On Thursday, Sony Japan announced that it will no longer manufacture or sell blank Blu-ray Discs in its home market. Several outlets misinterpreted the company’s press release and incorrectly assumed that the Blu-ray format was discontinued—nope, Blu-ray is alive and kicking.
In its press release, which was published in the “Recording Media” of its support website, Sony Japan explains that it will cease the production of “Blu-ray Disc media,” along with “MiniDiscs for recording” and “MD Data Discs for recording” in February of 2025.
Sony’s press release is intended for a Japanese audience. And, in Japan, optical discs are still a somewhat common tool for recording or burning media. Based on the context, and the mention of ancient formats like MiniDisc, we can infer that Sony is talking about blank Blu-ray Discs.
But we didn’t want to make any assumptions, so we reached out to Sony Japan for clarification.
“In Japan, we have a culture to record TV programs in the Blu-ray disc and we sell blank storage Blu-ray discs for this use only in Japan. The subject products of this notification are these discs. No other products (recorded Blu-Ray contain our TV programs/movie sold by Sony Pictures or Blu-ray player sold by Sony Corporation etc…) are the scope of this notification.”
As explained by a Sony Japan representative, this end-of-production notice exclusively applies to blank optical discs. Sony will continue manufacturing Blu-ray movies and video games, meaning that we have not reached the “end of physical media,” as some publications have suggested. We cannot use this end-of-production notice as a springboard for PlayStation 6 rumors, either.
Sony never really marketed Blu-ray as a video recording solution in the United States or Europe. This is due to several factors, including the relative unpopularity of DVD recorders in Western markets, the delayed adoption of HDTV in the United States, and the rise of competing hard-disk formats like DVR.
I should take a moment to note that MiniDisc, which is included in this end-of-production notice, absolutely failed in the United States but enjoyed a 30-year run in Japan (and a short stint in Europe). Sony’s decision to stop selling Blu-ray and MiniDisc blanks in Japan is a big story, as it indicates a shift in Japanese media consumption. But, again, it doesn’t really affect people outside of Japan.
Source: Sony Japan
