New Report Confirms PlayStation is Likely Already Significantly Cutting Back on Physical Discs

When PlayStation announced its plan to stop making physical game discs, they set a January 2028 date. So in theory, the PS5 should still get physical releases for some of the year’s most anticipated releases. In fact, Insomniac clapped back at GTA 6 by affirming that there will be actual discs for Marvel’s Wolverine. But while 2028 might be the official cutoff for physical PlayStation disc production, new intel suggests the company is already cutting back.

Not long after the disc-free news broke, an Austrian business site checked in with one of Sony’s biggest physical disc production plants. This location reportedly prints over 600,000 physical PlayStation discs per day, accounting for about half of the factory’s output. Naturally, Sony’s plans to go fully digital prompted questions about that plant’s future. And from the sounds of it, the plant is already shifting gears to produce far fewer PS5 discs.

Sony’s Biggest Physical Disc Manufacturer Already Shifting Staff to Other Projects

2028 might seem like a long time from now, but January 2028 is less than two years away. So in some ways, PlayStation breaking news of its plans now gives people time to prepare. Gamers can think about whether they want to support PlayStation moving forward and developers can parse through what PlayStation’s plans mean for their future PS5 and PS6 releases. And of course, the production plans responsible for making said physical discs can prepare for their next move.

The good news is, no one at the Thalgau plant is set to lose their job because of Sony’s decision. Instead, many of the 300 employees will be shifted to work on other products. Specifically, Sony has invested in a pivot to manufacturing optical microlenses at the plant. These sensors are typically used in smartphones, VR headsets, and similar tech. With this planned shift already in place, it seems Sony has been preparing for a move away from PlayStation discs for some time.

The full shift to making micro-optics over PlayStation discs isn’t supposed to start until next year. However, some employees previously working on game discs are already at work testing out the new production tech. If Sony does indeed plan to start mass producing optical microlenses at its biggest PlayStation disc plant in 2027, we’re likely to see fewer discs ahead of the full shutdown in 2028. That isn’t exactly surprising, since physical games are already a smaller share of the market than they have been in the past. However, it could mean that finding physical copies of some major upcoming PlayStation games might prove challenging.

With Marvel’s Wolverine due out in September, it’s unclear how much these changes will impact the number of physical copies available. But other upcoming games like God of War Laufey, which don’t yet have release dates, could launch after the biggest physical disc production facility has shifted gears. And that could mean those affordable physical copies gamers are mourning the loss of could be hard to find even before they’re officially off the market.

Regardless of the immediate impact on game availability, this news suggests that Sony isn’t likely to change course. Despite initial backlash to the digital-only future, it seems like the move to printing far fewer game discs is already in progress. And if Sony is already thinking about what’s next for its biggest production facility, odds are good that they aren’t going to turn back now.

How are you feeling now that the disc-free PlayStation news has had a few days to sink in? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

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