendo's game-key cards, and a likely hit to retailers and the second-hand market.
• Inven Global — the headline date for players in Korea.

Where the numbers differ: the 80% and 3% figures measure different things: the first is digital's share of full-game sales, the second physical distribution's share of all PlayStation revenue.