Sony recently announced plans to end Blu-ray media production in February, delivering yet another heavy blow to the future of physical media. The company will also cease manufacturing recording MiniDiscs, MD data, and MiniDV cassettes.
This news follows Sony’s resolution last year to prevent the generation of 25GB BD-RES, 50GB BD-RES, 100GB BD-RE XLS, and 128GB BD-R XLS for consumers. In this week’s brief announcement, Sony showed that “Blu-ray media production” would be halted, the precise affected formats were not specified.
Manufacturers have left the Blu-ray market for years, since physical media sales continue to be minimized in favor of virtual distribution. Panasonic, for example, stopped producing Blu-rays in 2023, which brought a weakening called in the midst of transmission developing. Similarly, Best Buy deserted sales of Blu-ray, Blu-ray and Ultra HD later that year.
It remains unclear how Sony’s decision to end Blu-ray production will affect the distribution of physical games for its PlayStation consoles. The recently launched PlayStation 5 Pro does not include an optical drive by default, but demand for one was so strong that Sony’s optional $80 Blu-ray drive attachment sold out quickly after the PS5 Pro’s launch last fall.
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