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Sony to End Recordable Blu-ray Disc Production in Japan in February

Sony announced on January 23 on its website it will end production of several recordable media discs in Japan. In the announcement the media giant stated it is ending production of recordable Blu-ray Disc media, as well as recordable mini discs, MD data discs, and mini DV cassettes in February. The company also stated no successors to the above media formats are in production.

The company had originally announced last July that it would end the production of recordable Blu-ray Discs, but this new announcement adds more media that is ending production, and gives the specific timeframe of February. Sony stated in July that development and production of Blu-ray Disc recording and playback devices will continue.

Sony spearheaded the development of the Blu-ray media format in the early 2000s along with other companies such as Panasonic, as a successor to DVDs. For a brief period, Blu-rays were in competition with electronics manufacturer Toshiba and NEC Corp-backed HD-DVD format. However, HD-DVDs were discontinued in March 2008.

Sony Group held an 18.8% share of the market in Japan for Blu-ray Discs for recording in the 2023 fiscal year, according to BCN Inc.

Update: Updated to clarify the Blu-ray Disc media ending is recordable Blu-ray Discs. Added more background information.

Source: Sony's website via Tom's Hardware, Dospara