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If you’d hoped the backlash to Sony’s boneheaded decision to cease manufacturing game discs in 2028 could be reversed, a new report coming out of Austria makes it incredibly unlikely.
The write-up claims the company’s facility in Thalgau has been preparing for this transition for some time, and while the good news is it won’t result in layoffs, it sounds like PlayStation is very much committed to an all-digital future.
The report says that 600,000 discs roll off the Austrian assembly line right now, and PlayStation accounts for roughly 50 per cent of that. However, it anticipates that just 10 per cent of said orders will remain in 2028.
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Anticipating this, it’s re-training staff and modifying equipment to switch to optical microlens manufacturing, with the transition already well underway.
Optical microlenses are used to focus and direct light in the smallest possible space, with “one application [being] a car turn signal that is projected onto asphalt”.
The worrying thing for fans hoping Sony changes course here is that employees are already being reassigned to the new technology now, meaning it’s highly unlikely this particular facility will be able to go back.
If planning around this has already been underway for several months, I think PlayStation may now be locked into this future, and that means no amount of external pressure is going to change the outcome.