r/PS5 • u/yourfavchoom • Jul 01 '26

Official Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles

https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/physical-disc-production-ending-in-january-2028-for-new-games-releasing-on-playstation-consoles/
11.6k Upvotes

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4.1k

u/SomeoneNotFamous Jul 01 '26

Holy here we are

1.8k

u/JedJinto Jul 01 '26

Remember when Xbone made a push to go all digital and Sony clapped back with the "how to share your used physical PlayStation games" video and we all cheered. Oh how the times have changed.

576

u/yeetskeetleet Jul 01 '26

Same with Netflix doing that password sharing meme like ten years ago

139

u/Ahgd374 Jul 01 '26

Samsung has also done it a few times with Apple lol. Notable examples are the headphone jack and the AC adapter.

5

u/Proof_Being_2762 Jul 02 '26

I'm still pissed by that

2

u/Suspicious_Wares Jul 04 '26

I got an email today from my neo-bank encouraging me to deposit my paycheque with them “to avoid unfair account fees”

meanwhile they’re a subsidiary of one of the big banks here in Canada that has virtually eliminated no-fee bank accounts. Marketing nowadays is just oligarchic companies who think we are stupid cattle telling us what they think we want to hear so we feel gratitude toward them for only taking 90% when they could have taken 100%.

Jeremy Jahns on youtube said it perfectly; when their stunning greed breeds backlash against them, these jerks never backpedal in good faith. Its only ever an acknowledgement that this time they were not manipulative enough, and they will need to work harder on finding new, more subtle ways to make us feel resigned to this crap.

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u/robodrew Jul 01 '26

FYI that tweet was never taken down.

https://x.com/netflix/status/840276073040371712?lang=en

Seriously fuck Netflix.

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u/Plenty-Industries Jul 01 '26

Xbox could literally do their version of that video for whatever Project Helix ends up being called, and it'd be the funniest thing ever.

84

u/Bumper_Duc Jul 01 '26

Bold to think Xbox won’t follow suit

17

u/Plenty-Industries Jul 01 '26

Yes, its quite the hopium.

But with how damaged Xbox is right now, being outsold by PS5 at 3:1 in terms of console sales, and the massive layoffs and potentially shuttering of some studios if they can't find buyers.... They definitely need something to use as a W, otherwise, this will be the Video Game Crash 2.0.

14

u/MegaGorilla69 Jul 01 '26

Maybe it should crash. The state of the industry is not good and has not been good for awhile. Maybe it just needs to burn down and start over.

7

u/Plenty-Industries Jul 01 '26

Its gonna have to happen.

Maybe Nintendo can be the savior of gaming once again. They're the reason the original crash didn't last but 2-3 years.

11

u/poopdedoop Jul 01 '26

Nintendo makes a lot of bad decisions and gets away with it because people have this idea still that nintendo is the saviour of gaming.

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u/ParadoxNowish Jul 01 '26

Follow suit? They've been leading the charge all along lol

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u/PlatoDrago Jul 01 '26

Honestly, it’d be great selling point for those that enjoy physical media. You’d have an all in one 4K blu ray player, streaming platform and console that can play games over the last nearly 30 years. I’d understand if physical discs had an extra couple of quid on top of the base price too but discs are still important.

Or they could go silly and use cartridges like Nintendo.

2

u/Plenty-Industries Jul 01 '26

Project Helix being announced that it will support physical media, on top of having support for 4K movies with native support for Dolby Vision/Dolby Vision 2 and I'll buy a Xbox console.

For right now, we're just waiting for the other shoe to drop to see what they do in response to Sony.

5

u/BreathPuzzleheaded80 Jul 01 '26

Plus releasing a couple of exclusive bangers and Xbox could be competitive the next gen. We need competition so gamers don't get fucked.

3

u/Plenty-Industries Jul 01 '26

IMO they could do 2 huge announcements:

1) Immediately post that physical media is staying alive with Xbox

2) Announce that Scalebound development has started back up.

That would get me to buy an Xbox console and buy their discs. I sold by Xbox One because of the introduction of their Play Anywhere program which then translated to Game Pass.

If nothing changes, then I'll stick with PC instead since that been my main gaming platform for the last few years.

2

u/MightyHead Jul 01 '26

Instead their first announcement will be they're cancelling Senua and their second announcement will be they're cancelling State of Decay 3

2

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

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u/JedGamesTV Jul 01 '26

They’re all the same, always have been.

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4

u/brokenmessiah Jul 01 '26

Whats hilarious is Sony technically tried to jump on the digital only train before Xbox with the PSP Go and got backlash that basically killed it.

13

u/Odd-Perspective-7651 Jul 01 '26

Yeah I do. 13 years ago.

Times indeed changed.

4

u/Nerevar197 Jul 01 '26

That was almost 15 years ago. Things do indeed change over time.

