- Sony is already converting its Austrian disc manufacturing plant
- This is Sony’s only remaining physical media factory
- Existing staff will be retained to work with micro-optics
We’re still reeling from Sony’s announcement earlier this week that it would stop releasing PlayStation games on physical discs from early 2028 – and now we hear that Sony’s last physical media factory is already being converted.
According to ORF Salzburg (via The Verge and Google Translate), production at the Austrian factory will drop to around 10% of its current level by 2028. The factory currently makes 600,000 blank Blu-rays every day (half of which are used for PlayStation games), and Sony has manufactured some 26.4 billion discs in total at its sites.
The current 300 employees will, however, be maintained, according to Dietmar Tanzer, CEO of Sony DADC (Digital Audio Disc Corporation). They will be recycled into micro-optics, by grouping the optical components in the smallest possible spaces.
Instead of disks, the factory’s assembly lines will produce optical microlenses. One use for these mentioned in the report is projecting car turn signals onto the street surface, but there are a multitude of potential applications.
“We no longer own anything”
The report also cites Markus Streibl, head of microoptics at Sony DADC, who says the company recently invested €30 million (around $34 million / £26 million / AU$49 million) in technology as it looks to grow this part of its business.
As spotted by The Verge, there is evidence that the Austrian factory has been making microlenses since at least 2024. These small components are actually produced on discs, so there will be some crossover in terms of equipment and processes.
While Sony seems immediately ready to move forward and look to the future, many of us are having a less easy time moving on: gamers are vowing to leave the PlayStation platform due to concerns about what that means for game ownership (“we literally own nothing now,” was a comment left by one disgruntled user).
The news dampened some of the excitement over the opening of GTA6 pre-orders, and this also means that the PlayStation 6 is very unlikely to have a built-in disc drive. Sony also announced that it would close the PS3 and Vita stores at the same time.
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds.
