PlayStation 6 ‘almost guaranteed’ for 2028 after digital-only news, analyst says
Ampere predicts Sony could offer disc-to-digital backwards compatibility plan
Wednesday’s news that PlayStation will discontinue all physical game disc production starting in January 2028 “almost certainly guarantees” that PS6 won’t launch before that date.
That’s according to Ampere analyst Piers Harding-Rolls, who believes that confirmation of PlayStation’s all-digital future “telegraphs quite a lot of information” about Sony’s next-generation console, which was previously expected to arrive in late 2027.
“First, we believe this almost certainly guarantees that the PS6 won’t arrive until 2028 at the earliest,” he said. “Ampere’s current expectation is that the console will launch at the end of 2028.”
Secondly, according to Harding-Rolls, PS6 will now, “at a minimum”, not include a physical disk 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 PS4 and PS5 games on disc.”
The analyst speculated that, while removing the disc drive from PlayStation 6 is likely to upset some consumers who want to access their disc game collections, Sony could offer a solution.
“It may be too impractical or too complex, but some process of transferral for older physical media to a digital license could alleviate some of these issues,” he said.
After January 2028, new games from all publishers will be available on the PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only, according to Sony’s announcement. The transition to digital won’t affect games that have already been released or will be released in disc format before January 2028.
The shift to digital will further raise concerns about preservation in gaming, especially on a day when Sony also announced the closure of the PS3 and PS Vita digital stores.
A Sony spokesperson told Game File that “[w]ith all digital content, including games, movies, and music, players are purchasing a personal license for non-commercial use.”