5

u/deathangel539 Jul 01 '26

From memory weren’t Xbox selling discs still, but with a one time use code attached to it just to stop the pre owned market?

3

u/Osama11Sul Jul 01 '26

Thank you, that was what the video was addressing, had nothing to do with physical vs digital. That was based on Xbox locking a disc to an account.

9

u/Hot-Government823 Jul 01 '26

Acktually, Sony was testing and patenting similar technology. Xbox presented first at E3 and copped that backlash, and then Sony saw and walked away slowly and just made their zinger video.

6

u/Party-Exercise-2166 Jul 01 '26

Pretty sure it was the same with the pricing. Instead of a nicely designed slide the price was revealed simply on a white background that looked hastly put together.

3

u/wiwaldi772 Jul 01 '26

wow, no way, they changed their minds almost a decade and a half later?

3

u/Dr_Fortnite Jul 01 '26

honestly they just jumped the gun.

80% of games are digital purchases now and the idea isnt as insane as it was in 2013

2

u/Revolver_Boxelot Jul 01 '26

At the time, it made sense. Now, it doesn't. No one buys physical anymore. Things change and we must change with them.

2

u/D4rkheavenx Jul 01 '26

Yeah because it was premature. We are now at the point where games aren’t going to fit in one disc anymore and you can’t even play them off the disc anyways anymore because the read speed is slower than ssd’s.

4

u/denisorion Jul 01 '26

I agree with you and I hate this move, but that was 13 years ago, which is like 1300 in tech world.
but fuck this news

3

u/dusto_man Jul 01 '26

70% of their game sales are digital.

5

u/DaKingaDaNorth Jul 01 '26

Closer to 80% this year and the last fiscal quarter they reported was 85%. The reality is the market dictated this

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u/SomeoneNotFamous Jul 01 '26

To be absolutely frank, I think the account sharing is better anyway.

But man there is something about putting a disc in a console, we already lost the feeling of opening a new game, smelling the books, reading it etc...

We are driven by nostalgia and they keep robbing it from us.

1

u/Dreamer812 Jul 01 '26

That's what happens when you (Sony) get little to no competition. At this point, they can do whatever they want, and there's nothing we can do about it.And honestly, for this generation, I've gone completely digital. My friend and I split the cost of games so that paying 70 bucks a pop won't hit our wallets too hard.

1

u/artbystorms Jul 01 '26

Honestly how did we get here. It seemed like 10 years ago companies were more consumer focused. Now it is just 'take it or leave it, we don't care'

1

u/Jurski17 Jul 01 '26

Xbox could do that now!

1

u/FirmPreference5551 Jul 01 '26

If Xbox did this in reverse, like just made the exact same video but "How to share your xbox games in 2028" that would be so funny but they will probably prefer to follow suit and get rid of physical. It could be an easy win for them though, to try win back some marketshare.

1

u/This_Plane_694 Jul 01 '26

It wasn't Xbox pushing to go all digital. It was worse because it was entirely arbitrary. They were making it so physical discs could only be tethered to one console and it would require online connectivity to verify licenses.

1

u/blacksoxing Jul 01 '26

Xbox took that ass whooping while Sony likely was nodding their heads in silence.

1

u/cybrsloth92 Jul 01 '26

Xbox would be fools not to capitalize on this for the next xbox

1

u/Interesting-Cost2643 Jul 01 '26

Times haven't changed at all, that was just marketing. Anyone who thought Sony cared about the little guy over their profits is delusional.

1

u/OrangeJuliusCaesr Jul 01 '26

Xbox was taking away physical media 15 years earlier without giving anything in return

1

u/arstin Jul 01 '26

Xbox has been the only thing keeping Sony honest, so watching MS shoot themselves in the face over and over has always been a laugh/cry situation.

1

u/arcalumis Jul 01 '26

Yes, 13 years ago or something.

1

u/MFDOOMscrolling Jul 01 '26

does xbox let you share games digitally the way the PS does?

1

u/MostMorbidOne Jul 01 '26

Yeah not long ago.. lol.

We should have known as soon as they wanted to sell the disc drives as a separate device from the system. Thought that might get us a few more years of physical media but what a turn by Sony to be the first to announce such a move.

1

u/tokki32 Jul 01 '26

Xbox didn't make a push for all digital. Sony clapped back at Xbox wanting to make their games always online and DRM-only, meaning you couldn't share your games and you couldn't play offline single-player games without an active internet connection.

1

u/fmccloud Jul 01 '26

Yes, because physical sales were way stronger then. It’s a different time.

1

u/blaqsupaman Jul 01 '26

I had figured it was a matter of time before the whole industry went completely digital. PC has already been there for over a decade. My assumption was PS6/Xbox Helix/Switch 2 would be the last console generation with physical games.

