Minecraft PS3: Disc Required?

Yes. The PlayStation 3 Edition of Minecraft requires the physical disc to launch—even for single-player. There is no digital-only license transfer to disc-less play.

Contrast

• PS3: Disc mandatory (retail only).
• PS4 / PS5: Fully digital on PlayStation Store; no disc needed.
• PS Vita: Digital only (cartridge optional).

If you lost the disc, your save data remains on the HDD, but you cannot boot the game without it.