Sony’s three-sentence press release confirmed similar death dates for its blank MiniDisc, MD data, and MiniDV cassettes. The company also made it clear that you shouldn’t expect any “successor models” to these formats from them. “We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our many customers for their patronage to date,” Sony wrote last week.

Sony announced that the company is officially halting the production of recordable Blu-ray, MiniDisc and MD Data disc media as well as MiniDV cassettes. It's another step in the slow decline of physical media as Sony said that production of the optical media will end in February this year.

Globally, the writing is on the wall for the trusty disc. Sales of DVDs has continued on a steep decline over the years; Best Buy has stopped stocking DVDs; and Redbox machines are now just worth their value in scrap metal. In gaming, of course, companies including Microsoft are pushing hard on streaming gameplay over the internet.

This marks the end of an 18-year journey for the company after Blu-ray became commercially available to the masses in 2006. It follows a decision to end production of recordable B

Blu-ray discs have been part of the digital media landscape for almost 20 years, but fewer and fewer people have optical drives to use them. As such, Sony doesn't see the need to keep pumping out recordable Blu-rays.

Sony will cease production of various physical media in February. These include Blu-ray recordable disks, MiniDV minicassettes, and others. Sony also

Sony, one of the biggest proponents of the Blu-ray format, announced that it is ending production of all Blu-ray disc media. Same goes for MiniDiscs for recording, MD data for recording, and MiniDV cassettes.

The Sony announcement is just the latest gut punch for Blu-ray fans. It comes on the back of LG revealing that it’s not making new Blu-ray players anymore, joining the likes of Samsung and Opp. Sony also announced that its next gaming console, the PS5 Pro, would not have a disc drive — it’s digital only.

Fans of physical media—myself included—tend to be a morbid bunch, dwelling on the rise of streaming while bemoaning the steady decline of Blu-ray, the home-media format of choice for cinephiles. So when word came down that Sony will exit the recordable Blu-ray market next month,