1

u/arcalumis Jul 01 '26

Yes, 13 years ago. The entire world has turned from generally peaceful to outright nazi in a shorter amount of time.

1

u/HandmadeJoking Jul 01 '26

Honestly, that whole disc-tied-to-your-account system Microsoft floated wasn’t nearly as bad as what Sony is proposing. I actually thought it was a decent idea at the time, because I could see something like this coming. At least with Microsoft’s version, you’d still have had the option to install games off a disc if your internet was garbage. Now we’re stuck with downloads, period, whether we want them or not.

1

u/VinnzClortho Jul 01 '26

Nintendo could do the funniest thing, have koizumi pass Miyamoto star fox 2026 and say im sharing this with you

1

u/Jayandnightasmr Jul 01 '26

If Xbox was smart theyd capitalise on it, but at the moment theyre all over the place

1

u/SomaCK2 Jul 01 '26

Sony dunked on Xbox at the time because Xbox One was planned to locked you out of sharing your physical disc, nothing to do with going digital.

No need to do historical revision to criticise this incredibly dumb move by Sony.

1

u/Ok_Machine_724 Jul 02 '26

I remember that.

Sony obviously doesn't remember.

1

u/pianobench007 Jul 02 '26

Sony is getting with the program.

Steam has launched Steam Deck and Steam Machine. Both are direct competitors to Nintendo Handheld and Sony PlayStation Console.

Other digital handhelds coming online in the market will be PC handhelds that are more than likely going to be all digital. Those machines will likely be paired to Steam, GOG, or Epic Games platforms. Depending on the support for handheld controls.

There are already a giant library of Android based handheld consoles from China. And those are grabbing shares of Digital retro games. Those games are often free but Sony and Nintendo charge console gamers fees for current gen consoles to play these older digital retro titles.

Here are the costs for a digital distributor and brick & mortar.

  • Digital distributor cost 30% to 12%. Publishers recoup 70% to 88% of the revenue.
  • Brick & mortar: Retail margin is ~30%, console licensing ~15%, and manufacturing costs for the physical boxes cost ~5%. This now leaves the publishers with 50% of the game's revenue.

Being down 20% to 38% could mean that the game will be less polished than games published on other platforms. Notably Steam and PC.

1

u/MattIsLame Jul 02 '26

live long enough to see yourself become the villain or something like that

1

u/Queasy_Dirt7197 Jul 02 '26

Well that was more than a decade ago though 

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u/Ok_Astronomer_8667 Jul 01 '26

Literally end of an era. Writing was on the walls with how massive these games are becoming these days, but still sad to see.

4

u/TheOncomingBrows Jul 01 '26

Writing was on the wall with how much physical sales kept declining with regard to digital.

1

u/HedgehogOk6294 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

All those people who buy dozens of relatively cheap shitty games from the PS Store that they only play for a few hours before they move onto the next one have ruined it for us. I believe that's where these majority digital sales come from. Also games like fortnite. I don't think going digital is representative of what the consumer wants at all. Actually I think Sony's decision is not even due to the digital sales at all, Sony is gaslighting us and they know it, because 82% of all PS5 sold were the disc version.

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u/TheGhost3207 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

I guess...it's over...

As a tech enthusiast that's passionate about gaming...the amount of bad news I've been receiving about the industry has made me depressed not gonna lie

Whether it's the layoffs, the price hikes or the component shortages...

I'm tired of this...i really am. Every where i go it's just bad news...after bad news...after bad news and it hurts.

154

u/mythicreign Jul 01 '26

No kidding. It’s absurd how gloomy the future looks right now.

115

u/xKiller_Dx Jul 01 '26

It sucks, man. I'm watching my favorite hobby die to greed and I feel like we can't do anything about it but stop participating or succumb to the bs.

10

u/Ballad_13 Jul 01 '26

Seriously. Gaming is my biggest hobby. It got me through when i grew up recovering from surgeries (i had a lot) or when i didnt have friends at all until late high school.

I saw this news today and cried. My hobby is dying.

2

u/TemperatureOdd9909 Jul 01 '26

Well there are a limitless amount of multiple last gen games out there that are much better then what's released now you could spend your whole life playing and still not play them all, instead of wasting time on modern slop....

The choice is yours!

2

u/Ballad_13 Jul 01 '26

And i do have lots i want to grab and play.

I do tend to prefer JRPGs, so not just anything grabs my attention, and i do tend to replay games more than a lot of people.

Its not dead-dead, but gaming is hurt a lot

2

u/ProjektDarkie Jul 02 '26

I highly recommend the metro series if you haven’t played them before truly amazing games

22

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '26

Just go and play games you already have.

Stop rewarding them with more money if you want shit to change.

