Sony will gradually cease production of recordable optical disc storage media products, Japanese newspaper Mainichi reports. These include Blu-ray discs, which have seen a decline in demand due to the surge of streaming services.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the publication said Sony plans to cut about 250 jobs from its recording media business, and will offer affected individuals with early retirement packages. The unit, which is based in Tagajo City within the Miyagi Prefecture and has a workforce of 670 people, is reportedly struggling for years due to weak demand for recordable optical discs.
It should be noted that the move does not affect Sony’s home media and video game Blu-ray disc production. Despite the rising popularity of streaming services and digital downloads, the demand for physical media is still going strong, especially for the brand’s PlayStation business.
Nevertheless, it’s undeniable that not many are relying on recordable optical discs in this day and age. Optical disc drives, both read-only and rewritable, used to be an integral part of home computers and laptops, but have slowly faded from existence in the current generation.
(Source: Mainichi)
