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Warriors Top Backup Plan For LeBron James Falling Apart
The Golden State Warriors are running out of options with difficult paths towards acquiring their ideal names. LeBron James remains the dream scenario to join them in free agency and unite with rival Stephen Curry for the first time in their NBA careers. Unfortunately for Golden State, it appears that LeBron is prioritizing the Cleveland […] The post Warriors Top Backup Plan For LeBron James Falling Apart appeared first on HEAVY.
The Pitcher Who Made the Tigers Feel Big Again
After decades of pitching mediocrity, Justin Verlander’s arrival signaled a shift in Detroit. His dominant swagger and electric fastball transformed the Tigers from AL bottom-dwellers into championship contenders.
Fertitta Entertainment outlines financing, regulatory and anti-trust review process for private takeover of Caesars
With a competing bid from billionaire investor Carl Icahn looming and no plans to sell Wynn Resorts stock, Fertitta Entertainment executives outlined to Nevada
Thai Tycoon Revamps Property Business To Unleash Growth
Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi, son of liquor tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, has been making moves to revamp the family’s real estate portfolio held by Singapore-listed Frasers Property.
Meta's new Muse Image AI model changes Instagram sharing rules
Meta's new Muse Image AI lets Instagram users share and modify other people's public posts, sparking privacy concerns about content reuse.
Panthers Should Consider Aggressive Trade With Division Rival
The Carolina Panthers should consider pursuing an aggressive trade with an NFC South rival.
Why “Heated Rivalry” isn’t nominated for Emmys
The Emmys rule that impacts “foreign television productions.”
Turkey's Erdogan hosts NATO summit as political rival Imamoglu defends himself in court
ISTANBUL (AP) — As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted NATO leaders in Ankara on Wednesday, his main political rival defended himself against corruption charges in court.
Kansas Citian behind exclusive cigar lounge pops up with mobile cocktail bar
KC Pours is Nayeli Sharp’s mobile cocktail concept that she plans to bring to events as a pop-up or as catering for private functions.
Hungary moves to overhaul university models banned from Horizon Europe
Hungary’s new government is aiming to overhaul the governance model of the institutions and universities that lost access to Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ funds “in a short timeframe,” according to Péter Horváth, the new state secretary for science policy and innovation. “As of today, the two non-university foundation-controlled institutions under my remit have been transformed,” he told Science|Business. “We hope the universities will follow and that this will be enough to satisfy the EU’s demands.”Under the previous government, led by Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party, many academic and scientific institutions were restructured and made into special public trust foundations, with members strongly linked to the government given lifelong mandates and significant decision-making powers with little oversight. The European Commission deemed that this undermined academic freedom and transparency in the country, leading to a ban on 34 institutions in 2022, including 21 universities, which saw academics in Hungary lose access to Horizon Europe grants. The new Hungarian government, elected in May and led by Péter Magyar and his Tisza Party, has promised to dismantle this governance model and restore the institutions to EU programmes. As a result, the European Commission has promised to return access to the Erasmus+ education mobility programme, but so far no concrete agreement has been made on the Horizon Europe programme for research and innovation. Hungary has already made legislative changes in June to allow the institutions to be reformed and set a timeline for the implementation.The non-university foundations, which are mainly cultural centres such as the Foundation for Hungarian Culture or the Makovecz Campus Foundation, will all be dissolved by August 31 this year, a date tied to EU-set milestones that Hungary must meet to unlock frozen funds, with control transferred to relevant ministries. Meanwhile, the universities will have until 31 August 2027. For each university foundation, the government will set the dissolution date and the body to take over operations. There is no final decision on a permanent new model for the universities, according to Hungarian MEP Eszter Lakos, who is shadow rapporteur for the Horizon Europe specific programme, a separate piece of legislation detailing implementation rules for the EU’s next research programme, due to start in 2028. “The aim of the transition year is to settle this with [the universities], not to impose a model, and not to put them under state control,” she told Science|Business. “The