With Xbox stuck in a financial purgatory of its own making, Sony’s PlayStation brand is lingering in an entirely different limbo. The company is selling fewer PS5s than ever, and its big plan is to have enough consoles on hand for the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI. So what’s the actual plan? Well, it’s to win on “affordability.” Sony’s latest earnings report is interesting for more than one reason, but it also marks the first time the company has acknowledged the fracas surrounding its plan to kill all physical PlayStation game sales by 2028. In a Q&A, translated by a company interpreter, Sony CFO Lin Tao said, “We’re going to cautiously move [the end of game discs] forward.” Tao acknowledged the company has received “various opinions, and people have strong views.” She added, “We understand those emotions. We want to consider that. And in the future digital ecosystem, how do we engage the gamers is something that we would like to continue to explore.”
Sony responds to the backlash over ending PlayStation discs. "We put in a lot of thought and time, and we cautiously considered this, and we came to this conclusion, and we're going to cautiously move this forward…" pic.twitter.com/qRKkEX6TN3 — AmericanTruckSongs9 (@ethangach) July 31, 2026 For now, Sony is staying the course, and if you comprehend the rest of its latest financial report, it becomes clear why. Yes, Sony claims 82% of sales this past quarter were digital titles (including microtransactions and digital-only releases). More importantly, Sony shipped 1.6 million PS5s this past quarter, down 2.5 million from the same time last year. That’s not what you want to see when you’re more than a year out from the end of a console life cycle.
