The announcement of Sony’s all-digital future has given the biggest indication yet as to the PS6’s launch date, but it’s unlikely to include a disc drive.
Sony’s announcement that, from January 2028, PlayStation games will no longer be released on a physical disc is crushing for various reasons, but it’s a revealing insight into the company’s plans for the PlayStation 6.
Sony hasn’t confirmed anything about the successor to the PlayStation 5, but based on vague comments from the company’s CEO, there’s a strong likelihood it’ll have some kind of handheld component.
The biggest question is when the PlayStation 6 will launch. While there’s been a hanging expectation of late 2027, based on prior console cycles, the ongoing memory crisis has led some people to believe it could be delayed to 2028 or even 2029.
Following the recent digital announcement, Ampere analyst Piers Harding-Rolls believes the PlayStation 6 will now ‘almost certainly’ arrive in 2028.
‘First, we believe this almost certainly guarantees that the PlayStation 6 won’t arrive until 2028 at the earliest,’ Harding-Rolls said in a blog post.
Expert, exclusive gaming analysis
Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.
‘Ampere’s current expectation is that the console will launch at the end of 2028,’ he said, based on the timing of when Sony will abandon physical copies of games.
He goes on to claim, in light of the no disc announcement, that the PlayStation 6 will ‘at a minimum’ not include a physical disc drive.
‘Sony will be looking for all the ways it can reduce the cost of its next gen console, and this is an easy win,’ he added. ‘It’s possible that an add-on disc drive could be made available to play older PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games on disc.’
Harding-Rolls speculates that Sony could offer a process whereby older physical media could be transferred to a ‘digital license’ to alleviate some negative feedback, but that sounds a bit too generous in light of today’s news.
Even if the PlayStation 6 launches in 2028, it’s difficult to see how it could be enticing. We’ve barely seen the full extent of the PlayStation 5’s power six years in, it’s probably going to cost around £1,000, and if it is all-digital, you’re going to be paying considerably more for new games.
Another overlooked factor is, by removing a disc drive, it will no longer be able to play physical media across movies and TV. We’ve recently seen how Sony can strip movies from PlayStation digital libraries in an instant, but buying movies digitally will be the only option if it doesn’t have an attachable disc drive.
Ever since the PlayStation 2, Sony has used each console’s compatibility as a DVD and Blu-ray player as an extra selling point, but if the PlayStation 6 bucks this trend, it’s nothing but bad news for physical media in other forms of entertainment as well.
Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.