Breaking News | Sony Begins Retraining Disc Factory Workers Ahead of 2028 Digital Shift

Sony has begun reassigning 300 employees at its Thalgau, Austria disc manufacturing facility following the July 1 announcement that all first-party PlayStation games will go digital-only starting January 2028. The plant currently produces 600,000 discs per day, with PlayStation accounting for 50% of total output. Sony DADC CEO Dietmar Tanzer stated disc production will drop to 10% of current volume in 2028.

The company has invested €30 million in equipment to convert the facility to optical microlens manufacturing, with production scheduled to begin next year. Workers are being retrained rather than laid off. The Thalgau plant is Sony's largest disc facility globally and serves as the headquarters for Sony DADC, which manufactured 23 billion discs at its now-closed Indiana plant from 1983 to 2022.

The timing of the workforce transition-18 months before the stated 2028 cutoff-suggests Sony may accelerate the phase-out of physical game releases. Analysts expect the disc-less strategy to extend to PlayStation 6, eliminating drive costs amid rising component prices.

• Next year: Launch of optical microlens production at Thalgau facility

• January 2028: Official end of first-party PlayStation physical game releases

• Any announcements regarding disc drive availability for PlayStation 6 hardware

• Third-party publisher responses to Sony's digital mandate and potential earlier adoption timelines