goal is to give academic independence back to universities.”There are three models that are most likely to be implemented. One would be a return to a traditional, state-run model. Another could be a newer, more self-standing public institution. A third option would be a reformed version of the foundation models that meet EU standards. According to Lakos, the dismantling of the system put in place by the Orbán government is well underway and if all goes according to plan, Hungary could regain access to EU research money by the start of the next academic year in 2027. “I believe that the Hungarian government is doing the necessary changes so the universities could return as beneficiaries to Horizon from the next school year,” she said. In the meantime, “the universities, institutes and cultural assets carry on under proper public stewardship rather than a handful of unaccountable trustees,” said Lakos. The laws passed in June impose new safeguards: board terms are capped at four years and renewable only once, appointments are made through open competitions and sitting politicians cannot join joining these boards.It remains unclear whether a domestic science funding programme set up as a back-up scheme by the former government following the EU funding ban, called HU-rizon, could be continued. “This programme should never have had to have been established in the first place, but it has proven to be quite popular,” he said. “I am considering continuing this programme with a refined focus on helping international collaborations.”Re-organising the research network One of the first priorities for Horváth and his cabinet is to resolve questions over the future of the Hungarian Research Network, Hun-Ren. The network of academic institutes was taken away from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2019 and turned into a quasi-private organisation, with similarities in its governance to the public trust foundations.Horváth and his team have consulted over 5,000 representatives from the network and the conclusion is broad unhappiness with the directors of all the institutes involved. “We have presented the results to the president and the chief executive of the network and this is currently being discussed,” Horváth said. The plan is to re-integrate the network back into the Academy of Sciences but in an improved way, “learning from mistakes of the past,” he added. The government also wants to reintegrate four humanities and social science research centres into the network that the previous government had transferred to Eötvös Loránd University. The transfer brought sharp criticism from the academic community, with a group of Hungarian research heads, including European Research Council grant recipients, sending an open letter to Orbán warning that the transfer would “cause historically significant harm to the entirety of Hungarian scientific life.” The transfer was “one of the biggest shames in Hungarian research in the past 20 years,” Horváth said. “We want to immediately re-integrate them back into the research network and to regain the trust of these institutions, because the way they were treated was really unfair.”Another pressing issue is the Élvonal Excellence Research and Talent Development Foundation, led by Nobel laureate Ferenc Krausz. The foundation signed a financing agreement with the former government earlier this year for a budget of over €730 million over the next five years. The goal is to create a world-class centre to attract top talent from abroad and to develop local researchers. But there was little transparency about this foundation, and news of its huge budget, which is nearly as much as Hungary’s entire research budget, caused a stir in the media following the recent elections. Another issue is that, as with the foundation boards of the institutes banned from Horizon Europe, there was little-to-no oversight of decisions led by Krausz. “It was an excellent idea but an unacceptable execution,” Horváth said of the foundation. “The fact that this is out of the Hungarian funding scheme, mostly concentrating on one person who decides on the budget is unacceptable for us.”The government plans to merge the centre with the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, the country’s R&D funding agency, with a reduced budget. Horváth is hopeful that Krausz will still be involved. The new government’s R&D goalsA phrase that crops up regularly during the discussion with Horváth is “democratic process.” The new state secretary is determined to involve Hungary’s research community in shaping future policies. This marks a departure from the previous government’s approach, and several people in Hungary’s research community have commented on the openness of the new government. In terms of concrete goals, Horváth and his team already have plans. He wants to create a new science fund in Hungary, based on the best practices of other European countries. The fund would not be tied to annual government