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Orbit Fab hires new CEO and raises funding to support satellite refueling business
With a new chief executive and funding round, satellite refueling company Orbit Fab hopes to make the transition from technology development to operations.
Google Voice launches two new personal plans with Workspace perks
Things are now more personal
LPS board hears plan to modernize school playgrounds and sports facilities
Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) has unveiled a plan to transform outdoor spaces as well as district athletic and activity facilities at multiple schools across the city.
Keeping PACE with Ocean Change
The primary goal of this collaboration was to support and validate science data products from NASA's recently launched Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite mission
Which part of SpaceX's business has the greatest long-term potential?
As SpaceX (SPCX) joins the ranks of the Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) on Tuesday, Macquarie was among the Wall Street firms that initiated coverage on Elon Musk's space venture, coming out with an Outperform rating and a $250 price target on the stock. Macquarie US head of research on technology Paul Golding comes on Market Domination Overtime to talk about his latest note and the long-term opportunities he is seeing from certain parts of SpaceX.
NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Wakes from Hibernation in Good Health
Following its longest hibernation period ever of nearly a year, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has emerged in good health and is ready to begin transmitting
NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Wakes from Hibernation in Good Health
Following its longest hibernation period ever of nearly a year, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has emerged in good health and is ready to begin transmitting
Gotham FC team to move to Etihad Park
The 25,000-capacity space is set to open next year.
SpaceX just launched the 1st-ever nuclear-powered commercial satellite
Who needs solar power anyway?
The sun's atmosphere is way hotter than its surface. Scientists may finally know why
NASA's Parker Solar Probe has found charged grains of dust being carried on magnetic plasma waves in the Sun's outer atmosphere, providing a new clue to the mystery of the Sun's corona is so hot.
Cosplaying Free Speech: How Religion And Politics Determine Campus Taboos
(ANALYSIS) I feel like I got into a debate or a disagreement with someone about politics or religion on a near daily basis when I was between the ages of 13 and 25. I would fight with anyone about anything and I would often argue positions that I completely disagreed with because I just liked the in
Connecticut Science Center expands early childhood learning space
The Connecticut Science Center has opened a new outdoor space in Hartford designed for children ages 6 and under.
First-Ever Close-Up Revealed of Earth's Rare 'Minimoon'
The smallest object ever visited by human spacecraft?
D-backs enjoy Walker Buehler’s Off-Day
Record: 45-45. Pace: 81-81. Change on 2025: +1. The Diamondbacks jumped on Padres starter Walker Buehler early. They scored six runs in the first three innings, and despite this being a Brandon Pfaadt start, were just able to hold on for victory. The win put Arizona back in sole possession of second place in the […]
Inside the BoF and Clinuvel Community Lunch Exploring the Future of Skin Health
Investors from Goldman Sachs, L Catterton and Bansk Beauty joined leaders from L’Oréal, Harrods, Space NK and Unilever at The Business of Beauty Global Forum to examine how advances in medicine, biotechnology and longevity are redefining the future of skin health.
Inside the BoF and Clinuvel Community Lunch Exploring the Future of Skin Health
Investors from Goldman Sachs, L Catterton and Bansk Beauty joined leaders from L’Oréal, Harrods, Space NK and Unilever at The Business of Beauty Global Forum to examine how advances in medicine, biotechnology and longevity are redefining the future of skin health.
Anthropic Releases Paper About Claude's Mental 'Workspace.' Don't Read It Uncritically
Anthropic's paper and supplementary materials hint at consciousness, perhaps a bit hastily.
12 Gadgets Under $25 That Deserve A Spot In Your Home Office
Working from home can mean spending hours on end in a makeshift space thrown together on the fly. These gadgets could ease some of the pain.
Anthropic says Claude has carved out its own space to ponder
The AI lab offers fresh ammunition to the debate over what would count as machine consciousness.
