End of an Era: Sony Announces End of Blu-ray Disc Production
The last factory producing discs in this format will close in February 2025. Sony stopped producing consumer Blu-ray discs in mid-2024; however, production lines for corporate clients still existed until now.
The decision is due to the decreasing consumer purchase of Blu-ray players and consequently, content on discs. In December 2024, LG ceased the production of Blu-ray players due to low demand. Online streaming services have overtaken the market. In addition to Blu-ray, the production of MiniDisc, MD Data, and MiniDV tapes will end.
It is worth noting that physical versions of PlayStation 5 games are released on Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. This is a separate disc format, which is not supported on classic Blu-ray players. It seems that Sony will continue producing these media, although they are gradually encouraging players to fully transition to digital game versions.
Nevertheless, other companies have not yet stopped the production of Blu-ray format media. For example, Pioneer recently developed a Blu-ray disc designed to last a hundred years.