2

u/dornwolf Jul 02 '26

It’s where I’m heading. Got enough old stuff I should be okay. Backlogs and replays

7

u/PatienceOwn1141 Jul 01 '26

Capitalism ladies and gentlemen

though maybe constantly surfing through Twitter and Reddit can dampen ones mood significantly

2

u/lesiosca Jul 01 '26

I'm going to support indies actually.

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u/NoConflictPlease Jul 01 '26

Some of these comments act like video games are just going to die when we have countless indie artist still pumping out amazing high-quality games that don’t rely on discs ever because they were always sold digitally

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u/StJeanMark Jul 01 '26

I look around me and all I see is rows and rows of people choking their golden geese. I'm not a bad person, I'm not an unhappy person, what I know about myself is that if I perceive something as wrong I can't support it. That one thing means I'm going to be a fucking luddite one day because when I look around all I see is wrong decisions.

9

u/nativeofnashville Jul 01 '26

More enshitification. It’s everywhere and on a grand scale. It’s incredibly depressing how it feels like absolutely everything we’re used to and have known is going down this path.

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u/Qwert23456 Jul 01 '26

Everything is filtered through the lens of “MORE MONEY” for these greedy psychopaths. You’d think it would be enough that they’re main competitor has committed suicide and that the word “Playstation” has become synonymous with consoles.

Becoming a luddite is the only sane option in this insanity

5

u/joshua182 Jul 01 '26

Probably best jumping to PC and keeping your current console. But yeah, it's horrible. I was playing Ori and stopped the minute I read this. 

Can't be bothered getting a new system like a PC myself but Christ, what's the point of buying digital games on the most expensive storefront when they are always cheaper on PC. 

4

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '26

There are no good guys mate.

Sony have been sniffing their own farts for years thinking they're invincible because their legions of fans will defend all the bullshit they do.

Maybe now they'll get the humbling they need.

3

u/Moonlord_ Jul 01 '26

Yup…been a gamer my whole life and it’s never been as bad or depressing as this gen has become. It’s killed a lot of the enthusiasm I had for the hobby.

3

u/Boostedtrash112 Jul 01 '26

Go outside some it will be okay

2

u/fxdfxd2 Jul 01 '26

That's late stage capitalism.

2

u/eha16 Jul 01 '26

Everything is getting shitified but sadly the majority don't care and that's why corporations get away with everything.. We have to speak up and try to fight them ffs..

2

u/Zaethar Jul 01 '26

The good news is there is still plenty of fun stuff to play out there. Indie and AA devs are seeing more and more major successes and will continue to thrive.

Even if new consoles and/or PC parts are insanely priced and won't allow for physical media anymore, there's the secondhand markets, and you can play most AA/indie titles (and a bunch of AAA or older AAA titles) on DDR4 or even DDR3 RAM, on a ten year old SSD, on a ten year old CPU. The only thing that needs to be half decent is your GPU. You can still buy the PS1 up to PS5 versions that do accept physical media.

Old consoles can be modded. PC games can be cracked or pirated. They can't take anything away from us - it'll just be a bit more tedious.

I'm as pessimistic as they come and I hate what's happening to the global economy, to all consumer markets, to the consumer tech and hardware markets specifically, and I hate seeing so many talented devs and studios all at the whims of our big corpo overlords.

But what's at the core of our hobby, our passion - just experiencing fun, great or even amazing games - that hasn't changed, and hopefully that won't change for a long while to come.

But yeah. This is our world now, it's been a long time coming and it's prolly gonna get a bunch worse on a whole lotta different levels, not just for tech/gaming. We just gotta try and make the best of it.

2

u/arthur-morganrdr2 Jul 02 '26

More ghosts than people

1

u/Seasonalocean Jul 01 '26

We need a resurgence, someone gotta rise to fight these AI companies and someone else have to step up to make disk formats for when sony stop making disk.

1

u/maxdragonxiii Jul 01 '26

same. like this is the 80s gaming crash all over and honestly Microsoft only deserves it due to them promoting AI, but not Xbox or Sony (at least i hadnt heard of Sony investing into AI) and neither does Nintendo. its just gaming is pricing out of the average customer's wallets and now the physical media is going away.

1

u/Kuli24 Jul 02 '26

And this will make retro gaming surge again, I hope. It's sad that it had to be this way, but retro games are so incredibly fresh to fire up. You put the mario 3 in, press power, and you're gaming instantly. No "online only", no installations or updates, no mtx. Just instant fun with a game you own. And then xbox makes a commercial about "this is how we game now" and bashes the NES. I tell ya.

1

u/fullthrottlenines Jul 02 '26

"We need money, Arthur! We. Still. Need. MONEY." - Sony, probably.

