Former PlayStation Chief Warns PS6 May Be Fully Digital After Disc Stop
Former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden says Sony’s move to stop making physical game discs could be a bigger turning point for the industry than many players expect—potentially pointing toward a fully digital PlayStation 6.
Layden: Ending discs could signal PS6 goes all-digital
Layden calls the decision “fairly dramatic,” arguing it may mark the moment PlayStation finally sees an all-digital PS6 as financially workable. He frames the latest disc-production shutdown as more than a convenience change, suggesting it lines up with Sony reaching the point where the numbers favor digital-only distribution.
Physical media has been losing ground for years as digital sales keep pulling ahead, but the conversation accelerated recently. Grand Theft Auto 6 is set to skip traditional game discs entirely for its physical releases, and Sony followed with announcements about closing the PS3 and Vita Digital PlayStation Stores and ending physical disc production shortly after. Sony has said it plans to support existing physical media beyond 2028, but Layden believes the direction is still unmistakably toward an all-digital future.
After GTA 6’s digital-only approach and Sony’s further physical-media changes, Lord of Fallen 2’s CEO weighed in with a complaint aimed at fairness toward smaller teams, saying the shift isn’t “fair to small teams.”
Why Sony is shifting: economics over second-hand markets
Layden, who spent more than three decades at Sony and previously led PlayStation Worldwide Studios, argues the decision comes down primarily to economics—not nostalgia and not a reliance on used sales. He describes the internal logic as basically spreadsheet math: “If you look at any decision to discontinue a product or a feature… largely it’s a straight spreadsheet decision,” adding, “What are disc sales compared to digital sales?”
While he says he doesn’t have inside knowledge of Sony’s plans, he maintains that manufacturing physical games may no longer be worth the cost. In his view, the company is responding to a reality where the business case for discs continues to shrink.
He also tackles the idea that pre-owned sales are the key driver behind the move away from physical. Layden says second-hand gaming still exists, but it no longer carries enough weight to justify major business decisions. Instead, he points to digital purchases on the PlayStation Store rising steadily over the last decade, while physical retail has continued to decline. He describes this as a reinforcing loop that increasingly favors digital distribution, and cites GameStop’s ongoing troubles with stores and its business as evidence of how weak physical retail has become.
What Layden says about the disc drive—and what to watch next
Layden ties the PS6 debate directly to connectivity and infrastructure. During his time at Sony, the company’s reasoning for sticking with a disc drive was that removing it would require “worldwide, broadband throughput [be] good enough to support that download experience, good enough to reach the majority of customers.” Now, he believes the industry has reached the point where that requirement is largely satisfied.
He also argues that keeping physical production alive for only a small audience is no longer a sustainable proposition: “At some point it just becomes obvious that we can’t keep this whole thing running just for this very small slice of opportunity.”
Whether Sony’s latest step ultimately results in a disc-less PlayStation 6 remains to be seen, but Layden says the decision matters even beyond that. If PlayStation commits fully to all-digital hardware, it could pressure the rest of the console market—including Xbox and other manufacturers—to speed up their own departure from physical media. For players, that would mean fewer disc-based options becoming the norm, and it may mark one of the clearest signals yet that the physical era is close to ending for good.
