I originally intended to write something here immediately after the announcement that PlayStation was going digital-only starting January 2028. My initial thoughts, angry as they are, would have just been repeating most other people’s opinions and, therefore, would be nothing new.
So, I waited a week to let the news sink in and think about its repercussions for not just me but for all of us. The longer that thinking went on, more concerning issues started to raise their heads.
I’ll start with this. This announcement and, more specifically, the date it’s going to happen will undoubtedly be linked to the release date of the PlayStation 6 sometime thereafter. It’s pretty safe to assume that the PlayStation 6 will, in all probability, be a digital-only console. The current market price of RAM is making all electronic manufacturers raise their prices along with it. Therefore, some market experts believe the PlayStation 6 will cost in the region of £1,000 to £1,200.
Taking this into consideration, I’ve been asking not only the staff at Gaming Respawn but my other gaming buddies in other circles this question:
“What can the PS6 bring to the table that we 1 – Can’t already get now, and 2 – Have a need to splash out a whopping estimated £1000 for? “.
The silence from everyone on this subject, of what they would hope for from a PS6, was deafening.
The only thing I could come up with myself was more power for 8K – 120 fps in line with what the PS5 Pro can already do. More memory was about the only other suggestion.
So, with gamers struggling to think of a reason to be excited for a PS6, on top of the digital, you pay for everything but own nothing reality, I’m really struggling to get excited and am frankly disheartened about the future of my gaming. I know others are too.
Consoles can already produce 120 fps and 8k (albeit, upscaled AI 8K), but how many people out there have the money not only for a PS5 Pro but for an 8k, 120 fps tv/monitor?
Defenders of Sony will say something along the lines of, “Think of how good the games will be on a PS6,”. That is true, but there lies another problem. Games, the really good, big budget PlayStation exclusives, now take years to make. That means we as gamers now have longer lead times and longer dry spells between blockbusters. More power for developers has simply led to far fewer big budget games being produced.
To add to this, not every developer is skilled enough to fully utilise the hardware. Heck, even the PS2 and PS3 ran games at 60 fps, yet here we are in 2026 still having to deal with big titles from big companies still running games at a paltry 30 fps on modern hardware! So, what’s the point of powerful consoles if there are hardly any games being made to fully utilise them anyway?
Even if a few more developers started making 4k – 60/120 fps games than we currently have, we are getting to the limit, if not already there, of what the human eye can discern anyway. So, do we really need 8k – 120 fps gaming consoles?
Going back to the all-digital statement now, one thing that really struck me were the figures Sony used as evidence for their decision. Let’s take them at their word. They claim that the current trend is that roughly 80% of new games are now bought digitally.
There is a very big elephant in the room they don’t talk about! That still leaves 20% who don’t. That is an awfully big number to just brush aside!
Do you know any current business that can afford the luxury of alienating and upsetting a fifth of their customer base in one single moment? Apparently, PlayStation can!
Then, we have the ironic timing of the announcement made on the same day that they were shutting down the digital store for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. They also, in the same week, announced they were removing 551 films and shows from people’s libraries.
Sony proved they have the power to shut down anything digital they like on the same day they announce that, going forward from January 2028, they will be digital-only! I’m staggered at how tone deaf the company is to its own announcements! The feeling they have given consumers from this is that it’s dangerous for anyone to feel confident about PlayStation digital purchases in the future.
My question to PlayStation would be this: They know this will upset people. They know this is a bad look for them. Heck, even Domino’s have trolled them online. So, what’s the prize? What are you going to produce or announce that is so good that this bad press will be forgotten? If we buy into a digital-only future with PlayStation and the PS6, what benefits from the savings that Sony makes will filter back down to us gamers?
Cheaper games? Cheaper subscriptions? Better games? Games being made more quickly?
So, what is the effect of all of this?
This actually goes deeper than you might think. With the digital-only future, a way for Sony to stop the resell market, did Sony ever do studies to find out how much revenue they made from people buying a secondhand physical game in a shop, then buying the DLC for it from the PlayStation Store? I know I have done that, for one. What about buying a secondhand physical game and enjoying it so much they then bought the rest of the series either brand new or digitally? Again, I’m guilty of that too!
See, there is more to the numbers than just 80% of games bought brand new. Take away the physical side of things, it also takes away a lot of gamers’ entry points into buying other items associated with that game and series as well. Have you thought about that, PlayStation? Was that even considered?
Don’t even get me started on the emotional attachment side of gaming too. The waiting in line for the midnight release with others, or the doorbell ringing on release day when the game arrives! That’s all going to go.
So, aside from all that and much more I could really go on about, the effect of this announcement on me personally has already begun.
I have a PS5 Pro and a Nintendo Switch 2. I bought the Pro very quickly after the announcement as I was thinking about it anyway, but this announcement pushed me over the edge to pull the trigger. I did it because I’ve no interest in a PS6, and I have a large physical game collection that I want the best current console to be able to play them. So, I got the Pro and a disc drive for it.
However, the PS5 Pro, as I sit here and type now, is probably going to be the last PlayStation console I’m ever going to buy. I’m not alone in that feeling. I’ve seen many others say the same. Nothing about the future of PlayStation, post this current gen, excites me. My PlayStation bus ride is probably going to end here.
The other thing that I’ve noticed about my habits recently is that aside from the Pro, I’m now reluctant to think about buying any new hardware, like controllers, headphones, and accessories for my PlayStation setup. What I’ve got now will probably be it. The money will now start going towards the Nintendo Switch 2 ecosystem. For example, I’m thinking of getting a new Switch 2 controller instead of the Joy-Cons. I’m requesting more and more Nintendo games to review for this website to see if I can find a Nintendo series I can get into instead of a PlayStation one.
In short, my PlayStation enthusiasm has just fallen off a cliff, and I feel like it was PlayStation themselves that led me there and then pushed me off it! Speaking for myself only here, it’s going to take something very special, indeed, for Sony to pull this one back. I’m struggling to see what they can do in the future to make me change my mind, but you never know. In the meantime, watch this space!
