IGN Poll Finds Most Players Want Discs as Sony Plans 2028 Digital-Only Shift

Sony is drawing fresh heat after confirming it plans to remove game discs from PlayStation consoles starting in 2028, and an IGN audience poll shows the frustration is widespread. For players who still buy physical releases, the change isn’t just inconvenient—it’s a straight-up shift in how games are owned, stored, and preserved.

The move doesn’t only target PS5 titles on disc. Many industry watchers expect the next PlayStation generation, often discussed as PS6, to arrive without a disc drive as well. Reports also suggest Microsoft’s next console under the working name Project Helix will follow the same direction, though Microsoft is reportedly exploring a method to convert physical games into digital access ahead of that transition. Nintendo appears to be the notable holdout, still backing traditional physical media.

When gaming news hits the wider internet, it tends to attract the kind of jokes usually reserved for mainstream product announcements. KFC, Domino’s, and even celebrity comedians have reportedly piled on, turning the disc-less era debate into a meme. In the meantime, the IGN poll “Do You Support an All-Digital Gaming Future?” has gathered more than 13,000 responses so far, with 90.2% saying they do not support an all-digital future and only 9.8% answering yes.

Do You Support an All-Digital Gaming Future?

The results may not be surprising, especially if Sony anticipated the backlash. Even so, the question players keep asking is why make the change at all when so many people still prefer discs.

Sony’s official explanation comes from Sid Shuman, Senior Director at Sony Interactive Entertainment Content Communications, who said in a PlayStation Blog post that the decision was made “in response to shifting trends in consumer preference.”

Shuman added that this shift reflects how digital access has surged beyond physical discs. In his words, the company views this as a natural adjustment to what consumers want, arguing that aligning with digital habits will better match how much of its audience plays and buys today.

Put simply, Sony’s position is that digital is already the dominant option across the PlayStation ecosystem, and that the distance between digital and physical is only expected to widen.

Piers Harding-Rolls, an analyst at Ampere, argues that the numbers support that claim and notes how much the market has shifted across the last two console eras. He said console gaming has been one of the last major holdouts for physical media in the gaming sector, but that physical product has steadily lost importance. He pointed to Ampere’s figures: at the PS4 launch in 2013, only 13% of total full-game unit sales on Sony consoles were digital (including titles that launched only digitally). By 2025, he said digital accounted for almost 80% of full-game purchases.

Harding-Rolls also acknowledged that PlayStation players may worry about access, especially for older discs on newer hardware, along with issues like collecting physical copies and preserving games for the long term. Still, he emphasized that purchasing behavior is the clearest signal the company is responding to.

The Best PS5 Games

Harding-Rolls further suggests Sony is thinking about profitability. Selling digitally tends to benefit game publishers more than boxed sales because the economics shift once there’s no physical product. He noted that publishers take about half of the sale price in a traditional retail box scenario, while Sony collects a 30% commission on PlayStation Store purchases, leaving publishers 70%.

With Sony moving to a fully disc-free approach from 2028 onward, the analysis implies that game companies—including Sony—stand to make more overall from software revenue, since digital sales typically carry stronger margins than physical distribution.

There’s also the production side of the equation. Removing a disc drive could make the PS6 cheaper to manufacture, particularly during a period of high component costs sometimes described as a “RAMpocalypse” linked to the AI boom. Analysts believe the PS6 could land in late 2028, since PlayStation is expected to drop discs starting in January of that year—meaning Sony is planning several steps ahead.

All of this points to Sony being unlikely to reverse course. The company’s share price reportedly rose after the announcement, a move that suggests investors see the decision favorably, particularly because it’s expected to improve margins. While petitions have circulated urging Sony to reconsider, the overall expectation is that those efforts won’t change the plan.

One analyst quoted in the discussion argues that physical-media fans had their chance and didn’t convert enough buyers to justify keeping discs. Robin Zhu, a games analyst at Bernstein, told the Financial Times that if players and preservation-minded buyers had purchased more physical games, Sony would not have ended up with the digital sales ratios that support the decision.

Zhu also highlighted the margin differences, stating that digital game sales come with essentially full incremental margin. By contrast, physical copies involve costs for the package, shipping, and retailer margins, which he said can exceed 20% of the sticker price.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].