Anthropic's new "J-lens" reveals a silent workspace inside Claude that mirrors a leading theory of consciousness
Anthropic’s new Claude research reveals a hidden internal “global workspace” that resembles human conscious processing, raising major questions about AI reasoning, interpretability, safety, and machine consciousness.
Iridium folds Aireon aviation safety service into Rocket Lab-bound business
Iridium Communications has completed its takeover of Aireon, bringing the aircraft-tracking venture fully in-house ahead of the satellite operator’s planned $8 billion sale to Rocket Lab.
You can now customize Siri's pace and expressivity in the latest iOS 27 beta
The new controls let you control how quickly Siri speaks and expressive its voice is.
ESA’s Euclid Space Telescope Finds Universe’s Most Ancient Quasars
Led by ESA (European Space Agency) with contributions from NASA, the Euclid space telescope has discovered 31 of the oldest quasars ever documented. In
Ebola deaths in Congo top 500 as health workers threaten to strike
The outbreak has recorded 1,561 cases, including 506 deaths, since it was declared on May 15 as the spread continues to outpace response, Congo's Ministry of Health said in its latest update on Sunday night.
'Acceleration without fuel:' Revolutionary superconducting thruster harnesses Earth's magnetic field in 1st orbital test
"We are essentially looking to remove all reliance on Earth's resources so that we can build a sustainable industry in space."
The 10 best movies of 2026 (so far)
From the horror and thrills of 'Obsession' and 'Send Help' to an animated blockbuster and a space adventure, see which movies we think are the 10 best of 2026...so far. Even a 'king' makes our list.
The 10 best movies of 2026 (so far)
From the horror and thrills of "Obsession" and "Send Help" to an animated blockbuster and a space adventure.
Strong Flare Erupts from Sun
The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 4:41 p.m. ET on July 4. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an
NASA Webb Uncovers Unusual Galaxy Shaped by Cosmic Collision
Webb uncovers unusual galaxy shaped by cosmic collision: Webb's unprecedented sensitivity across near- and mid-infrared wavelengths cuts through the thick lanes of dust that obscure Centaurus A’s center in visible light, showing a densely packed tapestry of individual stars and an active, everchanging galaxy. These images mark four years of better-than-anticipated performance and successful science operations for the most powerful space telescope in history. Centaurus A is 11 million light-years away from Earth, relatively close in cosmic terms. Yet, unlike most nearby galaxies, it is very active, making it a powerful laboratory for understanding how galaxies and black holes grow and evolve together.
From Wimbledon to World Cup Warm-Ups, These Are the Buzziest Parties of the Summer Sports Season
The summer sports season is officially in session! Wimbledon is heating up as the annual British tennis tournament moves from the qualifiers to the main competition, while this year’s epic FIFA World Cup, taking place across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, continues apace. Here, find Vogue’s roundup of all the starriest—and most stylish—sports parties of the season.
These Robot Legs Helped Me Hike 12,000 Steps in the Grand Canyon, Without My Cane
I wore this robot exoskeleton in the Grand Canyon to see if it could help me manage my spinal stenosis and keep pace with my athlete daughter.
Musk Calls It 'Utterly False,' But This SpaceX Rumor Should Terrify Every Apple Investor
Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) rose 1.7% on July 1, 2026, the day the Wall Street Journal reported that SpaceX had shown IPO investors a prototype handset: slimmer than an iPhone, running a proprietary operating system, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, and deeply integrated with xAI’s Grok. Elon Musk called the ... Musk Calls It ‘Utterly False,’ But This SpaceX Rumor Should Terrify Every Apple Investor
Startups move to Colorado amid concerns state losing its luster for tech companies
A biotech startup and an aerospace startup said their moves to Colorado were based on lifestyle issues and the state’s business climate.
Preparing for Mars: UCLA Health's Space Medicine Program is training astronaut doctors
UCLA Health's Space Medicine Program is training astronaut doctors.
SpaceX's $1.6 Trillion Opportunity Could Be More Valuable Than Its AI Business
It has a solid foundation and a lot of potential to build this huge business.
