PlayStation Plus cancellations. Pictures of physical game collections. Expletives. A modified version of PlayStation’s slogan to now say, “Play by our limits.” My favorite is probably the image from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, except the “Colonel’s” dialogue to Raiden reads, “Corporations will abandon physical media, and the individual will own nothing at all.”

And on and on it goes for about 3,000 comments on one tweet.

If it wasn’t clear enough already, the decision to kill physical games has gone down poorly. Polls from different publications show that most readers are fine with the PS5 being their last console. A presidential candidate in France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, lambasted Sony’s decision, stating that “video games are not mere merchandise, they are cultural assets, and the law in force must apply to them.”

Brazilian lawmaker Erika Hilton seeks to investigate Sony if it plans to announce digital-only titles and use them to push digital-only consoles. She also brought up a rather interesting issue in hindsight: how consumers paid more for consoles with disc drives, only to now be faced with a digital-only future. Remember when Sony was pushing for its optional Blu-ray disc drive? How it faced supply shortages and extensive scalping when the PS5 Pro was announced without one? Not even two years later, those who went to pains for the same have essentially been left high and dry.

But regardless, the result is clear: Most people utterly despise PlayStation’s decision. On the one hand, the direction is confusing – and we’ll get into that. On the other, it comes across as tone-deaf, especially with storage costs ever-increasing.

Of course, everyone knows why PlayStation is doing this, and it’s not just because the consumer base has trended more towards digital. This is also apparently far from a snap decision to help bring down the price of its next-gen console (especially because the real costs are tied elsewhere). But it all goes back to greed and the need to control its players’ purchasing power.

Remember that talking point from its last fiscal report about how 85 percent of its software sales for the quarter were full-game digital downloads? And how it was up by five percent year-over-year? When measuring the full-year ratio of downloads to physical sales, it actually turned out to be 78 percent. Furthermore, physical software revenue was actually up from 121.159 billion yen in fiscal year 2024 to 125.106 billion yen in fiscal year 2025 (though that also includes bundles and disc royalties from third parties).

There’s also that recent report by Alinea Analytics about physical sales splits for some of the top-selling PS5 games this year. Resident Evil Requiem reportedly sold 3.5 million copies on the platform, and about 27.8 percent is apparently physical. 007 First Light’s physical sales allegedly make up 21 percent of the two million sold on the platform. Ghost of Yōtei is perhaps the most egregious – a whopping 35.4 percent of the reported 1.2 million sold this year alone is physical.

Again, these are all estimates and not official data, but even if they’re off by five percent (give or take), there are still those out there buying discs in sizable enough quantities to justify their production. But in PlayStation’s eyes, all those physical copies simply represent a market ripe for resale, where they’re effectively cut out from any profits. This has long been a concern for the games industry for decades – who remembers the always-online DRM that Assassin’s Creed 2 had to combat piracy? So why is it taking such drastic steps? Games have become far more expensive and need to generate more sales to guarantee a return.

If Sony can dismantle the current ecosystem to funnel customers towards a digital-only future where it receives all the revenue, ownership be damned, it will go for it. It will even go a step further, as indicated by dynamic pricing on the PlayStation Store, to carefully control how much you save. Because everyone knows that those sales are meant to save the company money, not you. It’s even looking at potentially increasing the price of PlayStation Plus again in the future, presumably to spite all of you who played EA Sports FC 26 through your subscription.

To that end, Sony has also reportedly repurposed its disc manufacturing plant in Thalgau, which now plans to build microlenses instead. By 2028, it’s seemingly going from 300,000 discs daily to 30,000. It wouldn’t be surprising to see that volume drop even further, but if it wasn’t clear already, this has been a years-long plan. The fact that it’s finally set a deadline probably has less to do with the current memory and storage shortages, and more with trying to prop up the PS6 as its main digital tentpole.

How will this affect retailers? PlayStation said it would offer future titles in “digital formats only”…years after it announced it would no longer provide full games via digital codes for PS4. Obviously, this shouldn’t inspire much confidence in said retailers. But they’re effectively fighting to stay relevant, especially with the industry shifting more towards digital delivery, both in games and marketing.

