Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot says Sony ditching PlayStation discs in 2028 likely will not seriously disrupt the industry, highlighting the business logic behind digital consoles and the tradeoffs for ownership, preservation, retail, and price competition.
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Ubisoft’s CEO sees Sony’s disc exit as a manageable industry shift
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has become one of the first major publisher bosses to publicly address Sony’s planned move away from PlayStation discs, and his answer was notably calm. During Ubisoft’s earnings call following its first quarter 2026-27 sales, Guillemot was asked whether a disc-free PlayStation future would be positive or negative for the games business. According to Video Games Chronicle, he said the move has “pluses and minuses,” but added that Ubisoft does not think it will “disturb” the industry too much.
The line lands at a tense moment. VGC reports that Sony announced physical disc games will be discontinued for PlayStation consoles from January 2028, a decision that has continued to draw backlash in the weeks since. For players, the reaction has been emotional and practical: shelves, resale value, lending, offline access, preservation, and the simple confidence of owning a game on a disc are all part of the argument. For a publisher like Ubisoft, though, the camera pulls back to a different shot. The question becomes whether the largest third-party businesses can keep moving units, managing costs, and reaching players if the last major console disc pipeline starts to close.
Guillemot’s answer suggests that, at least from Ubisoft’s vantage point, the digital games industry has already crossed much of that battlefield.
The PC comparison explains the publisher logic, with one major console catch
Guillemot pointed directly to PC when explaining why he does not expect PlayStation ditching physical games to shake the business apart. “What we saw on the PC is that it helped to grow the market,” he said, as quoted by VGC, Eurogamer, Kotaku, VGChartz, and GamesRadar. He also connected an all-digital model to hardware pricing pressure, saying that “being able to be only digital will help to have a more accessible machine,” while still acknowledging tradeoffs.
That is the strongest business case for Sony ditching discs, at least as Guillemot framed it. PC gaming has spent well over a decade operating primarily through digital storefronts, and Eurogamer notes that PC is now almost exclusively digital, helped by storefronts such as Steam. Eurogamer also points to recent Sony financial reports showing the vast majority of PlayStation game sales are digital, and to Capcom’s reported 93 percent digital sales share over the past year via Kotaku. Those numbers do not erase the physical market, but they do explain why major publishers may look at a discless PlayStation future and see acceleration rather than rupture.
The catch is that PC and PlayStation do not play by the same rules. VGChartz highlights the structural difference: PC is an open platform with multiple storefronts, while digital PlayStation purchases go through Sony’s PlayStation Store. That distinction matters for consumers and publishers alike. On PC, going digital did not mean one company controlled every legal storefront for mainstream purchases. On console, removing discs narrows the path.
Digital consoles can reduce friction for publishers and platform holders
For large publishers, the appeal of digital distribution is easy to see. A digital launch can remove manufacturing schedules, shipping logistics, retail allocation, and unsold stock from the combat arena. The release becomes cleaner, faster, and easier to coordinate globally. A blockbuster no longer needs pallets of boxed copies staged like siege equipment before launch day.
Kotaku frames the platform incentive more bluntly, reporting that Sony can collect a larger share of revenue through its own PlayStation Store than through retail disc sales, and that for first-party games such as Marvel’s Wolverine it would capture all digital revenue rather than the portion left after physical retail cuts. Kotaku also notes that Ubisoft operates its own launcher, Ubisoft Connect, partly to avoid paying platform fees to companies such as Valve and Sony. That does not mean Ubisoft controls Sony’s decision, but it does show why publishers understand the economics of storefront control.
Guillemot’s point about machine cost also fits the broader platform story. Eurogamer notes his argument may have merit because hardware is getting more expensive, while also raising a counterpoint: if a console lacks a disc drive, players may need more storage, and storage is not cheap. In action-game terms, removing the disc drive may lighten the hardware load, but it shifts weight elsewhere. Digital libraries are convenient until a 100GB download, a full internal SSD, or a delisted game turns convenience into a wall.
The player backlash shows the industry and audience are measuring different costs
The tension in the story is that Guillemot may be right about industry disruption while players are still right to object. Those are different measures. A publisher can keep selling games digitally. A platform holder can lower manufacturing complexity. Revenue can keep flowing. At the same time, consumers can lose meaningful options.
VGC reports that PlayStation’s official YouTube channel has continued to see comment sections flooded with complaints and jokes about the lack of discs, even under trailers for indie games that were not receiving physical releases anyway. The same report says many of those videos are still receiving more dislikes than likes regardless of the content. VGC also cites a Change.org petition calling for Sony to reverse the decision at around 340,000 signatures, while reporting that the petition appears unlikely to change Sony’s direction.
Kotaku identifies the consumer “minuses” as clear: weaker ownership, worse preservation, and the end of a used-game market that helps keep prices down. Those concerns are not sentimental side quests. Used discs create price competition after launch, allow borrowing and resale, and keep some games available after digital storefront changes. Preservation groups and collectors have long treated physical media as a safeguard against licensing churn, server dependency, and store removals. Digital ownership on a closed console storefront is often a license tied to account access, platform policy, and long-term service support.
Sony’s manufacturing shift suggests this is already moving beyond debate
The practical sign that Sony’s plan may be past the trial-balloon stage comes from manufacturing. VGC reports that Sony’s largest PlayStation disc production site in Austria is already preparing to move away from disc manufacturing. According to that report, Sony has invested around €30 million in new equipment for making optical microlenses at the site and has begun training staff to work on that equipment.
That detail changes the rhythm of the story. Public backlash can fill comment sections and petitions, but industrial planning moves on a different timeline. Retooling a production site, retraining workers, and redirecting investment are not the moves of a company casually testing reaction. If VGC’s reporting reflects Sony’s actual operational path, the January 2028 cutoff is being built into the supply chain.
For publishers, that clarity has value. A company planning launches across PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Nintendo hardware needs to know how discs, collectors’ editions, retail partnerships, and download infrastructure will work several years out. Guillemot’s answer did not celebrate the loss of physical games, but it read like an executive assessing a battlefield already mapped: the digital offensive is well advanced, and Ubisoft expects to operate inside it.
The unanswered questions are about access, price, and leverage
The largest unknown is whether any savings from a disc-free PlayStation machine would reach consumers in a meaningful way. Guillemot said an all-digital model could help create “a more accessible machine,” but no source material here includes a Sony price commitment for future hardware. Eurogamer also raises the storage question, which could offset some savings if players need larger internal drives or external storage options to manage fully digital libraries.
There is also the issue of retail access. Millions of physical copies are still bought every year, as Eurogamer notes, and those purchases serve players who prefer shops, gifts, trade-ins, second-hand pricing, or lower-bandwidth households. A discless PlayStation world puts more weight on account systems, downloads, refund policies, sales cadence, and Sony’s storefront rules. It may be manageable for Ubisoft. It may be efficient for Sony. It may still be worse for a player who depends on used copies to keep up with major releases.
For anyone buying into PlayStation over the next few years, the practical guidance is simple: treat physical access as a shrinking feature, not a permanent guarantee. If discs, lending, resale, or collecting matter to you, current disc-capable hardware and physical games carry value beyond nostalgia. If you already buy mostly digital, the shift may feel like the industry catching up to your habits. Guillemot’s comment makes clear that major publishers may be prepared for that future. The harder question is whether players are being given enough in return for what they are being asked to give up.