James Webb telescope's largest-ever map of the universe unmasks hidden corners
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have created the most detailed map of the cosmic web ever.
NASA and Small Business Administration partner on funding key space technologies
NASA is partnering with the U.S. Small Business Administration on an effort to attract capital to invest in companies producing critical space components.
CBS Sports Names Alabama the Greatest College Football Program of Three Different Decades, and It's Hard to Argue
Spanning the 1930s to the 2010s, the Crimson Tide outpaced every other powerhouse to claim historic dominance across three distinct eras of gridiron excellence and consistency.
Shrinking the Pomp: Developers Scale Back Plans for Entertainment District
The Pomp Pompano Beach LIVE Venue changes: Developers scale back the entertainment district plan to four buildings and 170 parking spaces in 2026.
‘Changing the space’: New St. Clair business hopes to become a community hub
If you’ve noticed a change in energy while passing through St. Clair, you’re not imagining things. A mystical, explorative new shop has hit the zero block of South Second Street, and welcomes folks to mingle with the esoteric…
Superintelligent AI in space could explain the Fermi Paradox
Why haven't we found evidence of advanced aliens? It could be that they've outsourced cosmic exploration to superintelligent AI, a new paper suggests.
Missing ‘something’? It might be Pilates
It’s impossible not to smile and take a deep refreshing breath when you walk into The Sunshine Studio. With its freshly painted white walls, new equipment and the sun mural on the studio’s matt-room wall, the 1,500 square-foot space is as i…
Scientists Found An Enormous Structure In Space That Shouldn't Exist
The discovery of a second enormous structure has raised fresh questions about the cosmological principle.
Supreme Court’s dramatic moves will reshape elections — and give the GOP a midterm boost
Legal experts said the justices’ intervention amid an election cycle and the pace at which the court moved to implement changes that largely benefit one party is all but unprecedented in recent years.
For the 2014 film Interstellar, director Christopher Nolan hired Caltech physicist Kip Thorne as his science consultant — and the visual simulations Thorne helped design for the film's black hole were so mathematically accurate that they generated two peer-reviewed scientific papers and became the model for how astrophysicists visualize black holes today
In late 2012, when the American film director Christopher Nolan formally took over the production of a Warner Brothers science-fiction project that had been drifting through Hollywood development since approximately 2005 (originally intended for Steven Spielberg, based on a screenplay concept the film producer Lynda Obst had developed jointly with the Caltech theoretical physicist Kip […]
Scientists have now made the most comprehensive tally yet of deep-sea exploration — 43,681 dive records dating back to 1958 — and found that humans have directly seen less than 0.001% of the deep ocean floor, an area roughly the size of Rhode Island, leaving the vast seafloor across 66% of Earth’s surface essentially unobserved.
Humanity has sent cameras to the Moon, Mars, Venus and the outer planets, but on Earth itself there is still a larger frontier that has barely been looked at directly. A 2025 study in Science Advances has now put a number on that gap: since 1958, researchers have compiled 43,681 records of dives deep enough […]
Scientist who cleaned space toilet on work experience now leading Mars exploration teams
Claire Parfitt says her time at the National Space Centre in Leicester gave her a unique insight.
Scientists Propose ‘StormWall’ To Stop A $2.4 Trillion Solar Storm
A proposed StormWall spacecraft fleet could release gas to weaken solar storms, protecting satellites, power grids and technology, but potentially reducing auroras.
Joe Heller: Cartoonist's views of news - Fireworks politics, birthright citizenship, it's HOT, wide open spaces
Joe Heller was the editorial cartoonist for the Green Bay Press-Gazette in Green Bay, Wis., from 1985 until being laid off in July 2013. He still draws several cartoons a week and distributes them through his own syndicate. Through Heller Syndication, his cartoons regularly appear in more than 400 newspapers, making him the most successful...
