Sony Digital Audio Disc Corporation’s Thalgau, Austria facility, the last wholly owned disc plant producing roughly 600,000 units daily with half tied to PlayStation, is already pivoting after the July 1 announcement that new physical game discs end in January 2028. CEO Dietmar Tanzer and Head of Micro Optics Markus Streibl confirmed a prior €30 million investment and early test operations retraining the 300 workers for optical microlens production slated for mass output as soon as 2027. Pre-2028 reorders remain available per developer guidance, yet the manufacturing shift itself had been underway quietly before public disclosure.
The plant produces 600,000 discs every day; that volume will drop sharply by 2028.
- article Kotaku - Disc Manufacturing Factory Already Planning For PlayStation’s All-Digital Future
https://kotaku.com/disc-manufacturing-factory-already-planning-for-playstations-all-digital-future-2000712489 - article The Verge - Sony's PlayStation disc factory is already being repurposed
https://www.theverge.com/games/961203/sony-austria-thalgau-end-disc-production-microlenses-instead - article PlayStation Blog - Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games
https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/physical-disc-production-ending-in-january-2028-for-new-games-releasing-on-playstation-consoles/
COMMENTS
Sony killing physical discs so the last factory can make camera lenses instead. GamesAreDead2026 called it six months ago and nobody listened.
My kids already think physical games are USB sticks. This just means another $70 digital license I can't hand down.
Digital licenses already expire when the servers do. Congrats, you're finally living in the future you didn't want.