Sony is pushing ahead with plans to stop producing physical PlayStation games despite strong opposition from players concerned about ownership, resale and the future of game preservation.

The company plans to end manufacturing of physical discs for new PlayStation releases from January 2028, effectively forcing customers to purchase future games digitally.

Speaking during Sony’s latest earnings call, chief financial officer Lin Tao said the company had carefully considered the backlash but remained committed to the transition.

“The biggest [factor] being that the digitalisation of content overall has been progressing,” Tao said through an interpreter.

“We have received various opinions and people have strong views, and we understand that the community has put forth those views to us.”

Sony said it was not currently seeing any impact on its business from the controversy and did not expect ending disc production to significantly affect future game sales because most purchases had already shifted online.

During the April-to-June quarter, Sony reportedly generated around US$1.2 billion from digital game sales, compared with just US$128 million from physical titles.

However, the change could have significant consequences for Australian gaming retailers and consumers.

Physical games allow customers to shop between competing retailers, purchase cheaper pre-owned titles and resell or lend games after they have finished playing. Digital purchases are instead tied to online accounts and primarily sold through Sony’s own PlayStation Store.

Retailers may continue selling game cases containing download codes, a model already used for some releases in North America, although this would not preserve the second-hand games market.

The move poses a particular threat to EB Games, which relies heavily on physical software and second-hand game sales, while JB Hi-Fi and Big W also stand to lose revenue and store traffic generated by boxed releases.

Sony said retail partners remained important to the PlayStation business and that the early announcement was intended to give the company time to consult distributors and retailers across different regions.

The company has already reportedly begun repurposing parts of its disc manufacturing operations for the production of optical microlenses.

A week-long PlayStation boycott, ‘PSBlackout’, is scheduled to run from August 23-30, with organisers urging players to avoid using their consoles or purchasing PlayStation content.

Despite the campaign and online petitions attracting hundreds of thousands of supporters, Sony has given no indication it will reverse course.