For much of the past century, scientists believed dinosaurs were already in decline when the asteroid struck 66 million years ago — but a 2025 study published in Science found fossils in New Mexico showing they were flourishing in diverse, thriving ecosystems right up until the moment of impact
For much of the past century, many scientists believed the dinosaurs were already in decline when the asteroid struck 66 million years ago, a group past its prime that a cosmic accident merely finished off. A 2025 study published in the journal Science, built on fossils from New Mexico, argues almost the opposite. Right up […]
Bellingham’s Runs Behind: One Of England’s Dangerous Weapons
Thomas Tuchel arrived at the World Cup building his England side upon wide connections. The central midfielders, fullbacks, and wingers coordinate via wide rotations, position exchanges, and channel runs. The idea revolves around generating spaces for crosses and cutbacks. According to Opta, only Canada (82) played more crosses than England (75) until the round of […]
New Google commercial imagines a Declaration of Independence written with help from AI
Two hundred and fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a new commercial asks: What if the Founding Fathers had access to Google Workspace?
$28.5M modernization project planned at San Juan High School
Demolition and construction are taking place this summer at San Juan High School as part of a science wing and campus-wide modernization project, San Juan Unified School District officials say...
Did The Retroid Pocket Flip 3 Just Get Officially Confirmed?
Retroid appears to confirm a new dual-screen handheld for late 2026, fueling speculation that the Pocket Flip 3 is finally on the way this year.
Elon Musk posted twice as often on UK race and immigration as about SpaceX in IPO run-up
Guardian analysis of X feed shows how keen world’s richest person was to air his views and ‘interfere’ in British politics
NASA's Hubble spots a stellar sparkler for the Fourth of July
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured a spectacular red, white, and blue view of one of the Milky Way's oldest star clusters to celebrate the nation's 250th anniversary. Hidden within the ancient cluster are clues to how exploding stars helped transform the young universe into one capable of forming planets and, eventually, life.
George Russell Cannot Explain His Silverstone Sprint Pace
George Russell finished fifth in British Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying at Silverstone, just under four tenths of a second behind pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and behind…
SpaceX's Next Big Business Isn't Rockets. It's Computer Chips.
The newly public space company is quietly buying its way into the AI hardware race.
Rescue mission launches to save NASA telescope that's falling back to Earth thanks to solar storms
Launched in 2004, Swift is sinking faster than ever because of recent solar storms.
Scientists warn: a hidden space threat could trigger the next plane crash - Futura-Sciences
Space debris: silent stalkers in our skies For the past 50 years, NASA has recorded no more than one piece of space debris making it to the ground per day. And thankfully, there’s yet to be a single serious accident. After all, Earth is big and humans only occupy a...
Teams Make Contact With Spacecraft Set to Boost NASA’s Swift
Teams have successfully established communications with Katalyst Space’s robotic servicing spacecraft LINK.
NASA’s Hubble Captures Crimson Cloud Sparkling with White, Blue Stars
Blue and white stars shine brightly against glowing crimson gas in this image of stellar nursery LH 95 from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
Titan, Saturn’s Largest Moon, Could Become a 'Gas Station' for Deep Space Missions
Saturn’s largest moon could become a fuel stop and manufacturing hub beyond Mars.
Five Science Fiction Movies to Stream Now
This month’s recommendations include a dreamscape space opera, a dark time-travel diner comedy and an existential alien thriller.
Space science has come a long way since July 4, 1776. Here's a look back at the saga
Celebrating America's 250th birthday, Space.com looks back at what our understanding of space was like in 1776 and what major developments occurred to change our thinking.
Strengthen Your Business With Lifetime Cybersecurity Training for $53
Get self-paced courses on CISSP, ethical hacking, and GRC through one lifetime membership.
In Absolutely Science Fiction! at Z-Space — Bradbury and Vonnegut, together at last
In “Absolutely Science Fiction!” at Z Space through July 19, literary theatre troupe Word for Word performs short stories by Kurt Vonnegut and Ray Bradbury.
Russia's services downturn deepens as new business falls at fastest pace since December 2022, PMI shows
Russia's services sector contracted further in June as weaker client demand drove steeper falls in output and new orders, a business survey showed on Friday.
