Over 90% of IGN's Audience Rejects an All-Digital Gaming Future, but PlayStation Likely Won't Reverse Its Decision to Phase Out Discs

Sony has faced backlash for its plan to eliminate video game discs from PlayStation consoles starting in 2028—and the IGN audience's stance is unmistakable. This move doesn't just affect PS5 games; most analysts agree the PS6 will launch without a disc drive. Reports suggest the next-generation Xbox, codenamed Project Helix, will follow suit, though Microsoft is reportedly developing a way to digitize physical games in preparation. Only Nintendo, it seems, still believes in true physical media.

You know a video game announcement has hit the mainstream when brands like KFC, Domino's, and even celebrity comedians are mocking it. As your Fallout 4 companion might have said, everyone disliked that. An IGN poll asking 'Do You Support an All-Digital Gaming Future?' has garnered over 13,000 responses so far, with 90.2% saying no and just 9.8% saying yes.

Perhaps these results aren't surprising, and Sony likely anticipated the backlash when it decided now was the time to rip off the Band-Aid. So why do it at all?

Let's start with Sony's official explanation. Sid Shuman, Senior Director of Sony Interactive Entertainment Content Communications, stated in a PlayStation Blog post that the decision was 'in response to shifting trends in consumer preference.' He added, '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. This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.'

That's vague, but essentially Sony is saying that when you look at the PlayStation audience as a whole, digital is overwhelmingly popular—and the gap between digital and physical will only widen.

Piers Harding-Rolls, a games industry analyst at Ampere, says the data supports this. 'Console gaming is the last holdout for physical media in the gaming sector, but physical product has been declining in importance,' he wrote. 'Back in 2013 when the PS4 launched, Ampere data shows that only 13% of total full games unit sales for Sony consoles were digital (including digital-only games). Fast forward to 2025, and this digital share of full game purchases stood at almost 80% of the total. Inevitably there will be concerns from PlayStation gamers around various aspects of this announcement including choice, accessing older physical games on new consoles, the ability to collect physical games, and game preservation, however the purchasing trends of gamers are clear.'

Harding-Rolls also suggests Sony is thinking about money. Selling games digitally is more profitable than selling physical copies, where publishers take about 50% of the sale price. Sony takes a 30% cut of game sales on the PlayStation Store, leaving 70% for publishers. When PlayStation goes 100% digital from 2028 onward, game companies including Sony will make more money overall from software sales.

Meanwhile, ditching a disc drive would theoretically make the PS6 cheaper to produce amid the ongoing RAMpocalypse fueled by the AI boom. Analysts believe the PS6 will launch in late 2028, given PlayStation will phase out discs from January of that year. It's forward-thinking.

All this suggests Sony is unlikely to change its mind on discs. Its share price enjoyed a bump following the announcement, indicating market approval (unsurprising, given it will theoretically make the company more money). And while several online petitions call on Sony to reconsider, their pleas seem likely to fall on deaf ears.

One analyst said fans of physical media had their chance and blew it. 'If gamers and preservationists had bought more physical games, Sony wouldn’t have seen the digital sales ratios that justify this decision,' Robin Zhu, a games analyst at Bernstein, told the Financial Times. 'Digital game sales carry essentially 100% incremental margin... the cost of the physical package, shipping and retailer margins can be more than 20% of sticker price.'