The video game disc is dead, and Sony has been planning its funeral for quite some time, according to a report out of Austria. Dietmar Tanzer, president of Sony DADC, told ORF Salzburg that the company's Thalgau plant currently churns out 600,000 discs daily, half of which are for PlayStation. But by 2028, that volume will shrink to just 10 percent, prompting Sony to retrain all 300 employees to produce optical microlenses instead.

Thalgau isn't just any disc plant - it's the headquarters of Sony's disc-making division and appears to be its last wholly owned disc facility. Sony shuttered its U.S. plants in Terre Haute, Indiana (moved to Thalgau in 2022) and New Jersey (closed in 2011). The Indiana facility now helps automakers package headlights, a pivot that seems almost poetic.

This transition has been brewing for a while. A behind-the-scenes video from December 2024 shows the Thalgau plant already dabbling in microlenses, which are also made using discs. Sony has invested €30 million into microlens production, with mass production possibly starting "as early as next year." Microlenses have various light-bending uses, including headsets and - because why not - car turn signals projected onto asphalt, as Sony's micro optics division head demonstrated.

In summary, Sony didn't rush this decision, and it's not likely to reverse course despite any predictable backlash. The company has been winding down disc manufacturing for decades, and with PlayStation, it's ripping off one last band-aid. Sony DADC has produced over 26.4 billion discs to date, with 23 billion of those made in Terre Haute between 1983 and 2022. That's a lot of coasters.