GOG's response to the PlayStation disc shutdown is to burn your own

Incase you somehow didn't hear the collective rage of gamers: Sony announced that it will stop offering physical discs for PlayStation starting in January 2028.

GOG read the room. In response, GOG posted a public reminder about its offline installers. The company told players to download their games, save them to a disc, and keep them forever without needing a storefront's permission.

Just in case you needed one more reason to love GOG, they just gave you one more. With GOG, you actually own what you purchased. You are entirely free to create your own installer CD, load everything onto a massive SD card, or make as many redundant backups as you like. Obviously, this is nothing new. GOG has been doing this for many years. But now it matters more than ever.

The January 2028 cutoff

The physical media landscape has been shrinking for years. Most modern disc releases are little more than plastic keys that trigger a massive server download anyway. But Sony's hard cutoff for PlayStation discs in 2028 is a definitive line in the sand. Console players are about to be locked entirely into a digital ecosystem where purchases are effectively long-term rentals tied to an authentication server. When those servers eventually go dark or a publisher decides to delist a title, the games disappear.

Steam and the Epic Games Store operate on a similar tethered model. Even when Steam is running in offline mode, the client still needs to periodically phone home to verify your licenses. If you move your game files to a new computer without the client and the correct account credentials, the executable simply will not launch.

Executables in a folder

GOG's model operates on the exact opposite philosophy. The platform has always provided standalone offline installation files alongside its optional Galaxy client. You download an executable, store it locally, and run it whenever you want. You do not need an internet connection to install the game, and you do not need to log into an account to launch it.

The practical reality of creating your own physical media has changed since the early days of PC gaming. You are not going to fit a modern 100-gigabyte RPG on a standard CD or DVD. But the core principle remains identical. You can drop those massive installer files onto a high-capacity SD card, a portable solid-state drive, or a Blu-ray disc. Once the files are on that storage medium, they are completely insulated from server outages, corporate bankruptcies, and licensing disputes.

This approach is baked into the company's DNA. Founded in 2008 as Good Old Games, the storefront originally focused entirely on making classic DOS and Windows titles run on modern hardware without intrusive copy protection. When co-founder Michał Kiciński bought the company back from CD Projekt in December 2025, he doubled down on this exact approach to digital preservation. The goal was to reinforce the platform's independent mission to make games live forever.

I'm just a fan

I am not sponsored by GOG, but I would love to be. They are offering a tangible solution to a problem the rest of the industry is actively creating. If there is a game you are looking for, I highly recommend you consider GOG first. The peace of mind that comes with a hard drive full of offline installers is hard to overstate.

The contrast between the two approaches right now is stark. Sony is shutting the door on physical ownership for an entire console generation. Meanwhile, a digital PC storefront is actively encouraging you to manufacture your own physical media. In the long run, GOG wins.