A Japanese company will continue producing Blu-ray disc players as another iconic company announces the end of an era for physical discs: Buffalo will sell ODDs at higher prices while supplies last.

Buffalo reverses Blu-ray release decision after securing more components
Customers face price hikes of 33-51% for remaining inventory of portable drives
Manufacturing will eventually cease once the current supply of components is exhausted.

Japanese company Buffalo has reversed its decision to stop selling Blu-ray players (via PC Watch), announcing that it will continue to sell several handheld models after securing an additional supply of previously unavailable components.

This follows an earlier announcement in February 2026 that the sale of Blu-ray players would be suspended in July 2026 due to component shortages – not a lack of demand.

However, customers are expected to pay extra for Buffalo’s sales recovery due to the ongoing global semiconductor shortage, rising material costs and overall manufacturing costs.

Limited supply leads to sharp price increases

For example, the BRXL-PTV6U3 model that comes with writing software sees the biggest increase of 51%, from ¥16,940 ($104) to ¥25,630 ($158). Buffalo’s BRXL-PT6U3 model also sees a 44% price hike, and the cost of the BRXL-PTWOU3 increases by 33%.

Additionally, although the company continues to sell Blu-ray players at a higher cost to maintain supply based on customer demand, production will only continue until the new components run out, implying that Buffalo itself is facing significant supply difficulties.

No definitive end date has been communicated due to the unpredictability of production volumes, shipping volumes and retail inventory levels, but once parts are no longer available, manufacturing will stop and sales will likely cease permanently.

More broadly, it marks ongoing challenges in the industry, with Pioneer confirming it would get out of the optical disc player business in 2025. LG has also stopped making new players and Sony has shipped its consumer Blu-ray recorders to Japan, implying a relatively strong market while other regions are declining.

Some manufacturers are still hanging on

However, earlier this year, Verbatim Japan and IO Data publicly committed to continued development of Blu-ray players (via Tom’s material) even after major players leave, arguing that demand remains strong for customers who need long-term offline storage, such as photographers and videographers, governments, businesses and archives.

“We once again recognized the need to ‘save the data I want to keep on a disk I have on hand’ [sic]“continues to exist in earnest,” the two companies said in a joint statement.

However, optical storage faces competition from a generally more expensive, but much more convenient, rival, cloud storage. Local storage via SSDs and hard drives is also often favored by many.

Ultimately, despite continued demand in some markets in Japan, likely driven by anime consumption and a relatively strong but declining movie rental business, the Blu-ray market is no longer large enough to guarantee a stable supply of components. With the news that Buffalo may also soon exit the market after a second wind, this could mark the end of the Blu-ray era.

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