Sony’s Last PlayStation Disc Factory in Austria Is Being Converted to Produce Optical Microlenses

For millions of people, buying a PlayStation game has always meant picking up a disc. The box, the case, the satisfying click of slotting it into the console. That era is drawing to a close — and the factory that made it possible is already being turned into something else entirely.

Sony’s last wholly owned disc manufacturing plant, located in Thalgau, Austria, is being converted to produce optical microlenses. The facility — the headquarters of Sony DADC, the company’s disc-making division — currently churns out around 600,000 Blu-ray discs every single day, with roughly half of those going into PlayStation game cases. By 2028, that output should fall to about 10% of its current level. The machines that made your copy of *God of War* are being replaced with equipment for precision optics.

The story was first reported by Austrian public broadcaster ORF Salzburg and picked up by technology outlet The Verge.

Twenty-Six Billion Discs and Counting

Sony DADC has produced about 26.4 billion discs across its operations since the early 1980s. The bulk of that staggering total — around 23 billion — came from its plant in Terre Haute, Indiana, which ran from the early days of the compact disc right through to 2022, when Sony consolidated all remaining disc manufacturing at Thalgau. A New Jersey facility had already closed back in 2011. The Terre Haute site now handles packaging and assembly for the automotive sector, including components such as headlights.

Thalgau, then, is the last one standing. And it won’t be making discs for much longer.

Dietmar Tanzer, president of Sony DADC, said in comments reported by ORF Salzburg: disc production at the site looks set to drop to around 10% of today’s volume by 2028, in line with Sony’s announced plan to stop releasing PlayStation games on physical media from the start of that year.

What Are Optical Microlenses?

Microlenses are tiny precision optical components — think of them as miniature lenses engineered to control and direct light with great accuracy. They’re used in applications such as projecting a car’s turning signal onto the road surface, in augmented and virtual reality headsets, and in other devices that need precise light management at small scale. It’s a sector with strong growth prospects, driven by demand from the automotive, consumer electronics, and communications industries.

Sony has invested about €30 million — roughly £25 million — in converting and equipping the Thalgau plant for microlens production. Mass production is targeted to begin as early as next year, according to ORF Salzburg’s reporting.

Behind-the-scenes material from December 2024, cited by The Verge, suggests that work on microlenses at Thalgau was already under way before Sony formally announced the end of physical PlayStation game releases. So while the timing might look sudden from the outside, this has clearly been in the works for quite some time.

No Redundancies Planned

Here’s the part of the story that tends to get overlooked in the headlines about the “death of the disc”: Sony says it plans to keep all around 300 workers at Thalgau and retrain them for microlens and micro-optics production rather than letting anyone go.

That’s not nothing. Factory closures and technology shifts have a habit of leaving workers behind. Sony’s approach here — redirecting an existing workforce into a new manufacturing discipline rather than simply shutting the line and walking away — has been broadly welcomed, even if questions remain about the pace of retraining and what the long-term picture looks like in a highly specialised field.

The End of the Physical Disc?

Not everyone is comfortable with where this is heading. Gaming communities online have reacted with a mix of resignation and frustration. Concerns centre on game preservation — physical discs can be kept, lent, resold, and played without an internet connection or a company’s servers staying online. Digital licences can be revoked, storefronts can close, and games can simply disappear.

The repurposing of the Thalgau plant, announced just days after Sony confirmed its digital-only strategy for PlayStation, has struck many as symbolic. The Verge and TechRadar both framed it as a milestone — the end of a manufacturing era that stretches back to the birth of the CD itself.

But Sony’s position is straightforward: demand for physical media has been falling for years, and the company is adapting accordingly. The Thalgau transition is presented as planned industrial evolution, not a crisis response.

What This Means for Kent Residents

From 2028, anyone in Kent buying new PlayStation games will need to download them digitally rather than pick up a disc — which matters in parts of the county where full-fibre broadband coverage is still patchy and large game downloads can be slow or costly. Local retailers selling physical PlayStation titles, from supermarkets to specialist game shops, are likely to see that side of their business shrink steadily over the next few years, and households that rely on second-hand discs as a more affordable way to play may find their options narrowing as the physical market contracts.