Gaming needs a ‘vinyl revival’ — I spoke with gaming and music experts to find out whether physical games could make a comeback

Back in June, Rockstar Games announced that Grand Theft Auto 6 — perhaps the most anticipated game of all time — would only be available as a digital download, with physical boxes containing redemption codes rather than discs.

Days later, Sony sent shockwaves through the gaming community by announcing that it would cease production of all PlayStation discs in January 2028.

With Xbox on unsteady ground and Nintendo already relying on controversial game-key cards for many of its releases, Sony’s decision felt like the beginning of the end for physical gaming media.

Still, as someone who grew up buying games at brick-and-mortar stores, it's a real shame to just let physical games fade away — especially when physical media has made such a comeback in other industries.

On top of being a lifelong gamer, I’m also a DJ and huge music nerd — so the recent news has made me think about vinyl’s return to popularity in the music industry.

With that in mind, I spoke to four experts from across the worlds of gaming and music to find out whether a similar revival could be on the cards for physical games.

Preservation and profit (Image credit: Geography Photos/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) Sony’s decision to stop making physical game discs hasn’t come out of nowhere.

Physical game sales have been in decline for years , with Gamespot reporting that 80 per cent of all PlayStation software sales in the latest fiscal year were digital.

John O’Shea is co-CEO and creative director at the National Videogame Museum in Sheffield, UK.

He tells me that Sony’s decision will have wider impacts on how we preserve and share games going forward: “What we’re hearing from communities is that people are worried that some of the games they care about deeply might become less accessible to them as a consequence of being digital only.

“It’s brilliant [at first] because you can access whatever you want,” he continues, “but what’s tricky is if it gets taken down or delisted from the catalogue.” (Image credit: Shutterstock / robtek) O’Shea adds that, in the UK, video games are not archived with as much care as other forms of media: “The wider challenge is that there is not currently an integrated framework for video game conservation.

Individual companies should, and rightly do, pursue their own business focus, but where something exists in a digital format, copies can’t easily be made within a legal framework.” The decline in physical game sales has tracked with a decline in brick-and-mortar gaming stores.

Leading US retailer GameStop has closed more than 700 of its domestic stores since early 2025 , and the once-mighty UK retailer Game has been reduced to a section in sporting goods store Sports Direct.

Khalil Madim is assistant manager of London independent game store Game On.