How will it handle its partners and other publishers? Why, by allowing them to re-order discs for existing PlayStation titles after January 2028, according to a new report by Game File. That explains why it hasn’t completely shifted away from disc manufacturing. What about games launched after that date? What if you planned to release a game in Fall 2027 but another major release – say, The Witcher 4 – forces you to delay it to early 2028? Well, we don’t know, and at this point, it wouldn’t be surprising if PlayStation is similarly clueless.

All of this, every single bit, is the consequence of Sony being the market leader. It may dress up these decisions as adapting to “consumer trends” and aligning “more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.” But these decisions, from start to finish, are all for PlayStation’s sake, and nothing more. And its shareholders, lest we forget. After all, the stock price rose by a whopping 3.2 percent after this announcement. Mission accomplished, clearly.

For everyone else who wants to feel a sense of ownership, or just to be assured that their platform holder can’t just take away things on short notice – like PlayStation’s recent announcement to remove more than 500 Studio Canal movies, with no avenue for current owners to access them – well, you can’t. Unlike the forced PSN account linking, this isn’t just something that it can back down from at the slightest hint of backlash. Even if it ultimately delivers a compromise – like special $100 discs for collectors – PlayStation will just keep on keeping on, slowly shifting towards a market that it fully controls. Like an amusement park where you’re welcome to buy a ticket and stay for as long as Sony dictates rather than a product that you own.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Despite the title otherwise being a global release, the fact that the PC version of Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls will require players to sign in to their PlayStation Network accounts to access any of its multiplayer features essentially means that the title won’t be available in regions that don’t have official support for PlayStation Network.

We last saw this play out with the PC release of Helldivers 2. When Sony suddenly decided to enforce PlayStation Network sign-ins for the co-op shooter, many players who were previously able to enjoy the game found themselves unable to do so, since Sony hadn’t started supporting PlayStation Network in their countries yet.

Sony had eventually decided to turn back from this decision following quite a bit of backlash and removed the PlayStation account requirement from Helldivers 2. Rather than enforcing the account, the company instead decided to offer players rewards for signing in with their PlayStation accounts. This was applied across Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, God of War Ragnarok, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered.

It is worth noting that this has become less of an issue since Sony reportedly decided to stop releasing its single-player titles on PC, and has started only really looking at the platform for multiplayer games.

Interestingly, the most recently-published PC game by the company – Marathon – had no PlayStation account requirement. This was likely done in a bid to attract as wide a player base for the multiplayer PvPvE extraction shooter as possible. “Marathon will not require a PlayStation Account for players on PC and Xbox,” confirmed Bungie back in April last year.

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is a brand-new tag fighter developed by Arc System Works – the studio behind the Guilty Gear franchise and Dragon Ball FighterZ. The title will feature stylized versions of popular Marvel characters throughout its roster, leaning quite hard on the 3D anime aesthetics that the studio is known for with its other titles.

Earlier this month, Arc System Works released a new trailer for Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, giving us a look at its take on Iron Man. While his moveset will be familiar to fans of the classic Marvel vs. Capcom series, the character is equipped with plenty of new moves in the upcoming fighting game.

Along with his typical zoning and combo capabilities, Iron Man in Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is also capable of shooting out Smart Missiles. While these missiles have a delay before they hit an opponent, players will likely be able to figure out how they can be used to initiate combos through mix-ups to pressure their opponents.

Arc System Works had revealed the final set of characters available in Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls leading up to its launch. The characters were unveiled as part of the Samurai Outriders team, which includes Ghost Rider, Blade, Deadpool, and Loki.

Sony has also said that this initiative was less about reducing the costs of developing games and has more to do with speeding up development while still improving the quality of the work.

“As a creative entertainment company, we prioritize our creators, with AI enhancing their work by removing repetitive tasks and enabling faster iteration and higher-quality outputs, such as through the use of synthetic assets, including synthetic voices, as early placeholders. This is less about cost efficiency and more about improving quality and development speed, which we see as highly valuable.”

The company has also expressed a belief that AI-based tools help with enhancing the worlds and characters created by the studios under its game development umbrella. This is due to the fact that “For many years, AI has been deeply embedded in our development processes,” says the company. “We are increasingly seeing its impact on more immersive in-game experiences, where characters and worlds are enhanced by AI capabilities.”

