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Gamers Are Furiously Sounding Off After PlayStation Announces End To Physical Discs
Once physical disc production ends, new PlayStation games will be available exclusively in digital format through the PlayStation Store and participating retailers.
The company framed the move as a response to changing consumer habits:
"This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs.”
Sony, originally founded as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. in Japan in 1946, entered the gaming business with the launch of the original PlayStation in 1994. The gray console's CD-ROM drive helped usher in a new era of gaming, and Sony has released multiple generations of the platform since then, most recently the PlayStation 5.
The company said the change will not affect games already released on disc or titles scheduled to launch before January 2028.
Sony said the transition reflects how players already access games today:
"This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today."
The company has also announced plans to shut down the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita digital stores. Most countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, are expected to see those closures take effect in July 2027, though some markets will lose access as early as August.
For longtime PlayStation fans, however, the announcement felt like the end of an era.
Spending on physical video games peaked at $11.6 billion in 2008, according to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella. Even so, many gamers remain attached to physical ownership, game collecting, and the secondhand market.
Players didn't hesitate in voicing their frustration. YouTube creator Conkerax was among those criticizing the move, describing it as "a catastrophe."
Ampere Analysis research director Piers Harding-Rolls also weighed in:
“Inevitably, there will be concerns from PlayStation gamers around various aspects of this announcement, including choice, accessing older physical games on new consoles, the ability to collect physical games, and game preservation.”
Despite the industry's shift toward digital, many gamers weren't ready to say goodbye to physical media:
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Harding-Rolls added that the shift toward digital distribution would likely hurt specialist game retailers and the secondhand gaming market. For Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad, the writing is already on the wall, saying the move "pretty much confirms PS6 will be digital only."
The announcement arrives ahead of the highly anticipated release of Grand Theft Auto VI, which is expected to be one of the biggest entertainment launches in history.
Fans have waited more than a decade for the next installment in the franchise. Its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto V, was released in 2013, and Grand Theft Auto VI is currently expected to launch on November 19 after multiple delays.
The broader industry trend has been moving in Sony's direction for years. Video game players spent $1.5 billion on new physical video games in 2025, the lowest total since market research firm Circana began tracking the metric in 1995, according to Piscatella.
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Michael Che Just Wished Colin Jost Happy Birthday With A Hilariously Brutal Post—And 'SNL' Fans Are Cackling
Safe to say, Che won handily with an Instagram post "celebrating" what an absolutely terrible person his friend and costar is—or so you'd think if you weren't up on the pair's lore.
Che and Jost have become famous for springing sight-unseen jokes on each other for Weekend Update—jokes that often make Jost seem like a virulently racist bigot. Che's IG post was basically a greatest hits of Jost's supposedly worst moments.
The post, addressed to "colin jessica jost," shared some of the supposed highlights of the pair's friendship, with obviously out-of-context photos to corroborate the accusations, and hoo boy, thank God this is all a joke!
For example:
“I think back to all the stupid fights we had thru the years.. like when you came to work with that racist puppet.. or when kept doing nazi salutes to our fans on tour..."
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Some of the awkard reminiscences were tamer, enough so that it leaves you wondering if they're actually real, like Che's mention of:
"...all the times i had to stand there and listen to you and [Jost's wife] Scarlett [Johannson] argue at work and i just had stand there like, ‘ohhh kayyy.’”
But Jost's supposed track record of being the worst man alive gets exponentially worse from there.
"Or when you INSISTED on getting RKelly on the show.. or when you took me to that ‘whites only store’..."
Hoo boy, is this uncomfortable!
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And still others were just downright hilariously silly... but in ways that still make you question whether they might have a hint of truth to them:
“Or when harry styles gave us flowers and you gaslit me cause said ‘i dont think he likes me’, and you got all mad like ‘HE GOT US THE EXACT SAME THING!! YOURE JUST BEING REVERSE RACIST AGAIN!!’..."
"or that time when the fbi thought we were dating...”
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All in all, it was a classic in the long-running genre of Jost and Che humiliating each other on air with insanely offensive jokes, and naturally, fans were cracking up in the comments.
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Che did make room for some actual sentimentality for his friend and colleague's birthday, however. At the end of the carousel, he added a slide that read:
“None of that sh*t matters today. Cause we’re still pals. and still the BEST update anchors, besides norm, tina, amy, jimmy, seth, chevy, jane, aykroyd, miller, nealon, and quinn.. and ill argue that with ANYBODY.”
And then he closed with a clip of him getting Jost's attention from across a room just to yell, "FU*K you" at him. Now that's friendship!
Fans Rally Around Danny Glover After He Reveals That He's Living With Alzheimer's Disease In Poignant New Interviews
While there is no cure for Alzheimer's, medications and changes to daily routines do help manage symptoms and slow progression. Glover, who lives in his California hometown with his younger brother Marty in a San Francisco townhouse the actor bought 50 years ago, shared he'd been diagnosed in 2023 and is adjusting to life with the disease.
Glover told NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt:
"I’m sure as it advances, things are going to be different and changing."
You can see his TODAY show interview here:
Glover and his family also sat down with People magazine to discuss his life since his diagnosis.
The actor said:
"I'm still not accepting in my mind all parts of it. There are the moments that you keep remembering that validate the fact that you can remember stuff. And there are moments I'll never forget."
Glover's only child, daughter Mandisa, shared when she'd first noticed a change in her father.
"The history of my dad is that he remembers every single thing back to 1970, what corner he was standing on, who he spoke to, what they spoke about, what color they were wearing, everything."
But then in 2022, she noted:
"He'd tell you so much about his parents—and I've heard those stories over and over—and there would be pieces of the story missing. I said, 'I wonder what's going on.'"
Fans expressed their love and support after the actor's diagnosis was shared in his two exclusive interviews.
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Glover told People:
"I don't feel like it's the end of my life. There's work to do."
The star of The Color Purple, the Lethal Weapon series, Angels in the Outfield, and Beloved will celebrate his 80th birthday on July 22.
