A new report from Sony's production facility in Austria claims that PlayStation has been wanting to move away from physical releases for some time and is already training staff for other tasks.
In one of the most controversial decisions the company has ever made (which makes a lot of sense considering the backlash over PS3 pricing), PlayStation announced yesterday that it will stop producing discs starting in early 2028. This means PlayStation will go fully digital within two years, which is progressing as expected.
As Sony learned when they tried to hype Spider-Man: Brand New Day with cheeky tweets after the news broke, PlayStation fans aren't really taking the news well and are demanding some kind of explanation or hope for change from the company. However, that seems highly unlikely, as one production facility in Austria claims this has been a long time coming.
PlayStation is reportedly planning an all-digital move for “Some Time.”
Employees at the production facility are already being trained on other things.
As Push Square points out, ORF Salzburg recently shared a report showing that Sony's production facility in Talgau, Austria, was “quite” aware of what was coming and had been actively preparing. According to ORF Salzburg, 600,000 discs roll off the assembly line at the Sony Thalgau plant, accounting for 50% of total production.
With PlayStation deciding to stop producing discs, this figure will fall to around 10% of sales by 2028. According to the report, 300 employees currently work at the plant and were informed of the plans on Wednesday. Sony CEO Dietmar Tanzer of DADC insists no layoffs are expected.
Let's see how it plays out, because a 90% drop doesn't seem that cheap.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the report is that it confirms that “change has been in the works for some time.” This is not surprising considering the scale of the decision. At the Thalgau plant, about 30 million euros have been invested in new technologies for the manufacture of optical microlenses, and employees have already been redeployed and planned to undergo “extensive” retraining.
This is just one of Sony's factories, but it suggests it's highly unlikely PlayStation will change course away from actual production, no matter how much backlash grows. If you, like me, hoped the company would see the passion of its fans and consider making a change, you might want to embrace our dire digital future.
- brand
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sony
- original release date
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November 12, 2020
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$499, €499, £449, ¥49,980 (standard) // $399, €399, £359, ¥39,980 (digital),
- operating system
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Orbis OS
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