budgets and would provide long-term, stable financing. “If we were to succeed in creating this fund, then I think it would be one of the biggest achievements for me in this period of government,” Horváth said. On the innovation side, he is looking into how best to bring in the private sector. “We want to make sure that we are working with the private sector to support innovation,” Horváth said. One of his big aims is to introduce entrepreneurship teaching into high schools. Hungary already has a reputable national academy offering research and innovation training in the field of natural sciences, and Horváth wants to expand this to all disciplines and across the whole country. “One of the main ways to elevate our innovative businesses is to teach our children to be innovative,” he said. “This will probably need ten years to pay off, but this is what we should do. Our aim is to make Hungary strong in our region, and this is what is needed.” Related articlesHungary’s Horizon Europe performance in numbersCommission unlocks Erasmus+ cash for Hungary, Horizon could be next‘Academic Huxit.’ Hungarian researchers speak out on impact of EU ban A more difficult task will be funding. The new government is aiming to increase research spending to 2% of the GDP by 2030, and then increase it to 3% in line with EU objectives. Currently, spending sits around 1.3%. But according to Horváth, the current budget, inherited from the previous government, is “heavily in the negative,” so any plans to increase research spending will have to start next year. Achieving 2% by 2030 already needs a big push, almost doubling the research budget. “This is something we’d definitely like to reach, and something I can see us achieving,” he said. “From the 2030s, I’d like to see an innovative generation growing up that can help us reach the 3% target.” Positivity in the new governmentDespite the many challenges facing Horváth and his team, the mood is positive. “It feels a bit like a start-up right now. Everyone is working 24/7, day and night, trying to do as much as they can. There is a lot of energy,” he said. It is a big change for the state secretary who, like many in his cabinet, is coming from a background in research or business, and not in politics. “Six weeks ago, I was sitting with my microscope and my research PhDs, so it’s been a big change for me,” said the computer scientist, who was previously the director of the Institute of Biochemistry at the Hun-Ren Biological Research Centre in Hungary and worked at the Institute for AI for Health at Helmholtz Munich. But he is relishing the task to transform the country’s R&D landscape. “We feel enormous support from the Hungarian people, but also from Europe,” he said. “We’ve received a lot of letters of support from around Europe. There is big trust there, and huge responsibility on our side. We want to get everything back on track, and there’s a lot to do.”
Bipartisan support on US House panel for examining private equity in youth sports
Some Democrats promoted a bill sponsored by Pennsylvania Rep. Chris DeLuzio that would ban private equity from youth sports.
Olympic Q-Series sports programme confirmed for Tokyo, Shanghai, Montreal and Orlando
The sports programme for each stop of the Olympic Q-Series has been confirmed, with Tokyo, Shanghai, Montreal and Orlando set to stage a dynamic mix of team and individual sports on the road to the LA28 Olympic Games.
Labour calls on Farage to ‘come clean’ over £5m gift and work with crime agency over money laundering concerns
Lib Dems tell Reform UK leader ‘the game is up’ as political rivals vow to boycott ‘stunt’ Clacton byelection
Meta tests ‘super sensing’ AI glasses that can capture every moment
Mark Zuckerberg’s hardware ambitions are edging into a new privacy fight over who gets recorded
Meta & Ray-Ban glasses rolling out mandatory update that disables the camera when privacy light is broken
Smart glasses with a camera are inherently a privacy nightmare, but Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses (and now its self-branded ones) have...
Meta’s glasses will turn off the camera if you tamper with the privacy light
Meta has tried to discourage tampering with the LED.
Nigel Farage's political rivals rule out standing in Clacton by-election
The Reform UK leader says he wants an "establishment versus the people by-election" but Labour calls it a "circus".
ResMed to sell software business MatrixCare for $490 million
ResMed said on Tuesday it would sell its software business MatrixCare to private equity firm Frazier Healthcare Partners for $490 million in cash, as the health technology company sharpens its focus on sleep, breathing and home-based care.
Report: Microsoft will make even more of its games exclusive to Xbox — as multiplatform strategy totally fails. What's going on?
Xbox's loathed "Project Latitude" strategy which saw Microsoft support its biggest rival with content is ending, with CEO Asha Sharma doubling down on exclusives.
