The physical game disc is facing its final demise. According to CI Games CEO Marek Tymiński, most publishers will completely abandon discs by 2027.
It's a brutally honest calculation that's crippling retailers. According to Tymiński, after deducting retailer margins, logistics, and production costs from a $70 game sold in stores, the studio is left with a paltry $26. In contrast, with purely digital sales via the PlayStation Network or Xbox Live, almost $49 goes directly to the developers.
It's simply no longer profitable. If physical sales already account for less than 20 percent of the total market, the plastic on the shelf becomes a pure loss-making venture. This trend has been gradually expanding since the PS4 generation, pushing the boundaries of what players can afford. The latest figures now confirm that the switch will finally be flipped in 2028.
Rockstar Games and Sony are getting serious
The avalanche is already rolling. "GTA 6" will be released in a boxed version without a disc, and Sony is scrapping its in-house disc production for first-party titles starting in 2028. This is forcing the entire industry to rethink its approach. Who wants to waste millions on pressing plants now? With this announcement, Sony has given publishers the best possible gift. Now, they just need to implement it.
Marek Tymiński promises that the upcoming "Lords of the Fallen 2" will still be released on disc in early 2027. However, it is likely to be one of the last of its kind.
The demise of the disc is a done deal. Economically, the move makes sense for publishers, but for us gamers it means the end of the secondhand market and the total loss of digital property, unless the publishers... forced to reform .
What do you think: Will you miss game boxes without a physical disc on your shelf, or have you already turned your back on your disc drive anyway?
There's still time until 2028
You simply don't see the monopoly Sony has with this. When an account gets banned or hacked, the outcry begins. Or when you suddenly have to pay €80 for a 10-year-old game because you can only buy it in the store and not in the bargain bin for €10 or get three for €29 at Media Markt. Those days are completely over. It would be different if Sony opened the store to sellers or if online games could be sold or given away. (THAT WOULD BE A TECHNICAL CHILD'S ASSORTING.) But they would never do that.
And if Sony makes it possible to return a game you don't like after 2 hours, like on PC if you haven't started downloading, tough luck.
Then everything will just be bought on PC, on Steam, and through key resellers… you'll only pay €40 for the new game instead of €60-70, and with Steam you're more likely to still be able to play the game in 20 years when Sony shuts down its eShops… Sony is just completely ruining its business with this 😂
I've been doing it longer than those idiots planned! XD
Who needs a disc anymore?! LMFAO
Rataje Nad Labe, you don't get it either, do you? It's not so much about a physical medium. It's about Sony having a monopoly and setting the prices and deciding what games you're allowed to play. Sony will then charge full price for older games. The Play Store is already way too expensive for many games, and you can sometimes get the CDs for just a few euros. That will all disappear. On PC, there are various ways to buy games. Eric, GOG, Luna, to name just a few. But Sony is creating an absolute monopoly here too because you can ONLY buy games through the Play Store. Do you finally understand why everyone's so upset? And playing through a game and then reselling it will also be impossible.
And another huge disadvantage. On Steam, you buy a game and have two hours to test it. If you don't like it, you can return it without any problems.
Once you start a download from Sony, it's yours forever. It's already happened to me by mistake. I only bought the PS4 version of the game. No exchange possible. Sony is completely unfriendly to customers. And then last week, Sony deleted over 500 purchased movies, including Terminator 2. The same thing can happen with games.
And what do you do if your account gets hacked? Everything's gone. You have nothing left. Or what if Sony suspends your account? Now tell me some reasons against it.
If Sony removes purchased digital content from an account's history, they shouldn't be surprised when people jailbreak their PS4s and download the games illegally. 😀
Sony will get away with this because many of you can only talk the talk but don't follow through. As soon as the next GTA 6 trailer comes out, it'll all be forgotten. Many casual gamers don't care about gaming at all, but here are a few facts.
The claim that 80% of sales are purely digital is utter nonsense! For example: If you buy five €2 indie games, these are automatically counted as digital sales, as are DLC purchases. However, many players still prefer to buy big AAA games physically. Sony's balance sheet is therefore artificially inflated by indie purchases and DLC sales and has nothing to do with reality.
Many people suffer from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), simply afraid of missing out on something, and Sony is capitalizing on this – keyword: GTA 6. It's suggested that GTA 6 is a PlayStation exclusive. But that's not true! It will also be released on November 19, 2026, for the Xbox Series X and later for PC.
Next topic: The fear of losing saved game data. This might be true for story-driven games, but not for multiplayer games. Titles like Call of Duty, Dead by Daylight, and Destiny 2 have a cross-save function. It's really easy to enable and link in your browser. With cross-save, your PlayStation game saves are instantly available on your Xbox or PC.
