Sony's exit is a sign of the times for physical media, but not necessarily the end of the road.The Latest Tech News, Delivered to Your Inbox

Sony is officially ending production of recordable Blu-rays. In an announcement from Japan spotted by Tom’s Hardware, Sony Storage Media Solutions said it will stop manufacturing the discs in February, alongside recordable MiniDiscs, MD-Data, and MiniDV cassettes, adding, “there will be no successor models.”

It's another sore day for physical media fans. After an 18-year run, the media giant is leaving the Blu-ray game.

Fans of physical media—myself included—tend to be a morbid bunch, dwelling on the rise of streaming while bemoaning the steady decline of Blu-ray, the home-media format of choice for cinephiles. So when word came down that Sony will exit the recordable Blu-ray market next month,

Sony Japan announced that it will no longer manufacture or sell blank Blu-ray Discs in its home market. Several outlets misinterpreted the company's press release and incorrectly assumed that the Blu-ray format was discontinued—nope,