Gaming needs a vinyl revival I spoke with gaming and music experts to find out whether physical games could make a comeback

Date:
Tue, 25 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Description:
Physical gaming media could be on the way out, but the music industry has the blueprint for how to bring it back.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Back in June, Rockstar Games announced that Grand Theft Auto 6 perhaps the most anticipated game of all time would only be available as a digital download, with physical boxes containing redemption codes rather than discs.

Days later, Sony sent shockwaves through the gaming community by announcing that it would cease production of all PlayStation discs in January 2028. With Xbox on unsteady ground and Nintendo already relying on controversial
game-key cards for many of its releases, Sonys decision felt like the beginning of the end for physical gaming media. Still, as someone who grew up buying games at brick-and-mortar stores, it's a real shame to just let physical games fade away especially when physical media has made such a comeback in other industries. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:

On top of being a lifelong gamer, Im also a DJ and huge music nerd so the recent news has made me think about vinyls return to popularity in the music industry. With that in mind, I spoke to four experts from across the worlds
of gaming and music to find out whether a similar revival could be on the cards for physical games. Preservation and profit (Image credit: Geography Photos/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) Sonys decision to stop making physical game discs hasnt come out of nowhere. Physical game sales have been in decline for years , with Gamespot reporting that 80 per cent of all PlayStation software sales in the latest fiscal year were digital. You may like 'We've set this company up in preparation for this moment' as PlayStation scraps discs, these companies are ready to keep physical games alive Sony's physical game disc elimination may ruin the future of gaming Return of the CD: booming figures prove disc sales growth eclipses vinyl in 2026

John OShea is co-CEO and creative director at the National Videogame Museum
in Sheffield, UK. He tells me that Sonys decision will have wider impacts on how we preserve and share games going forward: What were hearing from communities is that people are worried that some of the games they care about deeply might become less accessible to them as a consequence of being digital only.

Its brilliant [at first] because you can access whatever you want, he continues, but whats tricky is if it gets taken down or delisted from the catalogue. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. (Image credit: Shutterstock / robtek) OShea adds that, in the UK, video games are
not archived with as much care as other forms of media: The wider challenge
is that there is not currently an integrated framework for video game conservation. Individual companies should, and rightly do, pursue their own business focus, but where something exists in a digital format, copies cant easily be made within a legal framework.

The decline in physical game sales has tracked with a decline in brick-and-mortar gaming stores. Leading US retailer GameStop has closed more than 700 of its domestic stores since early 2025 , and the once-mighty UK retailer Game has been reduced to a section in sporting goods store Sports Direct.

Khalil Madim is assistant manager of London independent game store Game On.
He tells me that the business is preparing to shift away from selling games altogether: We might change the entire business to electronic maintenance and parts for PCs. We want to do something that you really need a person for.
What to read next Why PlayStation Blackout week won't make a difference to Sony's physical media stance A G2A business executive sides with gamers in pursuit of disc preservation These are the physical PlayStation releases
we'll treasure forever

Game On already does most of its trade through its repair service. The store opened in 2009 as a combination game and repair shop, but the latter has
taken priority due in part to low margins on new boxed games.

When it all becomes digital, we might be out of the business, he continues,
it will impact us so badly. The customers arent happy as well when they buy
a game for, say, 10, they can sell it back to us for 5, or they can hand it over to friends or family. But when its a digital copy, they cant do
anything. The vinyl comeback (Image credit: Victrola) Gaming retail finds itself in a similar tricky situation to the vinyl industry at the advent of digital downloads and music streaming.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America , LP and EP vinyl sales in the US fell from more than $1.5 billion in 1978 to just $6 million
in 1993 a fall of more than 99 per cent. However, in 2025 LP and EP sales crossed the $1 billion mark for the first time in more than 40 years. Vinyl has also surged in popularity in the UK, with the BBC reporting in 2023 that the industry was at its healthiest since 1990.

Tom Durston runs record store Inverted Audio in south London, as an extension of his blog of the same name : Ive been buying records since I was 13 years old, and I used to buy video games as well. Back in the 90s you had to buy a game [in person]. Youd have the little box, and the artwork its the same as
a record.

Durston tells me that his store succeeds because of the curation that
physical media requires: Ive essentially built a platform for my music taste over the years an international community of readers has trusted me to filter out good music. Were a record store, but were also an editorial platform. He adds that physical media requires more investment from producers, which engenders more investment from consumers: If you have a physical format,
youre introducing quality control is it worth pressing 500 records, for example? If not, theres no point.

The community Durston mentions is about more than where you buy your media. For DJ and artist manager Madison True, physical media gives people something to connect over in a world of fleeting digital interactions.

Trues Vinyl Bitch workshops bring beginner female, non-binary, queer and trans DJs together over a pair of turntables: The thing we try to cultivate
is that community, that love, and that discussion. Its so cool to see people that I know or those that have never met each other become homies by the end of the night, and its because theyve come together over this piece of
physical media.

True continues: How cool is it that people can come together no matter their sexual identity, or gender, or religion, and come together and talk about how cool something looks and sounds? You wouldnt get that if it wasnt physical. Could physical games have a comeback? (Image credit: Analogue) Before setting out to write this article, I thought that the best hope for gaming was to mirror record labels investment in nostalgic special editions even without a disc, gatefold covers with new artwork and box sets with bonus goodies and collectibles could be enough to make owning a game feel worthwhile.

The issue is that the games industry is more centralised than the music industry. Sony licenses the creation of PlayStation discs and is the sole manufacturer of PlayStation consoles, meaning indie developers cant just opt out of working within their system.

As such, John OShea says that gamers are keen to hold on to anything that gives them a sense of ownership: In the fan community, theres a subjectivity of stories thats really important. Anything that feels like its allowing less of a sense of ownership for the games players in the communities is going to have an emotional response.

With video games, its the players that bring games to life, and the players want to have a sense of ownership in return. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/gaming/gaming-industry/i-spoke-to-gaming-and-music-e xperts-to-ask-whether-physical-games-could-have-a-comeback


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