PlayStation consoles will no longer have physical disc releases from January 2028, according to a statement from Sid Shuman, senior director of Sony Interactive Entertainment Content Communications on the company's official website on Wednesday.
The gaming console company clarified that this change will have no impact on games that already released, or will be releasing in disc format before January 2028.
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The firm will also be shuttering the PlayStation Store for their PS3 and PS Vita consoles.
"PlayStation Store on PS3 will close in select markets starting this year, followed by global closures for PS3 and PS Vita next year," Shuman said.
PlayStation stated that its reasoning for doing away with physical releases was due to consumer preferences for digital releases over physical formats.
"This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs," Shuman said.
"This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today," he added.
This development comes after video game developer Rockstar had announced that their upcoming physical release for Grand Theft Auto VI for the PlayStation and Xbox consoles will not be available in disc format, and will instead contain a code for the online download of the game.
The company will close down the PlayStation Store for the PS3 in select markets starting this year, followed up by global closures for PS3 and PS Vita in the coming year.
"That means new content purchases will no longer be possible once the PlayStation Store closes on these devices," Shuman said.
The firm will still facilitate players to be able to download previously purchased content after the PlayStation Store has closed for the foreseeable future.
The company stated that the reason for this closure was due to the fact that older consoles could no longer support the updates that it was making to its PlayStation Store, especially with regards to payment processing systems.
"As the PlayStation Store continues to evolve to support modern commerce systems, including updated payment processing standards, PS3 and PS Vita are no longer able to support these updates at the level required," Shuman said.
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The PlayStation Store for the PS3 will close in Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua from August 2026. Other Latin American and Middle Eastern countries will also see closures for the same from late 2026.
For the remaining countries, the digital store will close in July 2027.
(This is a developing story.)
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