If you’re a firm believer that physical storage is far superior to digital storage options, we have some bad news for you—Sony’s Blu-ray disk production for the consumer market is coming to an end. According to Japanese source AV Watch, four types of consumer recording discs are being discontinued by Sony—the 25GB BD-REs, 50GB BD-RE DLs, 100GB BD-RE XLs, and 128GB BD-R XLs—as well as professional discs for video production, and optical disc archives for data storage.
Sony’s decision to stop Blu-ray production for these particular use cases comes as a result of a weak market and the product’s failure to meet business targets. Despite the unfortunate news, we can’t fault them for it considering they might be running into serious losses with this product line. The good news is that while these recordable Blu-rays are being discontinued, their other disc production endeavors will continue on uninterrupted, so you don’t have to begin mourning the death of physical media just yet.
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Sony’s Blu-ray Production for Consumer Markets to Start Winding Down
Sony’s decision to halt the production of “recordable optical disc media” was first circulated as rumors, but the company confirmed that their “storage media business has continued to be in the red” prompting them to take this step. We don’t have an exact date for when the recordable Blu-rays will be discontinued, but the company should be working on planning out their last batches soon.
The available stock will still be on sale so if you use these recordable discs, you don’t have to panic yet. However, stocking up and looking for an alternative might also be in your best interest. Sony has had a long history of being the biggest innovator in the category, but companies like Ritek, HP, and Verbatim might have some options for you.
Obviously, the end of Sony Blu-ray that’s being reported doesn’t include all forms of physical disks, but as things stand, it could happen over the next few years. Sony is stopping Blu-ray production for specific products that are produced at its Tagajo City plants in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Discs for the PlayStation and Xbox, for example, are produced separately at DADC (Digital Audio Disc Corporation) facilities and will continue to be around for a little longer.
🎮🎥 Good news for physical media lovers! Sony won’t phase out Blu-ray movie and game discs, just stopping production on consumer BD-R. Time to dust off that ol’ DVD collection and celebrate! 🙌 #BluRay #PhysicalMedia #Sony #MovieNight 📀
— Today in Brief (@Today_in_Brief) July 3, 2024
Is It a Big Deal That Sony Is Stopping Blu-Ray Production for Recordable Discs?
Over the last few years, the shift to digital media has been promoted by the popularity of streaming platforms that have stolen the joy of buying movie CDs and online game stores that have forced consumers to buy all their games online. Games getting a physical release is now seen as a big deal when a decade ago, it would be a foregone conclusion.
The general public has grown more comfortable with owning digital content only, which makes producing physical storage a dying business. Again, only recordable Blu-rays are being discontinued so movies and video games are not being affected, but these forms of media have set the trend for what consumers are familiar with.
Sony’s own digital shift has been noted with their consoles skipping on a disc drive with the PS5 Slim and even the Xbox One S/X and the Xbox Series X have moved away from the integration. We are actively witnessing the shift away from physical media records.
The growth of unlimited cloud storage has also prompted many to switch over from recording information on physical discs to uploading everything to the internet. It’s more convenient and requires less physical space.
When people do record their personal documents on physical storage devices, hard drives, and SSDs have a much greater potential to help out. Laptops no longer come with a disc drive and the newer generations have never even seen a CD or DVD in real life, so burning content onto discs is truly a lost art.
Still, when it comes to movies on Blu-ray, there’s still a sufficient demand for discs so the physical format is not going anywhere, anytime soon.
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Will These Recordable Blu-Rays Ever Make a Comeback?
Vinyl records are making a comeback and so are brick phones. Tapes are still used for backing up data at many organizations, providing an affordable and reliable record of information for those who don’t solely want to rely on the cloud. With the circular nature of trends, many pieces of technology from the past are making a comeback but this doesn’t necessarily apply to all technology.
It’s possible that we will see a resurgence of Blu-ray tech someday, but even if that does happen, the collectors market will grow and Ultra HD Blu-rays for movies will probably get some attention—not the ones being terminated by Sony Blu-ray production services right now.
The discontinuation of recordable Blu-rays is a predictable progression of tech as these discs have limited storage space and are not as reliable as other storage options. Once Sony’s writable Blu-rays end their support for consumers, competitors do have the option of taking over and popularizing it in their stead, however, it is unlikely that anyone will find it profitable enough to step in.
When Sony stops writable Blu-rays from entering the market, only a small section of the population will be affected, but it is indicative of where the culling of physical storage is headed next.