NASA, Partners Update Launch Date for Mission to Boost Swift
The launch of Katalyst's robotic servicing spacecraft LINK is now targeted for no earlier than Friday, July 3.
Scientists have detected a giant fan-shaped structure buried beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, suggesting the frozen continent may be hiding the geological scars of the breakup that helped separate Antarctica from Australia
East Antarctica can look, from above, like the quiet half of the frozen continent: old, thick, cold and buried under kilometres of ice. But beneath that ice, new mapping suggests the bedrock may carry the shape of a much more violent past. In a Nature Geoscience study published in June 2026, researchers described a giant […]
13 IKEA Finds That Will Upgrade Your Home Office
These popular standing desks, monitor stands, and more will transform your home office into a sleek, organized space with ergonomic design.
Artemis II's Nikon Z9 Was Way More Important for Science Than Expected
The Nikon Z9 did some stellar space science.
NASA’s Webb Reveals Stars Sparking to Life in Cosmic Celebration
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the infrared light of numerous features that previously were impossible to see beyond the thick dust of the FS
Mendota High juniors win national MESA title with Safe Space mental health tool
Two Mendota High School juniors are bringing a national engineering title back to the Central Valley after creating a mental health tool aimed at helping studen
PACE Provider myPlace Health Achieves High-Acuity Care Reductions
The SCAN Group affiliate myPlace Health has acheived significant reductions in hospitalizations as its program exceeds 300 participants. The company
Microsoft Frontier Company: AI engineering that amplifies and protects your intelligence
The pace of AI adoption is moving incredibly fast. Customers have moved well beyond experimentation and understand the importance of adopting AI to transform their business. They are now concentrating on delivering measurable business outcomes and demonstrating a return on their AI investments, while ensuring their intelligence is amplified and their IP is protected. Today...
US economy added jobs at a slower pace than expected in June
The Labor Department released the June 2026 jobs report, which showed the U.S. economy added jobs at a steady pace last month despite uncertainty over inflation.
Launch of Swift Boost Mission Delayed, Teams Reviewing Data
The launch of Katalyst’s robotic servicing spacecraft LINK on Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket was postponed Thursday.
NASA launches bold mission to rescue a falling space telescope before it crashes to Earth
NASA's Swift Observatory is slated to enter Earth's atmosphere later this year, but the Katalyst Space spacecraft aims to boost it higher this summer.
7 Indoor Kid Entertainment Venues in Northern Virginia
These Northern Virginia indoor kid entertainment venues include slides, a space-themed playground, a community-centered play café, and more.
The Domes, San Jose’s newest entertainment venue, is a real mind trip
New space near San Pedro Square can be used for watching sports, hosting corporate events and more.
Trump's crypto earnings far outpace the businesses he spent decades building
NPR's Scott Detrow talks with Bernard Condon of the AP about how President Trump and his family raked in more than a billion dollars last year through crypto ventures.
Elon Musk denies a report about SpaceX’s AI phone prototype
Musk says the report is “utterly false.”
Musk denies WSJ report that SpaceX showed AI handset prototype before IPO
Elon Musk on Wednesday denied a Wall Street Journal report that SpaceX showed investors and other stakeholders a prototype of an AI-focused device ahead of its blockbuster IPO.
SpaceX has an AI device prototype, and it sure sounds phone-ish
SpaceX reportedly showed investors a "handset-like" AI device before going public. It could be another signal SpaceX wants to expand into wireless.
RFK Master Plan proposes new housing, entertainment, park space around Commanders' stadium
D.C. officials released a draft of its RFK Master Plan, which maps out where new housing, recreation and retail developments will be featured around the future stadium of the NFL's Washington Com
NASA’s Webb Studies How Planet Survived Death of its Star
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is giving us new insight into the far-future of solar systems like our own, as the agency continues to reveal the secrets of
Scientists propose launching a giant 'airbag' into space to protect us from solar superstorms — and experts say it's 'quite feasible'
A new study suggests creating a satellite constellation, dubbed StormWall, that could reduce the impacts of the worst solar storms by more than 50%. The novel plan, which involves dumping gas into the magnetosphere, could be the only way to directly protect ourselves from dangerous space weather, experts say.
