During the Q&A session that follows after Sony’s Financial Year 2026 Quarter 1 earnings announcement, the company issued its first response towards the controversial move of going all-digital with PlayStation as the console maker set to abandon game releases on physical discs entirely by January 2028.
Sony CFO Lin Tao says that “digitalisation of contents overall has been progressing” as one of the reasons of going all-digital.
“It’s not just for PlayStation, but for all kinds of content, digitalisation is progressing,” she said.
“And so, when we think about the future, we put in a lot of thought and time, and we cautiously considered this, and we came to this conclusion, and we’re going to cautiously move this forward.”
Tao is aware of the reactions coming from the announcement. “We have received various opinions, and people have strong views, and we understand that the community has put forward those views to us. Games are loved by many people, it’s a form of entertainment that’s loved by people, and it’s connected to people’s fond memories in many cases, and so we understand those emotions.
“We want to consider that, and in the future digital ecosystem ‘how do we engage the gamers’ is something that we would like to continue to explore.”
Sony has planned this shift to an all-digital far ahead enough that its factories that manufacture Blu-ray discs for PlayStation games have started retooling even before the announcement was made.
One of the biggest upcoming game releases this year, Grand Theft Auto VI, will only be available digitally, with physical versions only containing a download code, not a disc.
During Q1 of its Financial Year 2026, Sony’s Game & Network Services was its biggest money maker. This is the category which PlayStation and all its gaming business are filed under.
Source: (VGC, gamesindustry.biz, Sony)