Sony confirms it is ceasing production of Blu-ray discs, MiniDV cassettes, and MiniDiscs for recording. More on the story here.
Another little blow to the world of physical media here, although not quite as dramatic as you might immediately think. Over in Japan, the Sony corporation has announced on its website that it’s ceasing the production of Blu-ray discs. In fact, a little more than that: MiniDiscs for recording are stopping too, as well as MiniDV cassettes as well.
Sony is stopping the manufacture of them as of February 2025, and writes that “there will be no successor models”. Folks, that’s your lot. This was first announced in the middle of last year, and now it’s happening.
Well, sort of. Sony isn’t the only company that makes Blu-ray discs for a start, and so the media isn’t about to dry up. Furthermore, this is the actual discs themselves.
Still, given that Sony is the parent of the Blu-ray format, it’s still not a huge vote of confidence in the format longer term. There’s inevitably going to be a shrinking of supply of the discs, and that may yet have a knock-on effect in the price of physical media. That last bit remains speculation on my part, based on a hard fought for Economic qualification a couple of decades back.
I do wonder if it’s the gaming market that’s ultimately driven the decision. It’s no secret that sales of physical games are shrinking at speed in favour of digital. Heck, I went into a Game store a week or two back, and videogames have nearly taken a backseat there.
Blu-ray discs will continue then, although can’t say the same for MiniDiscs and MiniDV cassettes. There is a feeling that a physical media era is slipping away from us entirely if we’re not careful. There’s still some way to go though. A blow, but not panic stations.