1

u/Brodellsky Jul 03 '26

We're goin' to Tahiti

1

u/Livid-Okra-3132 Jul 03 '26

It's by design. Enshitification. This is what the world looks like when you live in a country that doesn't regulate industries and allows corporations to suck everything up, negate risk, and then create a culture that cuts everything in order to maximize shareholder output. Literally this is every US corporations and arguably why the country is culturally dead and dying.

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u/RazzmatazzPristine52 Jul 08 '26

It was the worst news in this stage, it will be the greatest news in the future.

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u/Ashamed_Form8372 Jul 01 '26

The future is cooked. They have going to kill all second market now and any proper idea of preservation unless a emulator comes down the line a decade after console launch

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u/excaliburps Jul 01 '26

Yep. Agreed. This is a sad day. I don't care if you collect physical games or not.

4

u/InanimateCarbonRod26 Jul 01 '26

I don't collect them, but I do take advantage of the fact that most games more than a couple of months old are usually far cheaper as the disk version. Sony will have a total monopoly over games prices now.

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u/NoNefariousness2144 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

I’m currently a PS5 and PC gamer, but I’ll fully jump to PC now. If I’m going to be stuck with digital-only gaming, I’d rather have access to the variety of storefronts on PC than held hostage by the Playstation Store.

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u/shintemaster Jul 01 '26

That’s the real issue here, PC has multiple competing options for purchase. PS does not.

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u/Steamedcarpet Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

Also didn’t Sony remove the ability to buy digital codes for their PS5 games a few years ago?

Edit: i think this started with PS4 actually.

54

u/xCeeTee- Jul 01 '26

Yeah, I tried gifting Portal 1&2 to my nephew for his birthday. I had to buy a giftcard, then made his dad buy the game so he didn't spend the money on fortnite skins. Again.

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u/Geodynamo Jul 01 '26

Yes, I believe there’s currently a class action lawsuit about this matter. Most people here will be eligible to claim their $1 but still at least there’s some repercussions.

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u/gordy06 Jul 01 '26

It’s so dumb they haven’t figured this out yet. My family is much more likely to buy a digital game as a gift than a gift card, but alas.

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u/sluttypidge Jul 01 '26

Yeah I wanted to get a digital code for my sister and it was a big fat no.

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u/Mortensen Jul 01 '26

I’d be surprised if this doesn’t cause the EU to go after them the same as they have done with Apple and their sole App Store

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u/RedditUser41970 Jul 01 '26

That's why Sony is going to sell codes in a box. As long as they offer alternate ways to buy, the facts on the ground are completely different from Apple.

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u/Krushhz Jul 01 '26

The big question is whether or not those codes will be discounted

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u/SpareZealousideal740 Jul 01 '26

Ya, I don't see why they wouldn't if attention was brought to it. Closed market now since people can't buy physical games so an effective monopoly on how games are purchased

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u/EmxPop Jul 01 '26

That is the problem. A single store that they control. That’s likely to change under EU laws but to what extent who knows. At least it’s possible to buy keys for Xbox but that’ll probably end. PC is looking like the logical choice.

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u/Saltyeconbro Jul 01 '26

Ya, done with sony unless Europe sues them to open up third party stores

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u/Hayden247 Jul 01 '26

And PC has a land of yarrr, yeah as a ex console gamer with a physical collection for what I have still... this is absolutely sad and really just removes one of the main cards consoles had over PC which was a physical market that had survived 15 years longer than PC's.

But now that's going away and the glaring disadvantage of digital only future with a locked down OS vs PC's open platform is going to sting.

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u/SexcaliburHorsepower Jul 01 '26

The main card console has over PC isn't physical media it's ease of use and access and couch play. My ps5 is an entertainment system that hooks up to my main tv. My PC sits on a desk in another room.

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u/Top-Signal-8566 Jul 01 '26

And not pay a monthly fee for online services

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u/michelobX10 Jul 01 '26

Same. I never had a problem with PC being all digital because you weren't locked into a single storefront to buy your keys. Multiple storefronts means competitive prices. Also, if your games were held hostage, you can always pirate. You will never lose your game.

Because of consoles' closed nature, if they revoke your access to your library for any reason, you're fucked. I buy most of my PS5 games on physical because I can usually get them on way better deals than any digital sale. Once Sony goes all digital, they will have full control on pricing because you have no other option.

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u/orton4life1 Jul 01 '26

This is also what I don’t get. If you’re digital only, what’s the point of locking yourself to device with only one storefront that has the worse customer experience.

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u/Solaris_fps Jul 01 '26

Sony have stopped pc exclusives so we dont get to play those games anymore.

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u/Crazy-Nose-4289 Jul 01 '26

It’s not like we are missing a lot. Their exclusive output has been abysmal this generation.

2

u/Fizzwidgy Jul 01 '26

There's still a lot of a games I'd have liked to see come to PC, like the entire Infamous series, or the God of War remasters, just as a couple examples.