“At the same time, we are experimenting at a more fundamental level with smaller, AI-first initiatives, while remaining realistic about near-term efficiency gains. These efforts position us to stay at the forefront as AI continues to evolve, both in development processes and in shaping future player experiences.”

This shouldn’t really come as a surprise, since Sony Group CEO Hiroki Totoki had confirmed the use of generative AI at PlayStation’s studios back in May 2026. In its earnings presentation at the time, Totoki said that AI tools were being used while still keeping human creativity at the center of its development processes. “AI is a powerful tool, but it is not a replacement for artists and creators. It is an amplifier of human imagination and catalyst for new possibilities,” he said.

Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino revealed more details on how studios were using these tools. Among other things, AI is being used to accelerate QA, 3D modelling, and animations. The latter, in particular, is being done through a tool named Mockingbird that can generate facial animations based on performance capture data. Naughty Dog and San Diego Studio were two of the studios named that were making use of these tools.

“Our goal is always to be the best place to play and the best place to publish,” Nishino said. “We see AI as a powerful tool to help us in this mission.” He also reiterated Totoki’s statement, saying that “The vision, the design, and the emotional impact of our games will always come from the talent of our studios and performers. AI is meant to augment their capabilities, not to replace them.”

Having spent 32 years in the industry, he told Eurogamer that, “I had no idea it was going to happen. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I don’t work in the business any more. Maybe it’s just too prohibitively expensive to stamp out discs.”

Plans have seemingly been in the works for some time, as a recent report reveals that Sony repurposed its disc factory in Thalgau. While it currently produces about 300,000 discs daily for PlayStation, the plan is to produce only 10 percent by 2028. And despite a sizable portion of consumers still purchasing physical games, Layden believes it’s “a straight spreadsheet decision.”

“What are disc sales compared to digital sales? And I’m old enough to remember when digital sales were like 10 percent – I’m old enough to remember when digital sales were zero percent because we didn’t have a digital market! And that number just grew over time.”

He also noted that while working at Sony, he was questioned about how long the company would continue with discs. “I’ve been asked this question every year for the last 20 years. When are you guys going to just give up on the disc drive? My feeling with that was always: well, when I get to a place where I’m comfortable enough to believe that worldwide, broadband throughput is good enough to support that download experience, good enough to reach the majority of customers.

“Majority does not mean entirety, so there is a point, a tipping point, where if I have 80 percent of the opportunity, which represents 95 percent of the revenue source, what’s my incentive to keep the lights on for the other 20 percent if it’s effectively only 5 percent of the business? See what I’m saying? At some point it just becomes obvious that we can’t keep this whole thing running just for this very small slice of opportunity.”

Of course, Layden argues that the rest of the world may not have the best internet, and, unlike Xbox, Sony has been “pretty good” at taking this into account. “PlayStation had a wider global fanbase, and not just in the numbers, but in the reach, because Sony Corp had reach all over the world.” He cited those on military bases without internet and how “the idea that they could still buy a PlayStation 4 game, throw it in a machine and play was important. You don’t want to leave those people behind.”

At the end of it all, he doesn’t know “what went on in those conversations, but it’s a fairly dramatic decision.” Which is an understatement, considering how much the internet has been dogging Sony ever since, to the point where it’s affecting other social media accounts under the company.

Combined with rumors that the PS6 has a $960 bill of materials, potentially resulting in a $1000 price, the next generation of console gaming is looking dicey. Stay tuned for more details and updates in the meantime.

According to Game File’s Stephen Totilo, however, PlayStation has been in touch with partners and publishers and apparently told them of the consumer “shift” when it came to discs. However, it also allegedly provided reassurance that they would “still be able to place re-orders for existing PlayStation disc games” past January 2028.

Of course, there are plenty of other questions that arise. How long would Sony keep this initiative open, especially following reports that its disc production factory is being repurposed to produce one-tenth of its current volume in the future? What happens to developers whose titles face a sudden delay past the deadline?

The fact that PlayStation didn’t publicly announce this is also somewhat intriguing because you would think it’d generate some goodwill. Not a lot, especially since the bigger concerns are around future preservation of titles, Sony monopolizing its storefront in terms of discounts offered, and so on, but still some.

