Sony has officially announced that it will end production of all models of Blu-ray Disc media storage starting in February 2025. Additionally, they will cease production of other physical media storage formats the same month, including recordable MiniDiscs, MD Data discs, and Mini DV cassettes. The company confirmed that there will be no successor models for any of these products.
In its statement, Sony expressed gratitude to its customers, saying, “We deeply appreciate the many years of support and use of these products.” While the Japanese statement uses “Blu-ray Disc media,” this refers to recordable Blu-ray discs rather than pre-recorded Blu-ray series or movies. Crunchyroll recently announced their slate of April 2025 Blu-ray releases.
This end of production announcement for these physical media storage formats follows prior reports in 2024, where Sony revealed plans to gradually reduce the production of optical discs, including Blu-ray.
According to a July 2024 report by AV Watch, the discontinuation includes consumer formats such as BD-RE (25GB), BD-RE DL (50GB), BD-RE XL (100GB), and BD-R XL (128GB), as well as professional media like Optical Disc Archive products used for data storage.
AV Watch also reported that the decline in demand for these products was attributed to the widespread adoption of video streaming services and the growing availability of higher-capacity digital storage media. Sony’s public relations team explained that the overall storage media business had been operating at a loss, so the company determined it was necessary to restructure to improve profitability. They had 3 main measures in the restructuring plan:
- Gradual end of development and production in the recordable optical disc media business and workforce downsizing.
- Downsizing the workforce in the tape media business.
- Transition to a single-company structure starting in April 2025, shifting to efficient operations in line with the reduced scale of the business.
According to a report from TV Asahi, Panasonic Connect had already ceased production of Blu-ray discs in February 2023.
For now, Sony has not indicated any plans to discontinue other physical storage formats, such as SD memory cards and USB drives.
Sony Group Corporation was founded in 1946. It has long been a global leader in entertainment and technology, particularly strong in gaming and music, but also in the anime and film industries. Through its subsidiary Aniplex (a division of Sony Music Entertainment Japan), Sony has produced and distributed anime hits like Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Fate/Stay Night, Sword Art Online, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, among many others. Aniplex also oversees studios like A-1 Pictures and CloverWorks.
Sony acquired Crunchyroll in 2021 and later merged it with Funimation. On January 7 this year, the company closed a 50 billion yen deal with KADOKAWA to become its largest shareholder at approximately 10%.
Source: Sony Official Website
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