- Sony plans to stop production of physical games by January 2028
- Analysts say announcement indicates PS6 will arrive in 2028
- It is expected that the console will not have a disc drive
Following Sony’s announcement that it would stop producing physical games for the next two years, analysts have determined that the next-generation PS6 console will launch in 2028.
According to Ampere analyst Piers Harding-Rolls, PlayStation’s all-digital project “telegraphs a lot of information about Sony’s plans for its next-generation console, the PlayStation 6,” including a release window.
“We think this almost certainly guarantees that the PS6 won’t arrive until 2028 at the earliest,” he predicted, adding that “the console is currently expected to launch in late 2028.”
Harding-Rolls also suggests that “at a minimum” the standard version of the PS6 won’t have a physical disc drive, as Sony will look for ways to reduce the cost of its next-gen hardware, and “that’s an easy win.”
“It is possible that an additional disc drive will be made available to play older PS4 and PS5 games on disc,” the analyst added.
“Removing the drive will inconvenience some players who don’t want to pay for an additional disc drive (if available) and want to access their game collections on disc. This may be too inconvenient or too complex, but a process of transferring old physical media to a digital license could alleviate some of these issues.”
We don’t yet know if the PS6 will be a console like the PS5; However, recent comments from Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino seem to suggest that the next-generation PlayStation console could be a handheld.
Nishino said, “For the next-gen platform, rather than simply serving as an alternative to PC, we aim to deliver unique value to PlayStation,” which would include “technological advancements but also an expansion of usage styles, enabling a seamless experience that can be enjoyed naturally beyond the living room.” »
New reports claim that Microsoft is also moving away from physical media.
The company is said to be testing disc-to-digital functionality for existing consoles and could launch a next-generation Project Helix console without a disc drive.
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