ACCESS Model: behavioral health edition
A new value-based care program for chronic condition management begins July 5. | A new payment model is designed to pay digital health companies based on outcomes in chronic condition management. But where does behavioral health fit? This episode explores that question with SonderMind and Headspace, two companies participating in the model's behavioral health track.
Sony will cease production of discs for new PlayStation games in 2028
New games sold for PlayStation consoles will only be available digitally and won’t be sold on discs effective January 2028, Sony has announced. The move applies to all PlayStation games released from that point on, including those made by Sony and those released by third parties. The PlayStation group calls the change “a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs,” according to a PlayStation blog post reviewed by Game File in advance of its publication. As movies, TV and music have shifted from physical media to an age of downloads and streaming, Sony’s move could speed the demise of physical media in a gaming. The industry has offered consumers games via cartridges, cassettes, floppy discs, CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays across a 50-year stretch. Sony has been reporting to investors in recent years that PlayStation games have been increasingly purchased as downloads, not as discs. The most recent figures show nearly four in five purchases of full games for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 were purchased digitally in the past year. Stats like that may cause today’s news to carry an air of the inevitable. But Sony’s declaration for 2028 is still likely to produce a shock, as the biggest gaming platform on the planet that uses game discs leaves them behind. Discs going away, but the fate of game boxes is unknown Sony is committing to still selling games in physical retailers even after they drop discs in 2028. Just how those games will be sold—in boxes with codes inside, as cards marked with digital redemption codes—is unclear. Digital games will also continue to be sold in the online PlayStation Store. New games released for PlayStation consoles prior to January 2028 will be unaffected by the policy change, Sony says. That means the PS5 games of 2027, be they a new Madden, a new God of War, a new Call of Duty, a new Sly Cooper (one can dream?), would still potentially be offered on disc. PlayStation 6 implications Sony’s timeline for a transition to a no-disc era will also spin up more speculation about the timing and configuration of Sony’s next-generation console, the probable PlayStation 6. “This pretty much guarantees that PS6 won’t arrive until 2028 at the earliest,” Piers Harding-Rolls, senior games research analyst at Ampere Analysis tells Game File. Harding-Rolls also concludes from today’s news that “the base version of a PS6 will not include a physical media drive,” as Sony looks to keep costs down on the device. Sony itself is saying nothing about the PS6 today: not its timing, nor how it might or might not support internal or external disc drives in order to run disc-based PS4 and PS5 games, should the console be backwards compatible. The many signs this was coming Industry support for games being released on physical media has been waning. As has consumer interest in them. PC games effectively went all-digital years ago, thanks to the popularity of playing games through Steam and other digital storefronts. The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns that kept much of the global population home helped shift shopping patterns toward downloads. Sony’s own data shows PlayStation game downloads being an uncommon consumer choice a decade ago and now becoming the norm. On consoles, physical media has been in such decline that Sony and Microsoft both launched their current gen Xbox Series and PS5 consoles in 2020 with cheaper versions that lacked disc drives. In early 2024, Phil Spencer, then head of Xbox, told me that ““[w]e ship games physically and digitally, and we’re really just following what the customers are doing.” He added that the game industry had become an outlier in still supporting disc-based entertainment, even as movies and TV have bailed on discs in favor of downloads and steaming: “Gaming consoles themselves have kind of become the last consumer electronic device that has a drive. And this is a real issue, just in terms of the number of manufacturers that are actually building drives and the cost associated with those. And when you think about cogs that we’re going to go put in a console—and as you have fewer suppliers and fewer buyers—the cost of the drive does have an impact.” Last year, the Nintendo’s Switch 2, which uses cartridges rather than discs, introduced the concept of game-key cards, which are physical media that contain no game, just a prompt for a download. Even disc-based games aren’t what they once were, now frequently containing just stubs of games rather than the whole thing. The website Does It Play has tested over 3000 games and found that, for example, that the disc version of this year’s hit 007: First Light, only contained the game’s first mission, with the rest needing to be downloaded. Beyond all that, last week brought the news that Grand Theft Auto VI, likely the biggest game launch this decade, will debut for PS5 and Xbox Series without a disc-based version. Today’s big news comes to you for free. