So if Sony discontinues discs by 2028, and Microsoft imitates them eventually, would this mean that cartridges outlasted discs as physical media?

Let's face it, it's not like Nintendo won't eventually do the same, but it'd be funny if so. All those N64 vs PS1 flame wars...

The petition to keep physical discs alive now has over 130,000 signatures! https://www.change.org/p/don-t-kill-the-disc-tell-sony-to-keep-physical-playstation-games?pubDate=20260702

Dark Souls only needed 100,000 signatures to get a PC port and after that tens of millions of PC gamers were able to enjoy the series. If Sony just allows physical PS5 discs until 2033 then that will result in tens of millions of gamers getting to buy physical copies. People should be able to play a game however they like as long as they are a full paying customer. Sony would be stupid to ignore this petition because even 50,000 people no longer buying games on PS5 because of this would result in millions in losses.

Nintendo will keep doing their own thing and not worry about what Sony or Microsoft are doing. 

I could be wrong, but I don't see Sony walking this back. At least not entirely. The best I see is them continuing physical for PS5 another year or 2, while PS6 is 100% digital. 

Even that would be a massive win. I don't care about PS6. It's almost guaranteed to be a flop. I just want to enjoy the PS5's retirement years with lots of late-gen releases that are on a physical disc. 

Yeah we shall see if they change course. Even a little bit. But in reality this announcement feels final. 

I wonder if Xbox will see the backlash and keep physical going another generation. Even if it is just selling a separate blu-ray drive add-on that plugs into the console. So you can keep playing your backwards compatible games. 

I doubt that. I hope they keep cartridges for the Switch 2's successor and beyond (especially considering handheld gaming CANNOT guarantee internet connection, so digital only makes even less sense), but I doubt that. Nintendo does follow trends, just very slowly. They did so with DLC and with paid online, and a digital only future is too profitable for many to ignore.

Let's be honest about it, ninty is the one who sort of already slowly started to phase oit physical with these gamekeycards, its a Bit better then a code in a box but still a digital copy that they can remove from there store anyday they want.

Sony just been stupid enough to blatenly say" we are stopping with physical" 

Verry stupid.

I dont like Game-Key Cards, but they have nothing to do with the eShop. They removing the game from the eShop doesnt affect the GKCs.

1. I hate Xbox with a fiery passion. They have been everything wrong with this industry for the past 13 years.

2. If Xbox manages to have legit physical copies of AAA games longer than PS5 I will buy a Series X.