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Fox Home Entertainment has put a stop to all future DVD and Blu-ray releases of 'The Simpsons', with the studio believing that the market is moving away from physical discs towards digital distribution.

The series' long time showrunner Al Jean expressed his disappointment at the decision, which will leave many fans with incomplete disc collections of the hit animated show.

"I personally am [very] sorry to see DVDs discontinued," Jean posted on Twitter. "We did them purely for the love of hearing ourselves talk."

Jean later also attributed the decision down to the "collapse of DVD market and rise of downloads". 

While fans in the U.S. are currently well served by the FX Now on-demand service, as well as via the Simpsons World website for digital content, those located overseas will feel the most pain when it comes to ending disc releases.

Jean says the current situation in regards to overseas viewers in unacceptable and that hopefully, a solution will be found to allow fans to access all the Simpsons episodes. 

Jean also confirmed that bonus features, including audio commentaries, will still continue to be recorded and released, but only via digital means.

Disc sales have been dropping steadily since the introduction of digital platforms such as iTunes and Netflix. But it was only until recently that Blu-ray revenue started to flatten out, with even the format's creators Sony casting doubt on the future of the format and discs in general.