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and ensure more of my work is possible, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Discs helped define PlayStation However the trends in entertainment may be going, it is still remarkable to see PlayStation ditch discs given their importance in PlayStation history: In the late 1990s, the first PlayStation’s support for games on relatively cheap CD-ROMs instead of traditional game cartridges allowed the upstart console to outmaneuver cartridge-based systems from Nintendo and Sega, as it drove down game prices down in the process. (The cheaper disc format even prompted Final Fantasy VII maker Square to taunt Nintendo in a magazine ad, saying that if the game was “available on cartridge, it’d retail for around $1200.”) PlayStation devices often doubled as machines for watching movies and TV on the latest disc-based formats. In the late 2000s, for example, Sony’s pricy PS3 gained traction as a go-to device for playing then-novel Blu-Ray discs. In 2013, Sony effectively roasted the digital game-sharing restrictions proposed by rival Microsoft for its upcoming Xbox One console by showing how games could be shared for the then-upcoming PS4. In a 21-second clip that has over 20 million views on YouTube, one PlayStation executive simply handed a game box—presumably with disc inside—to another, who said “thanks.” Sony’s possible motivations The PlayStation announcement today cites “consumer preferences” and a shift away from discs among “the broader entertainment industry,” but does not delve into the decision-making process that brought Sony to this point. Sony is not discussing the economics of this move (I asked!), but there are a number of potential factors: Abandoning discs will spare Sony the cost of manufacturing and shipping them, which analysts and industry veterans I spoke to said could account for $1 or so of a game’s retail price. For first-party games, that’s direct savings for Sony, though the amount is limited by the winnowing percentage of people who were even buying the disc-based versions. For third-party games, Sony could pass the savings on to partners or just retain the better profit margin for themselves. As the 2024 comments from Phil Spencer alluded to, leaving discs behind could mean leaving disc-drives behind, allowing Sony to produce consoles more cheaply. Switching to digital-only for games could diminish the risks of copies of new games leaking. It would also seemingly make second-hand sales of used games impossible, pushing more people to buy their own copies of games. These economic benefits for Sony could be boons for the games industry overall, Ampere analyst Piers Harding-Rolls tells Game File. Among other things, it could free publishers and retailers from having to worry about securing an inventory of game discs when trying to sell games, he noted. “If there is a way to streamline the business of games retail, I generally think it’s a good thing for the industry as it removes unnecessary costs,” Harding-Rolls said. “This will help offset pressure on margins from other directions – development and staffing costs for example.” Should the industry shift from game boxes that contain discs to smaller, cheaper game cards, Harding-Rolls said, that reduces pressure on publishers and retailers. “The advantage of everything going digital for the industry is that sales can be tracked much more easily and there is less commercial risk for publishers wanting to continue selling via retail,” he said. The shift to no discs will also likely impact game development timelines, as developers will no longer face the same urgency to have a build ready to submit to PlayStation for the production of a disc, as industry experts noted around GTA VI’s no-disc news last week. Instead, projects may gain weeks of development time, in the event delivery deadlines for platform approval move closer to release date. Preservationists’ likely worries While millions of gamers have shifted to digital, there are still people who associate game discs—and only game discs—with actual ownership of PlayStation games. That portion of the gaming community spoke up last week about wanting to buy a version of GTA VI that they could hold in their hands, could lend to a friend and could potentially pop into a well-preserved PS5 console three decades from now and still see it run. Such gamers didn’t want to worry that they’d