As we entered 2026, announcements regarding the discontinuation of Blu-ray drive sales began to pour in from various companies.
Notice Regarding the Discontinuation of Blu-ray Drive Sales | Buffalo (Japanese only)
Announcement of end of our external Blu-ray drive sale | ELECOM CO., LTD. ELECOM
Notice Regarding the Discontinuation of External Blu-ray Drive Sales and Support – Logitec INA Solutions Co., Ltd. (Japanese only)
Regarding recorders, TVS REGZA and Sony have made similar announcements, and Pioneer has already withdrawn from the optical disc business.
The Blu-ray Disc standard was announced in 2002. The terms “Blu-ray,” “BLU-RAY DISC,” and related logos were trademarked by the Blu-ray Disc Association as early as 2001. The year 2006, when consumer products first appeared, was dubbed the “Year One of Blu-ray.”
*Image courtesy of J-PlatPat
While I feel there are still situations where Blu-ray is needed, the fact that it is heading toward its end without a complete generational shift from DVD seems to be due to the spread of video streaming services and the rise of HDDs, SSDs, and cloud storage as the mainstream storage methods, leading to a decline in demand for Blu-ray, which is at a disadvantage in terms of capacity and cost.
I sometimes purchase Blu-ray discs for video content I want to keep on hand. There used to be a sense of joy in owning them, but it seems there are quite a few users who rarely have the opportunity to use them.
On the other hand, I-O Data and Verbatim Japan have announced plans to continue supplying Blu-ray drives and discs.
Regarding the Provision of Blu-ray Drive and Disc Products by I-O Data and Verbatim Japan(PDF)
While Blu-ray won’t become unusable anytime soon, if you need to store data long-term or keep backups on hand, you may need to reconsider your storage methods. (Syszo)