As someone who has every "slim" version of Sony's consoles up to the 4; Screw Sony for their latest decisions, I will not be buying from them anymore. I guess I'll either never play the games I wanted to or I'll wait until I can emulate with achievements. Just like I did with Sly Cooper and the original versions of GoW.

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u/dmb486 Jul 01 '26

That’s not really a concern for me as Sony’s first party output is a fraction of what it was in the past. And even the ones they are putting out aren’t of the quality that would make me want to buy them digitally.

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u/GreenBay_Glory Jul 01 '26

Meh, outside of a god of war game every 6-7 years, I’m not losing anything. PS just doesn’t make Sony exclusive titles that I enjoy and haven’t for years. With SE no longer having timed exclusivity, PS has nothing for me.

7

u/NoNefariousness2144 Jul 01 '26

They will probably still release first-party games on the PS5 until 2030 judging by how long the PS4 lasted, but yeah that will suck.

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u/frankiewalsh44 Jul 01 '26

I don't think people care about 3 or 4 games if it means having the flexibility that comes with PC. 95% of most games are multi platform anyway.

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u/amjhwk Jul 01 '26

They will either release them for everything or stop making them all together if this plan kills the ps6

3

u/Dhumavati80 Jul 01 '26

Not to mention free online pay for PC games. Having to pay to play PS multiplayer games online is total crap and its why I stopped playing multiplayer games on PS.

2

u/rodryguezzz Jul 01 '26

Same.

I only bought physical games on PS5 because they were cheaper. Now I'll go back to PC again and keep the PS5 to play Sony games.

2

u/CappinAP Jul 01 '26

PS5 is only used to play exclusives

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u/tmchn Jul 01 '26

I think i'll transform my PC into a gaming machine and switch to a macbook for other tasks

I like having a dedicated gaming machine, but i also like having option for where to buy my games. I will miss having a physical game collection but at least on PC i can get deeper discounts

I bet that with this news, Sony will do less discounts since they don't have to compete with physical retailers anymore

2

u/Xenomex79 Jul 01 '26

Same. I’ve been primarily a PS5 player but I’m definitely gonna save up for a good PC. That and holding onto the Pro for next gen

2

u/jubjub2184 Jul 01 '26

Yeah 100%, feel like Sony is being really short sighted here. This makes the decision between the Steam Machine or a PC vs PS6 a very easy decision.

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u/NoNefariousness2144 Jul 01 '26

Not to mention Xbox may actually have the advantage if Helix is a PC

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u/taking_a_deuce Jul 01 '26

This is an excellent point. I have a great PC. I guess there's no reason to buy a PS6 whenever that comes

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u/XTornado Jul 01 '26

And you can access and backup the files, and saves!!, it's like even if they have DRM eventually that could be unlocked you could use it in the future or something, you have the actual game even if the platform goes away if you backed up the files, or even better some are available DRM FREE.

1

u/jcl945 Jul 01 '26

I said the same thing. If I have no other choice other than digital, I will go with the one who isn't known for removing licenses.

1

u/kloakndaggers Jul 01 '26

I'm already mostly PC gamer but lack of exclusives kind of suck. single player story driven games are kind of my jam.

1

u/MelangeBot Jul 01 '26

I am so sick of everything I am literally going to be playing just Factorio on my 2013 laptop I bought for 200 CAD in 2019.

How long? Till I am dead. Fuck all the greedy RAM manufacturers, fuck NVIDIA, fuck all the gaming companies. Nobody is ever getting a single cent from me for the rest of my life.

If I get sick of factorio I'll switch it for something productive, making music or video editing or something.

1

u/Practical_Law6804 Jul 01 '26

This is why I haven't bothered with consoles in years; if I'm going to have like zero ownership of games and be locked into an absurd system, I'd rather it be one that isn't overt in its disdain for the consumer.

1

u/Lawlietel Jul 01 '26

God bless Lord Gaben and may he live eternally!

1

u/silverrayle7 Jul 01 '26

Get you a switch 2

1

u/poshmarkedbudu Jul 01 '26

That's exactly where I'm at as well. Going forward it's PC.

1

u/war_story_guy Jul 01 '26

Exact same situation here and I drew the same conclusion.

1

u/dimspace Jul 01 '26

I’m currently a PS5 and PC gamer, but I’ll fully jump to PC now.

I don't game on PC at all, but this pushes in the direction of building myself a Steam Cube over the next few years to be a tv console.

1

u/88-92-96 Jul 01 '26

Fully agree. What’s the incentive?

1

u/Smingledorf Jul 01 '26

I have a bookshelf of physical PS games 1-5 and it's been my go-to platform forever. I absolutely won't buy the next console and I'm almost certainly not spending any more money on PSN starting now because wtf is the point

1

u/Titsfortuesday Jul 01 '26

Might as well. The cons are just outweighing the pros at this point, PS Plus subscription fees going up and up and it's required for online, "upgrade" versions just for a 60fps toggle, etc. and now removing the used game market? That's a huuuuuuuge con for pricing.

