Sony Japan has confirmed that it is pulling out of the recordable media market, including recordable Blu-ray, in February. There will be no successors, it added.
In July 2024, media outlets in Japan reported that Sony would cut 40% of all jobs in its manufacturing and research hub for recordable media. This division oversees BD-R and BD-RE Blu-ray discs, MiniDisc and other formats.
This week on January 23, 2025, Sony Japan announced its complete withdrawal by February 2025. As a pioneer in the field, Sony has played a key role in advancing optical discs, including Blu-ray which it helped establish as the market standard in the battle against HD-DVD. Other companies will continue production.
- "As of February 2025, we will discontinue the production of all models of Blu-ray Disc media, MiniDisc for recording, MD Data for recording, and Mini DV cassettes. Please note that there will be no successor models," Sony Marketing and Sony Storage Media Solutions announced in a joint statement (machine translated).
Will not affect Blu-ray movies, but...
Sony's exit concerns home recordable Blu-ray (BD-R and BD-RE) and will not impact the production of Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray movies that you can buy and collect. These movies are and will continue to be stamped in large facilities.
However, Sony's decision to close its manufacturing and research hub and its written statement that there will be no successor paints a pretty dark picture for the future of optical media. Of course, other companies could potentially continue research and introduce a new format, but as argued by FlatpanelsHD in 2019, an 8K disc format is unlikely.
Sales of movies on DVD, Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray continue to decline, as outlined in our State of Ultra HD Blu-ray in 2024 article. UHD Blu-ray accounts for a growing share of a rapidly shrinking market.
Also read: LG discontinues all UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray players