Grocers, bodegas claim NYC officials are demanding private business info — as city preps government-owned supermarkets
Explaining The Comcast and NBCUniversal Divorce
(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) I hope everyone had a happy Fourth of July in America, celebrating the country’s 250th birthday. Frankly, I am bummed the 250th wasn’t a bigger celebration, but that’s a different topic for a different Substack. While it was generally a quiet week on the entertainment/streaming/media business fronts, we still had some interesting news stories. Actually, that kinda undersells one of the stories, a huge, huge, huge divestment that could upend the entertainment landscape... So let’s get right to it. In today’s column, I’ll cover Comcast spinning off the rest of NBCUniversal, an entertainment company investing in an LLM company and an LLM-owner investing in a movie studio, the latest round of threats of digital tariffs, and more. Let’s dive in. Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - Most: Comcast/NBCU Breakup!!!! If I had to describe my reaction to Comcast spinning out NBCUniversal, it feels like a relationship ending, either breaking up or divorcing. Comcast’s decision to spin off the rest of NBCUniversal, after spinning off some of its cable assets into Versant last year, really does feel like a family breaking up under “irreconcilable differences”. Of my stereotypes of the entertainment moguls, my go-to for Comcast CEO Brian Roberts—heir to the Comcast fortune, but a man who’s been at the helm for 24 years now, and president for twelve years before that—is that he likes building empires. He cut his teeth acquiring cable rivals in the 1990s and tried to buy Disney repeatedly, then settled for NBCUniversal after a long court battle. (Contrast this with Rupert Murdoch, a man who also loved to buy, but would also sell when the price is right. Murdoch made Fox out of nothing, but then sold 20th Century Fox to Disney, arguably at the top of the market. So I understood why he sold.) But I don’t understand Roberts’ motivation to sell now. I have some explanations but no single, super-satisfying explanation. Strategically, it would just make more sense to have kept NBCUniversal in-house, especially for a one-time empire builder like Comcast. Yet one powerful force—arguably the decider in modern capitalism—likely overwhelmed all other considerations. At first, I thought I’d arrange my thoughts as a “Five Why” analysis, digging through each layer of the puzzle. But instead, I found myself asking, “But…why?” (And I only ended up with four sections.) So let’s look at Comcast from that angle. Then, at the end, I’ll give my biggest strategic recommendation for every company in Hollywood. It’s obvious, but sometimes, the obvious strategy is the most ignored. But…Why? The Stock Market, Conglomerations, and Sum of the Parts Analysis We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… Why Comcast could never get a “tech company” valuation The not-so-secret motivation for Comcast What Versant has to do with all of this The key strategic advice I think every entertainment exec should follow (though it’s really obvious) Some big AI investment news… Whether we’ll see digital tariffs… And more… ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support.
ACC takes on DOAC use with new scientific statement
Direct oral anticoagulants continue to be underutilized and inappropriately dosed. The American College of Cardiology hopes a new scientific statement can help address those issues and provide clinicians with an updated look at this important topic.
Smart Glasses Now Have 'Privacy Kits' to Protect You From Getting Punched in the Face
Solos is selling accessories that make its smart glasses a little more palatable.
These New Smart Glasses From Solos Come With a Privacy Shield for the Cameras
You can clip a cover over the cameras, which could be a double-edged sword.
Tech devices in California's new cars create thorny political issues
Devices that record vehicle operational data for state air quality regulators could also violate privacy and be used to tax drivers by the mile.
Private jets descend on Sun Valley's 'summer camp for billionaires'
The small Idaho resort town of Sun Valley will be once again overtaken by media and tech titans for the annual Allen & Co. conference.
GTCR Announces Divestiture of Corza Medical's Biosurgery Business Unit to EQT
/PRNewswire/ -- GTCR, a leading private equity firm, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement for Corza Medical, a leading global medical...
If you use Google, you're training its AI. Here's how to opt out.
PSA: A change to Google's privacy settings let it train its AI on more of your data. Here's how to opt out.
NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst Celebrates New Point-of-Care MRI with Queens Borough President Donovan Richards
NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards recently held a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the arrival of a new point of
Inside the $85 million private jet that made one of Africa’s richest billionaires the owner of the world’s fastest business jet
Months after entering service, Bombardier’s Global 8000 has arrived in Africa, with one of Nigeria’s most powerful industrialists becoming its first customer on the continent in a move that flexes both aviation ambition and billionaire financial muscle, especially for a buyer who already owns two other Bombardier jets
Watchdog warns of risks to patients as private equity’s stake in US healthcare grows
New report details slew of ventures between private equity and nonprofits and calls for greater government oversight
NC’s top business recruiter on rivals, foreign tourism dip and project pipeline
From Trump to Biden to Trump: how Christopher Chung chases jobs as federal policy shifts.
