Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden has never been shy about saying what he thinks of the industry he helped build. This week, he turned his attention to Sony’s plan to stop manufacturing game discs, and his verdict was blunt.
Speaking on The Expansion Pass podcast, Layden, who chaired PlayStation’s Worldwide Studios until 2019, called the move “a significant brand hit” for the company. “If you can’t sell a thing, that means you don’t own a thing,” he said. “And if you don’t own it, then what are you buying?”
What Sony is actually doing
Back in July, Sony confirmed that from January 2028 it will stop producing discs for new PlayStation games, including first-party and third-party releases. Games that are already out, or that launch before that date, will keep their physical versions. Sony called it “a natural direction” as “the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs”, pointing to nearly 80% of full-game purchases on PS4 and PS5 now being digital.
At the same time, Sony announced it will close the PS3 and PS Vita stores, with most regions losing them in July 2027. Players will still be able to re-download things they already own, but the timing of the two announcements did not go unnoticed.
The 20% that matters
Layden doesn’t dispute the numbers. He agrees that roughly 80% of players download and 20% don’t. His argument is that the 20% are not a rounding error. They are, in his words, “the most faithful of the faithful”, the people who buy “two copies of every game”, queue at midnight launches and fill shelves with steelbooks and collector’s editions.
“We’re an inquisitive collecting sort of people, and we like to show off our stuff,” he said. Gaming has always had a collecting culture, from cartridge hunters at car boot sales to the boom in limited physical runs. Removing discs from the picture doesn’t just change how people buy games. It removes part of how people show that they love them.
Ownership is the real issue
The bigger point is about ownership. A disc can be lent to a friend, traded in, sold on or played years later without a server check. A digital licence is access to a file on terms set by someone else, and those terms can change.
We’ve seen what that means recently. NBA 2K25 is about to lose its single-player MyCareer mode when its servers go offline at the end of the year. Digital storefronts close. Licences expire and games are pulled. When things go wrong, players, as Layden puts it, “game out the worst case scenario”. That’s the brand damage he’s worried about. It isn’t the loss of 20% of sales; it’s the loss of trust.
Is Sony wrong?
It’s not hard to see the business case. Digital sales cut out manufacturing, shipping and retail margins, and the PS5 Digital Edition and disc-less PS5 Pro show the direction Sony has been heading for years. Microsoft and Nintendo are pushing digital too.
But a business decision can make sense and still be a mistake. The players who care most about physical games are often the ones who talk about PlayStation the most, defend it online and buy into it first. Telling them their way of playing is ending, at the same time as old stores are closing, risks making the most loyal fans feel like an afterthought.
There are middle grounds Sony could explore: printed-to-order discs, transferable digital licences, or a clear guarantee that purchased games stay playable offline. Any of these would go a long way.
Layden’s question deserves an answer from Sony before 2028 arrives: if you don’t own it, what are you buying?
What do you think? Team physical, or are you fully digital already? Let us know in the comments.
Sources: VGC: Layden interview · Engadget: Sony ends discs from 2028 · Game File: discs and PS3/Vita stores
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