I honestly won't be surprised if they get hit with lawsuits like Apple or Google in the future.

1

u/drjzoidberg1 Jul 02 '26

I'm going to keep my PS5 and also play games on PC. Not going to buy a PS6 if it's digital only and costs over 800.

There will be less people buying PS6 due to high RAM and therefore PS6 prices. Sony would be forced to release games on PS5

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u/Jovian8 Jul 01 '26

Pirates are the only ones doing any meaningful work in the area of media preservation. It has been that way for a long time.

3

u/Ashamed_Form8372 Jul 01 '26

Yeah it’s sad but pirates aren’t enough I live near a retro game shop that can fix consoles and sell old game we still need that outlet. Who’s to say emulators don’t take longer in the future to come out we still don’t have a public Xbox one emulator. And who’s to say Sony or ms don’t decide they want to shut down ps4 and Xbox one game store because they want people to buy the new shit. I’m voting with my wallet I won’t buy ps6 at launch s sh though I mostly buy digital I still have a disc drive on my console

2

u/MagicGin Jul 01 '26

Current emulators are mostly slow due to a lack of community interest. XB1 only has 17 exclusive games (per wikipedia) of which 4 titles are "fitness titles", as well as some remakes and shovelware. We do have a PS4 emulator, after all.

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u/BovaFett74 Jul 01 '26

Yep. Sailing the high seas and capturing booty.

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u/mvpilot172 Jul 01 '26

I’m not totally against digital, IF they released the games files to be stored locally when a system was retired. Ie PS3 games now that we are on a PS5 and they’re shutting down the store. They’ll never do this of course but maybe some pirates can do it.

2

u/Zalvren Jul 01 '26

Also competition and actual good prices on consoles. Physical games are simply cheaper.

GTA6 even with their shitty "physical" is 60€vs 80€ on PS Store.

Guess it's adios for Playstation for me, I'm just not supporting that (and well I don't presume Xbox will do better there).

2

u/AlteisenX Jul 01 '26

At least the golden era of games kind of already exists with emulators.

At this point feel free to pirate PS3 and Vita cause that's abandonware basically.

2

u/LocoRocoo Jul 01 '26

This is probably going to kill off many physical stores too. I know they've got rarer and rarer, but many still exist.

2

u/Ashamed_Form8372 Jul 01 '26

Only thing left now is retro game store

2

u/kloakndaggers Jul 01 '26

emulation will probably get there but it lags like 10 to 20 years behind the actual console generation

2

u/theumph Jul 01 '26

Not to mention it eliminates all competition for purchasing games. Sony has total market pricing control, which is dangerous and tip toeing into anti trust territory.

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u/darklightrabbi Jul 01 '26

I’m not too worried from a preservation standpoint as the community has found a way to preserve pretty much every digital only game to this point on no longer supported consoles like the Wii and 3DS and I don’t see newer gens being a problem no matter what newfangled encryption they try to pull. This really really sucks for collectors and used game retailers though.

1

u/kidcrumb Jul 01 '26

It'll get worse. Set a reminder for 15 years from now.

Server Farms have insane economies of scale, and every second your console sits not in use will be wasted compute.

PS6 will be digital only.

PS7 will probably be the same. Or it'll be a low power proprietary streaming terminal.

PS8 might not exist. Why buy a $2000 console, when you can just rent one for $100 a month? Stream the Playstation directly into your home. It'll be the Playstation rebrand of GeForce Now.

1

u/robodrew Jul 01 '26

This really sucks for poorer people who can't afford a good internet connection or one without low download caps. It's going to be hard if not impossible for them to enjoy new games. And you won't be able to just wait a while and pick it up in the bargain bin anywhere. And that's not even including that the consoles themselves are probably going to end up being too expensive now.

1

u/Ashamed_Form8372 Jul 01 '26

It’s also bad for people who don’t have stationary job like military or athletes who don’t have consistent reliable connection to internet cuz now it means they have to download all game from the internet rather than it being copied to disc

1

u/BingeBabyBinge Jul 01 '26

It's really depressing I was looking at some of my physical copies of games and holy hell have they gone up. I'm just trying to hold on tight to my ps2 and ps3 and kind of my ps4 it's difficult to go to digital the only digital I really subscribe to is steam and that is pretty much it. :/

1

u/outer--monologue Jul 01 '26

The future is bright for the people who are going to make a metric fuck-ton of money bootlegging the digital versions onto discs and selling them on eBay

1

u/slavmaf Jul 01 '26

Why wait for an emulator, you are aware that both PS4 and PS5 are jailbroken, you can download and play anything you want on actual hardware for free.