Clarivate Announces Sale of Life Sciences & Healthcare Segment for $600 Million
/PRNewswire/ -- Clarivate Plc (NYSE: CLVT) ("Clarivate" or the "Company"), a leading global provider of transformative intelligence, today announced it has...
This rural Colorado hospital is using AI to go after health insurers that ghosted payments. Here’s how.
The promise of modern AI to help Spanish Peaks Regional Health Center recover lost revenues is built on a system that keeps medical data private.
How Hakeem Jeffries is handling the most divisive issue in Democratic politics
The minority leader is letting his caucus hash out their Israel disagreements over a series of private conversations, withholding his own guidance for now.
ITV sells media and entertainment arm to Sky for £1.6bn
The two broadcasters say the deal will create a strong rival to global streaming giants.
ITV sells media and entertainment arm to Sky for £1.6bn
The two broadcasters say the deal will create a strong rival to global streaming giants.
Bellingham stuns Mexico to announce World Cup arrival 🔥
Nobody had scored against Mexico at this World Cup until Jude Bellingham arrived. England face not just a tough, but a massive test against the co-hosts on Sunday evening as they travel to the storie...
Genesis Minerals Makes Rival $3.9 Billion Bid For Vault Minerals
Genesis Minerals has made a rival bid for Vault Minerals that values the Australian gold miner at $3.9 billion, trumping an agreed merger with Regis Resources.
Political rivals, Lapid, Edelstein, surprisngly align on national priorities
Both men are defining Israeli politics not through the traditional categories of Left and Right, but through questions of national responsibility, military service, and national consensus.
Warriors Are Losing Steam in LeBron James Sweepstakes
The Warriors are linked to LeBron James, but his arrival is starting to slow down.
Rams news: Top WR duos, Top 100, Taylor Swift wedding
A look at what has been going on with the LA Rams, one of the Arizona Cardinals' NFC West rivals.
49ers news: Top 100, coaching candidate, Ricky Pearsall improvement
A look at what has been going on with the San Francisco 49ers, one of the Arizona Cardinals' NFC West rivals.
EasyJet agrees to £5bn takeover by US investment firm
Agreement in principle with Castlelake follows several rejected offers and means UK’s biggest low-cost carrier will be taken private
I tested Google's new smart speaker with Gemini AI. Here are 3 things to know before you buy.
The new Google Home Speaker with Gemini is smart and capable, but it fails to stand out much from similar rivals.
5 Seattle sporting events to rival U.S.-Belgium World Cup match
Monday's U.S.-Belgium World Cup match could be the biggest sporting event in Seattle's history. Here are five other events that could lay claim to the title.
America has been deeply divided before. Here’s why today’s divisions are different
At 250 years, America’s fault lines are showing. Partisan and regional divisions rival the most intense internal conflicts it has faced since the Civil War.
Sky Sports: Ipswich Set To Rival Fellow Promoted Side For Ligue 1 Star
Ipswich Town Enter Emersonn Race as Premier League Newcomers Move Against Hull CityIpswich Town have moved for Emersonn, and that tells you two things straight away. First, they are not approaching th...
New Steam Machine rival offers a Ryzen 9 CPU and RX 7600 XT for $849, but you have to bring your own RAM
AOOSTAR's GODY mini PC undercuts the Steam Machine with a Ryzen 9 CPU and RX 7600 XT GPU for $849, but there's a big catch: it doesn't have RAM.
The Selective Frontier: The State of the American Experiment After 250 Years
Since its inception, America has revolutionized scientific research and technological advancements. Yet, in its shift away from federal research grants and “basic research,” science may find itself in an increasingly privatized and profit-driven setting.
Notes From A Career In Private Equity: David Mussafer On Business
David Mussafer emphasized leadership, teamwork, continuous learning, disciplined investing, and AI adoption as keys to long-term business success.