As always, we’ll only know the longer-term impact of its decision to go fully digital in due time. If there’s any silver lining, it’s that Xbox is still offering discs in boxes, as recently announced for Halo: Campaign Evolved.

But while some of the talent on that ill-fated live service effort for the franchise that never saw the light of day may have moved on, Insider Gaming has reported on a sequel advocated for by a famous and familiar voice in the gaming world – Troy Baker, the voice of Joel. He believes there’s more to explore from where the franchise currently stands, and that he would love to be a part of whatever comes next.

“I would be on board with anything. If Neil [Druckmann] decides that he has a place for me, then I’ve learned at this point to listen to him, because he’s really smart. There’s this beautiful thing about the mystery of what happened between Tommy and Joel; there is all the time, the 20 years, you’ve got such beautiful lore to choose from. I think that makes a great foundation for a story,” he said.

Insider Gaming had some interesting ideas for a sequel, with Troy being quite enthusiastic about being there for any effort at making another title, even if it goes in a different direction. “I’ve also learned to trust Naughty Dog, and maybe there’s a whole other story there that we’re not thinking about. I’m going to let Neil and Naughty Dog decide: as we look forward, are we looking back? Are we going to revisit something? Or are we going to continue to reinvent? That’s their call. But whether it is something that you are playing, or with me with a controller in hand, I’m there day one.”

Will that be enough to nudge Naughty Dog into action after a relatively quiet console generation this time around? Only time can tell, but it’s sure nice to let our imaginations fly from time to time. We do think we’d like a look at what Ellie and Abby moved on to, and how the world has continued in Joel’s absence, after all.

The three were asked about the potential for price increases of PlayStation Plus subscriptions. In response, they said that the service already makes use of its tiered subscription service that can help it balance value with cost. They noted that the higher tiers account for around 40 percent of all subscribers to the service.

“PS Plus offers strong value to players, and we continually balance that value against customer cost,” they said. “We are using multiple levers to improve profitability, including pricing, tier mix, and content acquisition efficiency. Higher tiers now account for 40% of subscribers, which reflects strong demand for the service. PS Plus remains a key driver of profitability, and we achieved record-high PS Plus profitability in FY2025.”

In the same Q&A, they had also spoken about needing to expand their server infrastructure to make cloud gaming services available in more markets. When asked about how the costs incurred by the move would be recovered, they said, “We expect to recover the costs associated with investments and operations through revenue generated from PS Plus, which provides the streaming service.”

PlayStation Plus price increases wouldn’t be a new move for Sony. The company has raised the service’s prices in the past. Back in January 2025, Nishino had noted that the service had seen growth despite prices having been raised. At the time, he noted that subscribers were opting for the more expensive tiers.

“Subscribers are increasingly choosing our Premium and Extra tiers, which now represent approximately 38% of total subscribers,” said Nishino.

He went on to discuss the value proposition of a PlayStation Plus subscription. At its most basic, it allows players to access online multiplayer features of many games. Even the most basic tier gives players access to new games on a regular basis. Higher tiers, on the other hand, open up new libraries for players, with the highest tier even including a classic games catalogue featuring titles from PS1 and PS2, among others.

“PlayStation Plus is highly valued by our players and continues to drive engagement,” he said. “We’ve already seen a trend toward the option of higher tiers within our service, as evidenced by the subscriber mix we achieved in FY2024, where approximately 38% of players are now subscribed to PlayStation Plus Premium or Extra tiers.”

Vice president of Global Services at PlayStation, Nick Maguire, had also spoken about how the company plans to further build on the value offered by PlayStation Plus’ Premium and Extra tiers. He also went on to reiterate that engagement with the service has been higher than it was in the past.

The plant currently produces 600,000 discs on a daily basis, half of which are for PlayStation games. With the rest of the factory getting repurposed over time, the 300 employees working at the plant will be retrained to instead work on the production of microlenses.

While far from a surprising move, the report also confirms that Sony has been working on this strategy for quite some time. Decisions like this, which have major implications for essentially the entire industry, aren’t often made overnight, after all.

