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The story
In an interview with overseas media, Nippon Ichi Software president Kenzo Saruhashi revealed that regarding Sony’s plan to phase out disc versions of PS5 games, “they won’t tell us the long-term intent or plan.” Sony has stated that new titles releasing from January 2028 onward will drop disc versions entirely, while production of discs for existing titles will continue. On 5ch’s Gehan (hardware/industry) board, discussion centered on Sony’s thin information-sharing with third parties, opinions on Nintendo Switch 2’s Game-Key Cards, and the fallout from the disappearance of the packaged-game market.
RPG Site:
Changing the subject, I’d like to ask about Nintendo Switch 2.
One of the new physical-game initiatives Nintendo introduced with Switch 2 is the Game-Key Card.
Source: www-rpgsite-net.translate.goog / Original article here
What people said
Even Square Enix had to make adjustments just to fit FF7 Rebirth on disc — it ended up as a single disc (with mandatory extra downloaded data).
Rockstar's GTA6 is going code-in-box.
So it's not like Sony's playing favorites with the big publishers either.
Sounds like their sales plans got thrown into chaos. They were probably planning an all-in-one collector's edition down the line, but without a disc it'll just be a flimsy paper edition — that could hurt sales.
Big retailers don't obsess over pre-order bonuses, but small retailers lobby publishers hard to make sure their own store-exclusive bonus is a good one.
That's literally how store-exclusive bonuses exist in the first place.
One interesting point: sales don't seem to change even with Game-Key Cards — that matches the impression you get from the weekly sales data too. To begin with, sales aren't really different between the Switch and Switch 2 versions on cross-gen releases. For some titles the Switch 2 version even sells better, and that's especially true for third-party titles lately.
Given that, there's not much reason right now for third parties to shy away from releasing on Game-Key Cards (and going by the data, actual cartridge packaging doesn't really boost sales either, so it's not much of a loss). If a game's file size is huge there could be some impact, but for a normal-sized game it's a non-issue. That said, long-term, rising storage prices could become a factor — that would force extra spending onto users, which inevitably eats into their game-buying budget. So it's still better for a game not to eat up too much storage.
City Connection raised the price and went with physical Switch 2 Game Cards — I'd honestly like to know if that's actually paying off (i.e., boosting sales).
Didn't they jump on that trend and raise the price of the PS5 physical version too?
Everybody should just copy Nintendo's approach of selling limited bonus items separately through their own store — but nobody's copying it, so maybe it's actually not worth it?
You could do that just as well by bundling in a download code.
Nah, both questions honestly seem like things you'd normally want to ask. It's on a whole different level from something like 'why aren't you releasing it on PlayStation first?'
How, when they can't even make the physical packaging shell? You can't just make that on your own, you know.
They've been selling boxed games with just a download code inside for ages already — stop shouting nonsense.
There's still the downside that it can be resold used.
Even weighing the pros and cons, I'd think it hurts more to have Sony kill off a sales channel and option that used to just be a given.
Are there actually industry people who view this favorably, or am I just not aware of them?
If used physical sales were really doing that much damage, I'd think third parties would've already gone digital-only long before Sony ever discontinued discs.
Was Sony actually pressuring reluctant third parties into releasing physical copies all this time?
How long will disc drive production even continue? Will PS6 support a disc drive, and if not, is there some alternative media? Are they planning — or even able — to keep the packaged market alive with code-in-box releases?
Honestly, it's nothing but open questions.
Code-in-box and download cards are handled completely differently as products, so it's not that simple. And besides, that's a method PlayStation already discontinued once before — doing it again would mean deliberately reviving it.
If anything, maybe it'll be like a single card thrown in as merch, packed in a paper box together with other goodies.
Ever since the PS2 era, it's been 'keep it in-house' treatment for anyone who isn't a major publisher.
They've sold close to 100 million units, so their attitude is more 'we don't need to try that hard' — that's about how little they care.
To become a social phenomenon like Dragon Quest, people actually need to be talking about it. What disappears is the place where an average person might think 'hey, let me give this a try.'
That also means it vanishes from store shelves and won't show up on Amazon or Rakuten sales rankings either — there's just no chance left for ordinary people to lay eyes on it.
Can't, they already switched to a different disc factory.
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
Sony has already announced that, starting in January 2028, it will stop releasing physical disc versions of new PS5 titles while continuing to produce discs for existing titles, and on the thread there was pushback along the lines of “saying they haven’t communicated anything seems off.” At the same time, some argued that what publishers actually want to know goes deeper than the consumer-facing announcement — things like how long disc drive production itself will continue and what Sony’s approach will be for PS6 — and that gap is what President Saruhashi’s remarks reflect. Data was cited showing Nintendo’s Game-Key Cards haven’t had much impact on sales for smaller-capacity titles, but there was also concern that if the packaged-game market shrinks, small and mid-size third parties will lose revenue streams they’ve relied on, like limited editions and used-game sales. Cases of major titles such as GTA6 and the Final Fantasy VII remake sticking with discs were also raised as points of comparison.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from a 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Gehan)) thread titled “Nippon Ichi Software President: “Sony Won’t Tell Us Their Long-Term Intent or Plans Regarding Disc Discontinuation”.”
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