merely purchased a digital copy that could lose access to the game if, say, the company behind the game someday turns of the servers that transmit downloadable copies. Digital copies of games are inherently less long-lasting, because consumers aren’t actually buying a game (on a disc), just buying access to the game. The fine print in online gaming shops notes this, as does a recent law that went on the books in California in 2025. That lasw requires game publishers doing business in the state to refrain from words like “sell” when offering digital copies of games, unless they explicitly tell consumers that what’s being sold isn’t the game itself but a potentially revocable license to access it. A Sony spokesperson noted to Game File that “[w]ith all digital content, including games, movies, and music, players are purchasing a personal license for non-commercial use.” Regarding the fears of PlayStation games being lost to time in an all-digital era, the rep also noted that Sony remains “committed to delivering experiences from past generations to the new platforms our players are using.” They noted that PlayStation has used emulation and remasters to keep offering its classic games to modern gamers. It’s true that many consumers have become accustomed to not having physical copies of new music albums or movies, but the relative precariousness of digital copies of games is in fact being highlighted today by…. Sony’s other big announcement: the upcoming closure of the PS3 and PS Vita online stores Sony said today that it will be closing the online marketplaces for its PlayStation 3 console and PS Vita handheld in most countries in July 2027 (sooner elsewhere: August 2026 for the PS3 store Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua; late 2026 for PS3 in other Latin American countries and the Middle East). “We know this news may be disappointing to PS3 and PS Vita players who hold a special place in their hearts for this generation of gaming,” Sony said in its announcement, saying the move “was not an easy decision for us to make.” Sony said that PS3 and Vita marketplaces “are no longer able” to support modern commerce systems, prompting a “need” to close the shops and focus on more modern PlayStation platform stores. The news may spark some deja vu. Sony announced back in March 2021 that it planned to take the PS3, Vita and PlayStation Portable marketplaces offline that summer. The move would have caused some 2,000 digital-only games to become unavailable for new purchasers, according to a VGC analysis at the time. Fans complained loudly. By April 2021, Sony walked back the PS3 and Vita shop closures, with then PlayStation boss Jim Ryan saying “it’s clear that we made the wrong decision here.” This time around, Sony is giving a longer notice period in most regions. The closure of those stores is still likely to cut off access to new purchases of digital-only PS3 and Vita games. The current PlayStation 5 marketplace sells PS5 and PS4 games, as well as a selection of PS1 and PS2 games. It does not sell PS3 games, because games for that platform can’t run on the system (some are offered via a PlayStation Plus streaming option). Vita games also aren’t sold via PS5. Sony says digitally purchased PS3 and Vita games will be downloadable after the stores’ shutdowns “for the foreseeable future.” Sony’s move contrasts with Microsoft’s Xbox platform, which continues to sell and support games from all four Xbox console generations. But it puts it in line with Nintendo, which disabled purchases in the marketplace for its Wii console (a contemporary of the PS3) in 2019. Nintendo discontinued purchases in the online shop for its 3DS portable (a contemporary of the Vita) in 2023. The big questions about Sony’s 2028 post-disc era Will Microsoft follow suit, ending support for new disc-based games on Xbox platforms and therefore all game consoles, too? Whether Microsoft does or not, will third-parties that can no longer release games on discs for PlayStation, simply ditch the disc options across the board? Given the GTA VI no-disc experiment launching this November, will more game publishers decide to forgo disc-based offerings even in 2027? How will no-disc PS5/6 games be packaged and sold in brick-and-mortar retail stores? What becomes of game sharing in an all-digital era? Will Sony modify its current set-up, which currently allows some sharing of digital games across a pair of consoles, to allow more casual lending? (See for example, Nintendo’s year-old system of letting players lend a digital game to another player in a “family group” for up to 14 days.) Will there be a version of a PS6 with a disc drive? Or will a drive be offered as an add-on? And how will gamers who want to retain access to PS4/PS5 disc-based games react to whichever configurations Sony chooses to offer? What will the final disc-based PlayStation game be?
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