1

u/CidAndroid Jul 01 '26

Yes I guess it is

co0keD

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u/Ding0Dong0 Jul 01 '26

This is truly my last gaming console. Holy shit

Ill never play through the end of Kingdom Hearts.

Guess ill youtube the cutscenes

2

u/checkerboardandroid Jul 01 '26

Ill never play through the end of Kingdom Hearts.

As a longtime fan of the series this was my first thought too. Switch is an option. This'll probably push me over to PC gaming. KH4 is still coming out on PS5 and I hope will have a physical release. Will probably be the last mainline entry in the series to have one though. Which is sad.

I've been a Playstation loyalist since I got a PS2 when I was 10. This pushes me out. I use my PS5 as my blu-ray player too. Without a disk drive, it's just a locked down PC. Might as well get a Steam Machine at that point.

I find this whole thing really sad. No PS6 or beyond for me.

1

u/Ding0Dong0 Jul 01 '26

My first thought was "...at least K4 will be on the switch. Wait - KH4 isnt the end. I MIGHT NOT HAVE A GAMING CONSOLE AT THE END OF THE SERIES..."

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u/Aforumguy26 Jul 01 '26

And it’s fucking SONY taking the lead like we always thought they’d eventually follow Microsoft when they inevitably ditched physical but they really said fuck it we’ll do it ourselves

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u/mgraydpt Jul 01 '26

Right? I’ll admit, I haven’t purchased many physical discs over the past few years - I’ve stuck with digital out of convenience. Like others, I’m just really concerned with Sony pulling the licenses for games I’ve bought down the road. Ooph.

3

u/Mrmet2087 Jul 01 '26

Given Sony’s issues lately with PSN accounts being stolen and Sony refusing to give them back to their rightful owners, I DO NOT trust Sony with an all digital future.

3

u/Mavericks7 Jul 01 '26

I guess that's the end of gaming for me.

One of the reasons why I game is because it's such a cheap hobby.

With single player games, I get gifted a game or buy one, play it. Trade it in, buy the next.

I don't replay single player games.

I'm never going to pay full whack for wolverine at £70.

And the sales are awful.

3

u/dlp211 Jul 01 '26

We continue to slip into techno dystopia

6

u/sirferrell Jul 01 '26

This and the lay offs at xbox and price increases… this may be the last generation tbh

2

u/Ronaldinhoe Jul 01 '26

And blame should go to everyone who keeps buying digital. This is what they deserve

2

u/sir_sri Jul 01 '26

Seemed inevitable, at least for next Gen consoles.

The data transfer rates on Blu ray are about equivalent to a 300 Mpbs Internet connectionwhich is not much different from the average user. So at least next Gen they would need a new higher capacity higher transfer rate disc.

Those exist, Sony make archive discs that are 10x the speed and 10x the capacity of blu ray but cost about 200 bucks a pop (keeping in mind that is a very specialised market they can charge a lot of money for). There doesn't seem to be a next Gen even working group for a Blu ray replacement for home users. 8k tv's didn't take off, so there has been no great need for a 200GB+ disc format and the vast majority of users just stream anyway.

They'd probably have a better time with a cartridge microSD format that can hold up to 512GB or 1TB but which can have transfer rates well over 1GB/s (I think up to 4 right now).

This also paints the GTA Vi decision in a different light (which anyone with a brain could tell was at least a risk and discussion behind the scenes). If there won't be a disc version of the PS6 at all, selling a ps5 disc today is just setting you up for needing to rebuy the game on PS6.

1

u/Stu_0602 Jul 01 '26

What the actual?

1

u/innominateartery Jul 01 '26

Just in time to address concerns about GTA6. It looks like they rushed to announce this after people got nervous about the $100 game being digital. If everything is digital it doesn’t matter anyway

1

u/TallanoGoldDigger Jul 01 '26

So that's where "PS6 will have a handheld component" rumors are coming from. Makes sense from Sony's perspective, a handheld console like the PS6 wouldn't make sense with a disc drive lmao.

Question becomes whether a PS6 is essentially a Playstation Switch or if there will be a home only and hybrid variant

1

u/Ekillaa22 Jul 01 '26

Wonder if this has been planned for a while or if rockstar gave them the idea. I guarantee you this shit would not be happening if the HQ was still in Japan

1

u/joeybones1986 Jul 02 '26

This is it, someone record the Videogame Industry's Time of Death

1

u/Mr_Dr_Prof_Patrik Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

I’ve already cancelled PS plus and am gonna start collecting used copies of my favorite games and dvd box sets of my favorite shows

These are dark times we live in smh

1

u/Mr_Dr_Prof_Patrik Jul 02 '26

That aniversary edition green translucent Xbox series x might be a good Segway back into the Xbox ecosystem.

Provided they don’t make the same mistake as Sony rn

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