Sony Phases Out Physical PS5 Games, Disc Factory Workers to Be Retrained

Sony has initiated plans to reassign staff at a major disc production plant following its decision to cease production of physical PS5 games. While the company has stated that all new PS5 games will be digital-only starting January 2028, hundreds of employees at its disc factory in Thalgau, Austria, are set to be retrained—raising questions about whether Sony will begin scaling back disc launches earlier.

Currently, an astonishing 600,000 discs are produced daily at Sony's factory, with PS5 games accounting for half of the output. However, this volume will soon be drastically reduced, and staff will shift to manufacturing optical microlenses instead.

"PlayStation currently accounts for approximately 50 percent of our volume, and of that, around 20 percent are new orders," said Dietmar Tanzer, CEO of Sony DADC, to local news outlet Salzburg ORF. "We're talking about roughly 10 percent of the volume in 2028."

Sony's announcement sent shockwaves through the industry earlier this week, drawing strong negative reactions from fans, developers, and even celebrities. Amid the backlash and the sense that this marks the end of an era for physical media, data shows that physical game purchases are declining rapidly year-over-year.

Tanzer stated that the shift to disc-less production won't result in job losses at the Thalgau factory. The facility's 300 employees will undergo retraining to focus on manufacturing "micro optics," such as lenses that project car turn signals onto the road.

Analysts view Sony's all-digital PS5 announcement as evidence that the PS6 will also lack disc support. This report reinforces that idea, with no indication that disc production will ramp up for the next console generation, as Sony suggests it won't sell hardware at a significant loss despite rising component costs.

"A disc-less PS6 makes sense," analyst Piers Harding-Rolls suggested this week, noting that omitting a disc drive helps keep component costs down. "Sony will be looking for all the ways it can reduce the cost of its next-gen console, and this is an easy win," he wrote.

"It's possible that an add-on disc drive could be made available to play older PS4 and PS5 games on disc," Harding-Rolls continued. "Removing the drive will upset some gamers who don't want to pay for an add-on disc drive (if available) and want to access their physical game collections. It may be too impractical or complex, but some process of transferring older physical media to a digital license could alleviate some of these issues."

Sony isn't the only company moving away from discs. Microsoft's next-gen Xbox, codenamed Project Helix, is reportedly set to launch without a disc drive. Additionally, Microsoft is exploring a disc-to-digital feature that would allow users to insert a disc and obtain a digital license, enabling play without the disc.