## Sony swore it would end PS5 discs. Now it's paying the bill There's a line that sums up the mood at this year's Gamescom pretty well, and it didn't come from any executive on stage. It came from John Linneman of Digital Foundry, in a podcast recorded after the event: he talked to a bunch of developers and publishers and came back saying most of them were "very upset." Not about a game, not about a price. About Sony's decision to simply stop manufacturing physical PS5 discs starting in 2028. Linneman didn't name anyone, which is a bit frustrating if you like a direct source, but the pattern he described is clear enough: **big studios don't care**, and it's the small and mid-sized ones feeling the hit. The reason is practically accounting-based — for these smaller companies, a good chunk of revenue still comes from the physical shelf, not the digital store. ### Who actually loses money over this It's not an exaggeration to say there's an entire market built on top of the disc. Publishers like Limited Run Games and iam8bit live off this: limited runs, collector's covers, that crowd that buys the game to keep on a shelf, not just to play. iam8bit, in fact, already put out a public statement criticizing Sony's decision — which on its own says a lot about how deep the discomfort runs. And the financial argument behind these scrappy publishers' complaints isn't weak. According to Sony's own published numbers, physical media sales dropped from **6% of gaming revenue in 2020** — the year the PS5 launched, disc drive included by default — to **just 3% today**. Sounds small, but for a small publisher that depends exactly on that slice, it's the difference between closing out the quarter or not. ### Why this matters now Because the decision is already made and the clock is running. Sony confirmed the end of new physical disc production for 2028, and that changes the math for any publisher still planning physical releases two or three years out — that's the kind of timeline that forces you to renegotiate manufacturing contracts, rethink print runs, and in some cases, decide whether that niche is even worth staying in anymore. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch 2 becomes, almost by accident, the safe harbor for anyone who still believes in a cartridge in a box. Worth noting: not everyone agrees here. Journalist Richard Browne actually debunked the initial rumors about publisher backlash, calling them overblown. It was only after Linneman weighed in — with his own accounts gathered from hallway conversations at Gamescom — that the story picked up steam again. The origin of the whole thing, as far as anyone's traced it, was a Spanish-language Eurogamer podcast — the kind of rumor that starts small and turns into international headlines within days. ### What's left hanging **A few points that sum up the standoff:** - Sony has been scaling back discs for years: PS5 Slim with a removable drive, PS5 Pro with none at all. - Physical has been cut roughly in half as a share of revenue since 2020 (from 6% to 3%). - Big publishers don't mind; small ones do — and they're the ones making noise. - 2028 is the announced date for the end of new disc manufacturing. - Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden has already said publicly he believes the PS6 won't fully abandon discs — which contradicts a lot of what's being speculated right now. I keep wondering whether this frustration will actually change anything or whether, a year from now, nobody will even remember the fuss — because, let's be honest, the gaming industry has quite the track record of outrage that lasts exactly until the next flashy trailer drops. The question that sticks around is: how many of these small publishers will actually survive long enough to see 2028 arrive?