Sony has announced it will stop manufacturing physical PlayStation discs from January 2028, meaning all future releases from Sony and third-party publishers will be digital-only. The move matters because it threatens to make games more expensive and puts the future of high-street and online game retailers in doubt, as well as ending the resale and sharing of second-hand games.

A new report from Dutch website Tweakers, which tracked historical prices for 16 first- and third-party PS5 games over four years using its Pricewatch service and PSprices data, found that games are almost always cheaper at retail than on the PlayStation Store. Retail prices tend to fall over time and fluctuate frequently, while PS Store prices often stay at full launch price for years, with sale discounts quickly reversed. First-party exclusives are rarely discounted permanently — only Horizon Forbidden West cut its base price, from €80 to €60. Retailers will still be able to sell code-in-box or voucher versions, so some price competition may remain, but critics note Sony stands to keep far more revenue per sale, potentially up to 54 percent on a typical $70 title.