As PlayStation Sets a January 2028 End Date for Disc Games, the Video Game History Foundation Presses the ESA for a Legal Digital-Preservation Path
Frank Cifaldi says downloading Grand Theft Auto VI and hoping it runs in 50 years is not a preservation solution, and asks the ESA for legal ways to archive digital-only games.
Editor's Note ·
- Correction:
- The headline and opening sentence state that Sony will stop manufacturing disc-based PlayStation games "starting January 2028." Neither cited source specifies a month: Engadget says "As of 2028" and Kotaku says "starting in 2028." The year 2028 is correct and sourced; the month "January" is not supported by either source.
Overview
Sony will stop manufacturing disc-based PlayStation games starting January 2028, according to Engadget. The move has drawn a pointed response from the Video Game History Foundation, whose director argues that the loss of discs matters less than the industry’s continued failure to give archives and museums a legal way to preserve digital-only games.
What We Know
Alongside ending disc production, Sony is closing the PS3 and PlayStation Vita digital storefronts, Engadget reports. The company said that roughly 80 percent of PS4 and PS5 game purchases in fiscal year 2025-2026 were digital, rising to 85 percent in the final quarter, according to Engadget.
Frank Cifaldi, director of the Video Game History Foundation, called the disc discontinuation “unfortunate news,” per Engadget. But his central concern is the absence of a legal preservation route once physical media and older storefronts disappear. “If platform owners are deciding to eliminate physical media and older digital storefronts, then we’d also like to see trade groups like the Entertainment Software Association offer meaningful solutions for archives and museums to legally preserve digital-only content,” Cifaldi said, according to Engadget.
Cifaldi framed the stakes bluntly. As he put it to Engadget, “asking museums to download a copy of Grand Theft Auto VI and hope it’ll run in 50 years is not a preservation solution.” Rockstar’s game is scheduled to arrive later this year, as previously reported.
The Foundation says it has already tried the cooperative route without success. “We have attempted to work with the industry’s trade organization to find a legal path forward, but they refuse to offer a meaningful alternative,” Cifaldi said, according to Kotaku. The organization wants “meaningful solutions for archives and museums to legally preserve digital-only content and make it accessible for research,” Kotaku reports.
What We Don’t Know
Whether the Entertainment Software Association will engage remains unclear. The ESA declined to comment on Sony’s move or on digital ownership more broadly, according to Kotaku. Sony has not detailed how, or whether, it intends to help institutions archive titles that will exist only as downloads.
Analysis
The disc cutoff is less a rupture than an acceleration. With digital already accounting for the large majority of PlayStation purchases, according to Engadget, the retail disc has been shrinking for years. What the Foundation is highlighting is the gap that grows as the physical fallback vanishes: a legally sanctioned mechanism for cultural institutions to keep digital-only games playable and studyable after storefronts close and servers go dark. Until trade bodies and platform owners provide one, preservationists are left arguing that a purchased download is not the same as a preserved copy.