The video game disc is dead
On The Vergecast: the digital future of games, the iPhone 18 Pro, and those bizarre BMW headlights.
On The Vergecast: the digital future of games, the iPhone 18 Pro, and those bizarre BMW headlights.
by Jul 2, 2026, 4:31 PM UTC
David Pierce is editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.
For decades, to be a gamer was to accumulate a lot of stuff. Consoles, controllers, accessories, weird VR gloves that never worked properly, but mostly the games themselves. Over the years, games have come in every shape and size you can imagine. And now that era appears to be ending.
On this episode of The Vergecast, David and Nilay talk about Sony’s plan to end production of PlayStation discs, Microsoft’s ongoing strategy for digitizing games, and in general the end of physical game media. It all makes a certain kind of business sense — and these companies are all desperately searching for anything that makes business sense — but it might change the way we buy, share, and consume games going forward. Plus, it’s just much less fun.
After that, the hosts talk through some gadget news, including OpenAI’s upcoming gadget launch. (No, not that one. Or that one.) They also discuss the purported leaks of the iPhone 18 Pro, the state of the iPhone lineup in general, and whether anyone is actually going to replace your keyboard anytime soon.
Finally, in the lightning round, it’s time for the Hype Desk, Brendan Carr is a Dummy, some breaking SpaceX phone news, and the strangest BMW headlights you’ve ever seen.
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In case you missed it this week: We also started our vibe coding challenge, checked in on the future of InfoWars, and explained why the R2 matters so much to Rivian. (We’ll also have a special holiday-related episode tomorrow.) And we want to hear all your thoughts about all of it! Call the Vergecast Hotline at 866-VERGE11, send us an email at vergecast@theverge.com, and tell us everything that’s on your mind. And make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss an episode!
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