Thalgau is also noted as being the base of operations for Sony’s disc production. While the company previously manufactured discs for US release in facilities set up in Terre Haute, Indiana, operations were eventually moved to Thalgau in 2022. The company also had another plant in New Jersey, which was shuttered in 2011. Owing to the long life of the Indiana-based facility, which now works on packaging and assembling automobile parts like headlights, it helped produce 23 billion of the 26.4 billion discs produced by Sony.

In its announcement, Sony had said that the move to entirely digital game releases from 2028 onwards is a response to the industry generally shifting to prefer digital releases over physical copies. The company noted that this has been the case for the entertainment industry as a whole and hasn’t just been limited to games.

“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,” said the company. “This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.”

The announcement was seen as a good thing by the Tokyo Stock Exchange, leading to Sony’s stock price going up by around 3.2 percent earlier this week. This rise in stock price was considered especially noteworthy since the market as a whole has been quite “challenging”, with the technology stocks in the Nikkei 225 index falling by 1 percent.

Ampere’s Piers Harding-Rolls believes that this move to an all-digital future gives us a sneak peak at Sony’s plans for its next-gen console hardware. It is likely that the company will be looking forward to cutting costs associated with including a disc drive with the PS6. He also noted that this indicates a 2028 release window for the PS6.

“Almost certainly guarantees that the PS6 won’t arrive until 2028 at the earliest. Ampere’s current expectation is a launch at the end of 2028,” he wrote. “At a minimum, the standard version of a PS6 will not include a physical media disc drive.”

Besides unleashing a Unibeam, multiple projectiles and enabling flight for a limited time in mid-air, he can also fire Smart Missiles. Given their delay, it’s possible to charge an opponent before they land. The ability to Multi-Dash also allows for hefty mix-ups, and skills like Iron Avenger let you rush down foes before they have a chance to react.

His Ultimate Skill, Champion Buster, is also a nice callback and has likely been designed to contend with the antagonist, the Champion. Whether it can succeed where the Hulk and Sentinel Busters failed remains to be seen, but watching him team up with it to channel a massive death laser in his Tōkon Assemble attack is cool.

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls launches on August 6th for PS5 and PC. However, an open beta is set for July 24th to 26th, featuring much of the playable roster – including the newly revealed Blade.

With Sony’s announcement, as well as reports of Microsoft looking into a way to turn physical game ownership into digital ownership, Piscatella also believes that the PS6 and Project Helix will both end up being digital-only consoles.

“Through a combination of consumer preference and manufacturer strategic decisions, we are now seeing Sony announce it will cease production of physical discs in January 2028,” Piscatella explained. “This will result in lower sales of video game software at retail (although publishers will still certainly sell code in box or special editions in physical boxes at retail for as long as it makes sense to do so), and it is now safe to assume that both PlayStation 6 and Project Helix will be digital-only devices.”

Despite these trends, however, Piscatella believes that Nintendo will be the last console manufacturer that still focuses on releasing physical media, at least until the end of the Nintendo Switch 2 console cycle. Nintendo is “going to be Nintendo,” said Piscatella.

“My gut says Nintendo does what Nintendo wants to do, and I don’t see them changing anything in their plans based on what Sony or Microsoft do on anything, really,” he said. “Nintendo is going to be Nintendo, for better and/or worse.”

Part of this may also be the fact that retail outlets have been relying on Nintendo to a greater degree over the last few years, likely thanks to the company’s strong share of software and hardware sales. The Nintendo Switch 2, in particular, is noted for seeing great sales since its launch.

“It’s not like boxes on shelves will go away entirely with this change,” he said. “There will be more codes in box, more merch, maybe more special editions with swag included, that kind of thing. But the change should also result in the continued decline in physical game retail spend.”

When it comes to long-term effects, even Piscatella doesn’t quite know what is going to happen. Sony’s announcement came just this week, and the industry might see more upheaval in the coming days.

“But yeah, we’re kind of in dartboard territory when it comes to things,” he concluded. “The day is young (in the US at least). Anything could still happen today, tomorrow, surely Monday. It’s madness.”

Sony’s announcement has worked out quite well for the company, at least for now, with its stock price having risen by around 3.2 percent on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. On the other hand, even prolific game creator Hideo Kojima has expressed his fears about media going completely digital. Analysts have also noted that this move gives us a look at Sony’s next-generation console plans.