As the pioneer and founder of the Blu-ray Disc standard, Sony announced on its official Japanese website today (February 9th)...Issue an announcementSony announced that it will gradually cease shipping all of its Blu-ray recorders. Even more dishearteningly, the official announcement explicitly stated "no successor model" (后継機種はございません), signifying Sony's complete withdrawal from the home Blu-ray recorder hardware market.
The king that once defeated HD-DVD ultimately couldn't withstand the streaming wave.
此次列入停產名單的產品包括2024年才推出的BDZ-ZW1900，以及2023年上市的BDZ-FBT4200、FBT2200與FBW2200等型號，意味著連近年推出的新機種也將走入歷史。
Sony pioneered the application of blue-violet semiconductor lasers in optical disc media as early as 1998, and launched the world's first consumer-grade Blu-ray player in 2003. That year, Sony even dedicated significant resources to equipping the PlayStation 3 with a Blu-ray disc drive, successfully winning the HD-DVD standard war dominated by Toshiba and establishing Blu-ray discs as the dominant high-definition physical media.
However, with the rise of online streaming video, the physical optical disc market has shrunk dramatically. Panasonic announced the discontinuation of Blu-ray discs for video recording as early as February 2023, and Sony itself has followed suit by discontinuing the production of record discs since February 2025. Now, even the hardware for "playback and recording" has been declared obsolete, indicating that the entire ecosystem is no longer sustainable.
Analysis of viewpoints
Although we've long known that physical CDs are declining, the fact that Sony, the "father of Blu-ray," personally pulled down the gate still carries immense symbolic significance. This reflects two harsh realities:
• The disappearance of "video culture":The Japanese market's past habit of recording TV programs and burning them onto CDs for safekeeping has become less of a necessity due to the widespread adoption of on-demand video services like Catch-up TV (such as the Japanese OTT service platform TVer) and subscription-based streaming services.
• Physical media is shifting towards collectability:In the future, Blu-ray discs (and even 4K UHD BDs) will become "collectibles" for a small number of enthusiasts, rather than "consumer goods" for the general public.
For gamers who still have a large collection of rare discs, now might be the time to get a backup console or turn to a game console (such as PS5 or Xbox) as their last resort for playback.