What did I do? For me, it's clear that my next console will be the Xbox Helix, since it also includes Steam. And yes, you can buy digitally, but you don't have to, as Xbox plans to integrate a disc-to-digital conversion function. Digital purchases on Steam and Xbox are simply more customer-friendly and transparent. If a game is ever discontinued, a company like Valve (Steam) or Microsoft doesn't just take the games away from you – they remain available. After what Sony pulled, in my opinion, they're no longer trustworthy enough to have my money.
I've got everything ready: all my multiplayer save files are playable on Xbox and Steam (you obviously need to own the base game). My last purchase from Sony will be the BO1 & BO2 port. After that, I'll only use the console for my massive backlog collection. Sony won't earn another cent from me. My PS Plus subscription will be downgraded from Premium to Essential with my next annual subscription. Until 2028, I'll fill my Steam and Xbox collections as much as possible through sales to perfectly prepare for the next generation.
Think carefully about where you want to spend your money, and finally take off your fanboy glasses. If you want to continue supporting Sony, feel free – just don't complain later if you don't like it. And if you do voice criticism, don't back down. Stay consistent and stick with it!
Who is there?
Josef Maier, I don't care about the game because it's stupid, and since version 5 was just online nonsense anyway, it was uninteresting to me. 😁
Your comment is completely irrelevant to me except for the false statement that Sony has clearly stated that 85% of all first-party and AAA games are purchased digitally. It's obvious that people like you say this is fake because Microsoft is the holy cradle, laying off thousands of employees, closing dozens of studios, etc.
Nobody has said anywhere that GTA 6 will be a PS exclusive.
Microsoft and Valve also remove games from their libraries. Games that are banned, etc., are something they can't do if the developer removes the game.
The money goes to Sony and Valve because I don't care; I've only bought digitally since 2014.
Dominik Roithmeier: That's perfectly fine, but thanks for the heads-up. I've reread the financial report properly and updated the text above accordingly. Furthermore, according to more detailed reports, the studios won't be closed, but will be given the opportunity to be independent and continue their projects. Currently, the studios are looking for new investors, but feel free to correct me if you see anything new. Buying digitally is perfectly fine, everyone can do as they please.
Best Regards,
Josef Maier: Nice try, Josef, but unfortunately you've completely gone in circles and twisted the world to suit your own narrative. Anyone who actually reads the official Sony financial reports knows that your arguments are completely detached from reality.
The DLC misconception: Sony strictly separates 'Full Game Software' (complete games) and 'Add-on Content' (DLCs, in-game currency) in its financial statements. The ~80% figure refers solely to the sale of complete games. DLCs do not artificially inflate these figures in any way.
AAA games: To claim that the 80% figure is solely due to €2 indie games is simply wrong. Publishers like EA, Activision, and Ubisoft disclose their figures: Even absolute megasellers like Call of Duty, EA Sports FC, and Spider-Man are now purchased digitally by the vast majority of the population, with well over half of their sales going to them.
GTA 6: Nobody is claiming that GTA 6 is a PlayStation exclusive. Rockstar has been releasing their games for PlayStation and Xbox simultaneously for decades. You're making up a specious argument that nobody ever claimed.
It's perfectly fine if you prefer discs. But to dismiss the official, audited financial statements of a multi-billion dollar corporation as 'nonsense' simply because they don't suit your personal taste is quite something. Read the actual reports first, then talk about facts!
Paddy Black, thank you for the feedback. I will correct or remove the figures accordingly. I've now taken a closer look at the financial report and I agree with you.
Best Regards,
Josef Maier: Okay, thank you for the feedback and for taking another look at the report. It's great that we were able to resolve this so amicably! Best regards back.
That's the same as cashless payments; now they have what they want.
Benjamin Bauer, oh how awful. The world has ended 🤣.
Rainer Elsner, you definitely hear about him every day.
94 million PS5s, and how many disc drives does that include? I only use mine for one game, and that's a PS4 disc. So, it was a "pointless" purchase.
If Sony doesn't cooperate, then let's look at the other side of the force 😏
80% of people only buy digitally, so who's partly to blame?
Paddy Black, that's nonsense. The numbers don't add up at all.
Paddy Black: The majority of these are the games from PS+ that are considered "purchased" if you collect them every month 🫨
Paddy Black over 90% ☝🏼
Paddy Black 85%. So what does "guilt" even mean? A small minority wants physical discs; in short, the market is far too small 🤷🏾♀️
The question is, who's living in which world? Sony's official financial reports clearly show that the digital share of game sales averages nearly 80% – in some quarters even reaching 85%. If you include the PC market, the total figure is over 90%. So the 80% is absolutely factually correct.
And PS+ games are not counted as digital sales in these official Sony purchase statistics at all; that's complete nonsense.
Just open your eyes in the store: Why are the DVD and disc shelves at MediaMarkt and Saturn constantly shrinking? Why are Sony and Microsoft releasing consoles without disc drives? Because the industry is actively phasing out discs to dry up the used market and save on production and shipping costs. Do your research before commenting.