Fight them for the beaches: the real villain of Europe’s overtourism is big business
From Albania to Portugal, privatisation of the coastline is bringing locals out on to the streets. For them, the economic benefits are few and far between, says Adam Almeida, a writer living in London
Florida politics recap: Byron Donalds strengthens grip on GOP governor's race as rivals battle in court
It was a week of escalation in Florida politics: a governor's race lawsuit, new restrictions aimed at undocumented students, and a fresh legal fight over Gov. Ron DeSantis' push to label CAIR and other groups as terrorist organizations.
Americans flocking to DC and Boston for July 4 weekend
Travel demand for Washington, DC, over the July 4 weekend is up 120% year-over-year, according to data from Trivago.
Player availability report, presented by Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute: Orlando Pride at Angel City FC
Here is this week's player availability report, presented by Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute, for Friday's away match at Angel City FC
AMERICA AT 250: COMPETING CELEBRATIONS REFLECT NATIONAL POLARIZATION, SAYS SMU POLITICS EXPERT
DALLAS (SMU) – As the nation marks its 250th anniversary with separate celebrations in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, SMU political scientist Matthew Wilson says the split reflects a deeper reality about modern America: the absence of a shared national narrative. Wilson argues that what should have been a unifying moment of national pride has instead become a symbol of the country's growing political polarization, with rival groups promoting fundamentally different visions of Amer
Surprise rival knocks Costco's famous rotisserie chicken off its perch as best bird
Consumer Reports named Sam's Club's rotisserie chicken the best warehouse club bird, edging out Costco's iconic $4.99 Kirkland Signature option.
Lakers' Jonathan Kuminga plans rivaled by Cavs, Bucks, Hawks
The former Golden State Warriors' phenom is a free agent.
Here's Jaylen Brown's Statement After Trade From Boston Celtics
The 10-year veteran was dealt from the Celtics to the rival Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night.
Former Steelers RB Najee Harris linked to AFC North rival
The former Steelers running back back is still a free agent.
Live entertainment for Struthers’ Big Boy train celebration announced
Struthers is planning an all-day party to celebrate the historic train's arrival, with several thousand people expected to attend.
Live entertainment for Struthers’ Big Boy train celebration announced
Struthers is planning an all-day party to celebrate the historic train’s arrival, with several thousand people expected to attend.
Stealing one player from every division rival for the Titans
An exercise designed to pluck one player from every division rival for the Tennessee Titans.
It's hard to make sense of the Celtics trading Jaylen Brown, especially to a division rival
Vance and Rubio take different approaches as Iran tests their 2028 prospects
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio appear to be staking out differing approaches to carrying out President Donald Trump’s national security agenda as the possible 2028 presidential rivals jostle for position in a divided Republican Party.
Colorado’s Diana DeGette concedes defeat to Democratic socialist Melat Kiros
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette — the dean of Colorado’s congressional delegation — conceded defeat in the race for the 1st Congressional District a day after losing to Democrat rival Melat Kiros in their party’s primary contest. “I want to congratulate Melat Kiros for her victory last night, and I want to wish her all the […]
Meta Plans Cloud Business to Take on Big Tech Rivals
Meta is planning a cloud infrastructure business that will sell AI computing power/model access. That’s according to a report Wednesday (July 1) by
'This Is Borderline Evil' - Minecraft Creator Speaks Out Against ESA Calling Private Servers 'Illegal'
Minecraft creator, Markus 'Notch' Persson, has spoken out against the Electronic Software Association for claiming that private servers are "illegal."
Orlando City SC Signs Strategic Partnership with Football Science Institute
Lions and FSI to collaborate on integrating scientific knowledge with professional practice, research and development
Apple Hide My Email bug allows 100% of real email addresses to be discovered
A privacy flaw in Apple’s Hide My Email feature means that your real email address can be discovered. A security...
Lawmakers takes another crack at easing privatization of youth sports
House bipartisan committee addresses private equity’s "vertical integration" that has youth sports costs soaring. What might come out of the hearing?
Private sector added 98,000 jobs in June, below expectations, ADP says
The figure reported on Wednesday is below economists’ estimates of an increase of 118,000 jobs. The prior month's reading was unrevised at 122,000.
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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