Sony may reconsider its plan to phase out physical discs for PlayStation.

The management of the Japanese company Nippon Ichi Software and its Western publishing division, NIS America, announced direct consultations with Sony Interactive Entertainment regarding their previously announced plan to stop the production of optical discs by 2028. Kenzo Saruhashi, CEO of the publisher, emphasized that the platform holder is closely monitoring and analyzing negative feedback from the video game community and industry partners. According to the executive, the current dialogue leaves room for adjustments to the Japanese platform holder’s initial strategy regarding physical distribution on PlayStation 5 and the upcoming PlayStation 6 home consoles.

For independent and niche publishers specializing in Japanese role-playing games, releasing limited edition physical discs forms the core of their business model and accounts for the lion’s share of revenue. Moving to a code-in-a-box model is seen as a possible compromise, but the company does not view it as the sole or ideal solution. Practical experience with similar keycards on other platforms has shown a very lukewarm reception from collectors, who demand a full-fledged disc drive as well as art books and merchandise.

Industry insiders note that Nippon Ichi’s announcement coincided with a large-scale closed-door survey sent by Sony to its studio partners to thoroughly assess the implications of abandoning disc releases. Experts believe that the platform holder could, rather than implementing a total ban on optical media, develop flexible rules or targeted exceptions for the release of limited edition discs for collector’s editions. Currently, the official status of the production rules remains unchanged, but negotiations between publishers and the platform holder are ongoing.

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