That is what I saw last night. The source (Tom’s Hardware) an excellent source of information gives us (at https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/playstation/sony-officially-kills-the-playstation-disc-ending-physical-game-production-in-2028-shutting-down-the-playstation-store-on-the-playstation-3-and-ps-vita-systems) ‘Sony officially kills the PlayStation disc, ending physical game production in 2028 — shutting down the PlayStation Store on the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita systems’ and there are two parts in there. The second part the PS3 and Vita store shutdown is less of an issue. The be clear I am still amazed they survived them, the PS3 ended its ‘life’ in 2012 when the PS4 came out and as I see it it was quite a run and for it to be supported for this long only gives credit to Sony. The first part is where my mind wen into overdrive. The end of physical media in 2028. Not a good thing as I see it. I for one love my physical media. And for it to end is not a good thing. Consider the congestion the internet faces in 2028/2029. So at present we have God of War Laufey and GTA6 giving us 150GB-250GB each, now consider that there are 93.7 million PS5 systems in the world, so we are given (conservatively given) 50,000,000 times 200GB that is 10,000,000 TB on day one and this is merely two games on day one. As I see it, the global internet is not ready for that much traffic in a week and this is not the whole enchilada, this is merely a day one setting for two games. We aren’t ready for that and taking into account a whole range of other software, the alarm chimes of congestion will resound all over the internet as such I am thinking that this stage should not even be entertained until at least 2035. I reckon that the global internet has been over 80% upgraded by then (a speculative thought), as such we aren’t even sure when this is ready because even as I love the materials of Tom (and his hardware). There is a thought that this was a mere spark of consideration and I reckon that Sony would ill survive the onslaught of that consequence.
So how serious is this thought?
As we are given “I say “anyone could have guessed” because you’d have to have your head in the sand to ignore all the factors pointing this way. The biggest of such factors is arguably the reality that Blu-ray drive production has sharply wound down outside of game consoles. But there’s also the fact that the vast majority of games purchased today are already purchased digitally; in Q4 2025, 85% of PlayStation games were purchased digitally, and if you zoom out to look at the entire US video game market, the PC and mobile markets are already effectively 100% digital.” There are a few wishful thinking parts (like “anyone could have guessed”), but there is a larger setting, even if we consider “85% of PlayStation games were purchased digitally” the setting is nice and I have bought a few games digitally (like classics) but the stage where millions of ‘lovers’ of the god of War and GTA6 trample over the internet to get their copy and optionally more titles. Congest would be a lovely setting and as net neutrality is given its stage of hardship, we need to acknowledge that some voices (like allegedly Microsoft giving some people “we can easily with that traffic”) there is a setting that they want Sony to fail, so that they can revive their failed console, because at that point as a ‘treat’ for their gamers they have revived their top 10 physical copy onslaught and ‘just for the fans’ they are making them steel-box novelties. Or that is how I see their marketing throwing these sides about. This last part is purely speculative, but that is how I would play it and as Microsoft is a lot more sneaky than I am, they must have considered this. Nintendo does not have this setting as their largest game (from sources) set that tone at a file size is FC25 (EA Sports FC 25), taking up 45.8 GB, not really large by any standard and a few other titles are a mere 18GB, so they could play this all in a digital store. But the fans (like me) are still handed that feeling when we pick up our physical copy in a story. The unwrapping of our game, the game card in our console. I still remember the day in October 2002 when I picked up my Super Mario Sunshine. That day was magical in part because that game was a step above whatever was out there.
It does not compare to ‘I clicked the download button’ and that is merely on me and a lot of gamers who think like that. But the setting that the internet on a near global setting cannot accommodate people in rural Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Denmark,) and a few other places is a real setting. And that also counts in America. Why do you think that the power of Amazon came from? That neglect gave Jeff Bezos billions and now as we see that some are giving strength to gaming in that way is not a negotiable thing. So, I am not sticking my head in the sand. It will go this way, but not until the internet has had a massive upgrade and that is not liable to be in place before 2035.
So think of this what you will and I regard Tom’s Hardware one of the finest sources. But this caper is bound to be a cut to the revenue of Sony. So, anyone that disagrees, I say fine. But consider the numbers of merely two titles and consider that 30 to 50 true AAA games released globally each year and they tend to take over 75GB each, now consider that my numbers are actually a lot more conservative than expected and it is merely one system, so now consider Steam deck, Sony, 12 Xbox systems (OK, that was mean) and now rerun these numbers and consider that players like Ubisoft tend to put out patches that can range from 10 GB to 70+ GB depending on compression and their titles are out on many systems. Now rerun those numbers again and see how wrong I might be and not in a good way.
So have a nice day and consider the food for though I left you.
Lawrence van Rijn - Law Lord to be 