As Sony prepares to end physical disc production for new PlayStation games from January 2028, a former PlayStation executive has weighed in on the future of digital gaming, the failure of PlayStation Stars, and why loyalty programmes must offer more than cosmetic rewards.
Sony’s long-term shift away from physical games has reignited one of the gaming industry’s most divisive debates: what happens when ownership becomes almost entirely digital?
The conversation intensified after Sony confirmed that physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will end from January 2028. After that date, new games will be available through PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only, while previously released disc games will not be affected by the transition.
For some players, the move feels inevitable. For others, it raises concerns around consumer choice, game preservation, resale value, pricing and the growing power of platform storefronts. Now, former Sony Interactive Entertainment executive Gordon Thornton has offered a business-focused view of where the market is heading, why digital distribution is gaining ground, and what Sony got wrong with PlayStation Stars.
“The future of gaming may be digital, but the real challenge is making players feel rewarded rather than restricted.”
A Sony Veteran’s View On Digital Gaming
Thornton spent almost 18 years at Sony Interactive Entertainment before leaving in 2022, with Insider Gaming describing him as a senior figure behind PlayStation’s global direct-to-consumer business and the growth of the PlayStation Store. The report states that he helped scale PlayStation’s digital business into a major global revenue driver, with PlayStation Store and PlayStation Digital verticals reportedly reaching around $14 billion in annual global revenue.
That background gives his comments weight at a moment when the industry is moving further away from boxed releases. In his view, the digital market is not simply a replacement for physical retail; it is now the centre of the modern gaming economy.
Thornton told Insider Gaming that PlayStation Store already holds a dominant position, particularly once games move beyond their launch window. Physical retail, he suggested, now plays its strongest role at launch, while the longer-term catalogue market is increasingly controlled by digital storefronts.
Why The Disc Debate Matters
Sony has framed the end of new physical disc production as a response to changing consumer behaviour. The company says the broader entertainment industry has been shifting away from physical discs, and that digital media now better reflects how most of its community chooses to access games.
However, the decision has also sparked backlash from players who see physical games as more than plastic boxes. For collectors, discs represent ownership, resale, preservation and the ability to lend or share games without relying on an online account or platform licence.
This is where the argument becomes more than nostalgic. Digital games are convenient, but they are also tied to storefront access, licensing terms and platform policies. If a game is removed from sale, altered, or made unavailable in certain regions, players have fewer fallback options than they would with a physical copy.
For Sony, the move makes commercial sense. Digital distribution reduces manufacturing and logistics complexity, strengthens the PlayStation Store ecosystem and keeps more of the customer journey inside Sony’s own platform. But the more closed that ecosystem becomes, the more pressure there will be on Sony to show that players are receiving real value in return.
“Digital convenience is powerful, but it cannot replace the emotional and practical value many players attach to physical ownership.”
The Failure Of PlayStation Stars
The debate around digital ownership also connects to another issue raised in the Insider Gaming interview: loyalty.
Sony launched PlayStation Stars as a way to reward players through campaigns, points and digital collectibles. Yet the programme is now being wound down. Sony confirmed in May 2025 that PlayStation Stars would no longer accept new members, that current members could continue earning digital collectibles and points only until July 2025, and that the current version of the programme will fully end on 2 November 2026.
Thornton’s assessment was blunt. He argued that PlayStation Stars failed because it did not properly align player behaviour with the right incentives. In other words, the rewards did not feel meaningful enough to change behaviour or deepen the relationship between player and platform.
That matters because loyalty schemes are increasingly important in digital ecosystems. When players are buying through a single storefront, subscribing to online services and building libraries tied to one platform, rewards need to feel useful, personal and worthwhile.
What Better Rewards Could Look Like
Thornton argued that the strongest loyalty models connect rewards directly with gameplay, player objectives and in-game behaviour. Rather than offering generic points or collectibles, he suggested that incentives should feel integrated into the experience itself.
He also pointed to his current work at ZBD, a gaming payments company, as an example of how financial incentives can be connected to gameplay loops. According to Insider Gaming, Thornton cited a TapNation case study in which ZBD-supported reward mechanics were linked to improvements in short-term retention and average revenue per daily active user.
For the wider industry, the message is clear: loyalty can no longer be treated as a cosmetic add-on. If platform holders want players to embrace digital-first gaming, they need to build systems that make players feel recognised, rewarded and fairly treated.
This could include stronger wallet rewards, better discounts for long-term customers, meaningful loyalty tiers, creator-linked rewards, in-game earning opportunities, or more transparent benefits for players who spend heavily across the ecosystem.
“The next phase of loyalty in gaming will not be about badges. It will be about value.”
Digital Pricing Remains The Pressure Point
One of the biggest criticisms of digital gaming is price. Many players expect digital titles to be cheaper because there are no discs, cases, shipping costs or shelf space involved. In practice, digital versions often launch at the same price as physical copies.
Thornton argued that publishers do not typically want channel-specific pricing. He told Insider Gaming that game pricing is not based simply on production costs, but on revenue strategy, market pricing and the rising cost of development.
That explanation may make sense from an industry perspective, but it will not satisfy every player. If consumers lose the ability to buy, sell, lend or collect discs, many will expect digital storefronts to offer something in exchange. Without stronger value propositions, the risk is that digital-first gaming feels less like innovation and more like control.
A Defining Moment For PlayStation
Sony is not alone in moving towards a digital future. Across entertainment, physical media has been under pressure for years, from film and music to software and gaming. Yet games are different because they are expensive, interactive, collectable and often tied to long-term access.
That makes Sony’s next moves important. Ending disc production for future releases may be commercially logical, but it also places greater responsibility on PlayStation Store, PlayStation Plus and any future loyalty programme to prove that digital-first gaming can be fair, flexible and rewarding.
PlayStation Stars may not have delivered that answer, but its closure gives Sony a chance to rethink what loyalty should mean in a world where players are buying more digitally than ever before.
For the industry, the lesson is simple. Digital distribution may be the future, but trust will determine how smoothly that future arrives.