Edmonton gamers disappointed in Sony decision to nix physical copies in 2028
Posted July 7, 2026 11:43 am.
Last Updated July 7, 2026 1:06 pm.
Bloggers are calling it the death of physical media after Sony, the company behind the popular video game console PlayStation, announced that it will stop releasing physical copies of games starting in 2028.
Edmonton gamers say they are disappointed by the company’s announcement.
“That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” said gamer Jules Brubaker. “People have been trading DVDs and disks and cassettes and vinyls for the longest time, and that’s how we share media. That’s how we share things we love with each other.”
Sony’s decision to go fully-digital maybe felt the most at video game stores like Nexwave Video Games in Edmonton. It’s walls and shelves lined with decades of gaming history from the early days of cartridges to more the modern disks, which are now at risk of being phased out.
“Companies have been trying to get rid off physical media for years now, and it seems like they’re really making that push now,” says Courtney Cain, Nexwave’s sales manager.
Cain says while she’d prefer to see physical copies continue be produced for the gaming community, the move to digital games could make physical disks more valuable in the resale market. At Nextwave, some games preserved over the years are already worth hundreds of dollars.
“They can’t take away what we already have,” Cain said. “Lots of people are in the retro community, more join every day, so thankfully we have that to go back to.”
In a report from May, Sony said that nearly 80 per cent of all its games sold last year were digital copies.
“There’s an expense in creating (physical disks),” says Liz Carten, executive director of Consentia, a company that converts physical media like VHS tapes and DVDs to digital media. “Shipping, retailing, packaging, everything is costing the business money, and subscription is just an easier way to have that without the added expense.”
She says because disks can get scratched and tapes can degrade, there is a booming market for those looking to get a digital copy of media they own adding that a digital copy could be better in the long run.
However, gamer Matthew Charuk worries that a long-term ownership isn’t always possible with digital games due to licencing issues.
“If you own a game digitally, you don’t really own that game, and they can take the rights away from you at any moment, but they can’t really do that if you have a physical copy,” said Charuk
Charuk said he’d feel more secure buying a physical game instead of a subscription-style services.
Cain hopes that more gamers will pushback against the change.
“It’s never bad to at least say I don’t like this and encourage it,” Cain said. “Because even if Sony steps away, maybe Nintendo sees what’s happening and says ‘You know what we’re going to commit to physical media.’’”
