It's officially over.

[ssj4yamgeta]

Sega could do something incredible...

I'd love to see SEGA get back in the console market, but after all the false rumors over the years, I'll believe it when I see it. I personally think we're more likely to see something from Blaze Entertainment, ModRetro, SNK, or Atari. Blaze has their own unique console line dedicated to physical media already (Evercade), although they're still on the low end in terms of power. Their latest handheld is their first product to feature analog sticks, though, so they may have something bigger planned in the future. ModRetro not only makes reproduction Gameboys and N64s, but also produces new physical games for them. SNK and Atari are resurrecting their previous consoles and producing new carts for them with Plaion's help. And of all companies, Sinclair is back with a new ultra-thin handheld called the Gamercard, so they may be one to watch as well.

I think what needs to happen is for one of them to produce a console that uses Verbatim M-Discs (Blu-rays with a 1,000-year data retention life) as its medium and is somewhere between the XBOX 360 and XBOX One X in terms of processing power. I think that power range is the sweet spot that will get more AA and indie devs interested in making games for it. Most of today's indie devs aren't content with making 8-bit and 16-bit games anymore, they're looking for a platform with a little more processing power.

[bizzgeburt]

Sega could do something incredible...

I'd love to see SEGA get back in the console market, but after all the false rumors over the years, I'll believe it when I see it. I personally think we're more likely to see something from Blaze Entertainment, ModRetro, SNK, or Atari. Blaze has their own unique console line dedicated to physical media already (Evercade), although they're still on the low end in terms of power. Their latest handheld is their first product to feature analog sticks, though, so they may have something bigger planned in the future. ModRetro not only makes reproduction Gameboys and N64s, but also produces new physical games for them. SNK and Atari are resurrecting their previous consoles and producing new carts for them with Plaion's help. And of all companies, Sinclair is back with a new ultra-thin handheld called the Gamercard, so they may be one to watch as well.

I think what needs to happen is for one of them to produce a console that uses Verbatim M-Discs (Blu-rays with a 1,000-year data retention life) as its medium and is somewhere between the XBOX 360 and XBOX One X in terms of processing power. I think that power range is the sweet spot that will get more AA and indie devs interested in making games for it. Most of today's indie devs aren't content with making 8-bit and 16-bit games anymore, they're looking for a platform with a little more processing power.

I recently heard rumors about SEGA evaluating to get back in the hardware game with a new handheld system designed for 2D- and Indie-games. IF they do, I'd buy that thing regardless of it probably being a flop 

[kamikazekeeg]

Unfortunately, with how bad the prices are for tech right now and will be for a long while, I can't imagine we see a whole lot in regards to new consoles or handhelds.  Like the Steam Box being over a grand for not a particularly great system is super rough.  Maybe stuff built around simple, cheap, tech, something that is like emulator box level perhaps, but that's kinda it.

[weirdfeline]

If you don't care about collecting but live paycheck to paycheck you're looking at $80 games and you can't sell it to make some money back to pay for the next game after you beat it over the weekend. Plenty of other things to get entertainment out of for less.

If I'm Nintendo I'm going back to having two consoles. Keep the Switch line as the handheld and return to GameCube power parity era while being the exclusive home of physical games. They might even be the only console with a physical store presence outside of gift cards.

I'm sure Sony has acknowledged that internally to some effect. They'll just keep pushing subscription models as they bleed out remaining subscribers as more and more unsubscribe.

At the very least, Sony will maintain some sort of in-store retail presence so that hardware and accessories can be sold. But they could also just package all games in empty cases once 2028 comes, like Take-Two is doing now with Grand Theft Auto VI.

With the latest estimate being just under $1000 to even piece together a PS6 I feel like they will try to minimize spending on retail presence and rely on PlayStation Direct as much as they can. They probably won't be able to manufacture much of them either so would being paying for shelf space with nothing to sell. That's already how it is now and it's just gonna get worse.

I don't think they'll do cases, years ago they already cut out buying games directly via cards it's all just a PlayStation Store card. My local Target still has some cards from 2017 for the gold edition of South Park: The Fractured but Whole and Assassin's Creed Origins. Not sure what happens if you buy those, I guess PS Store credit or just nothing.

[bikingjahuty]

I've decided instead of PS6, that I'll be buying a PS3 slim at some point in the next six months. I'll re-download all my digital games like Bionic Commando Rearmed, Telltale's Jurassic Park, and Ducktales, and then have access to the incredible series left behind like Infamous, Killzone, Resistance, Motorstorm and Ridge Racer...among others. I've been saying that the best of gaming is behind us... and Sony proved that correct today. So I'll go back to the tail end of their golden era.

But I think when that happens, a different company will step in and produce its own home console and start publishing some physical games. There's still a lot of interest and therefore money to be made from physical media, and if Sony/Xbox/Nintendo abandon the practice, someone else will move in.

Sega could do something incredible...

While this would be absolutely incredible, this just isn't going to happen. Sega was able to crawl back up from the pits of failure in the early 2000s thanks to becoming a third party publishers. After 20 years of making some very good business decisions (and a few highly questionable ones), they are once again one of the more successful large publishers in the industry. Developing a brand new console costs hundreds of millions, even into the billions to develop and release and I can't see Sega taking that kind of risk, not with what they currently got going. I'd love to see them do this, but they are just as much in bed with the big three console makers as a company like Capcom or EA is now. Their part of the modern ecosystem and at least at the moment have no incentive to try and rock the boat like this.

[dhaabi]

Sega could do something incredible...

Even if Sega somehow did have the financial means to do this and were incentivized to enter the hardware market again, they've given plenty of indication that the situation would no different than what Sony has already announced. Nearly every single one of their published games (if not all of them) released for Switch 2 are Game-Key Cards.

[sworddude]

Sega could do something incredible...

Even if Sega somehow did have the financial means to do this and were incentivized to enter the hardware market again, they've given plenty of indication that the situation would no different than what Sony has already announced. Nearly every single one of their published games (if not all of them) released for Switch 2 are Game-Key Cards.

[ssj4yamgeta]

Something I just thought of today: If a PS5 game you want is releasing in the later half of 2027, you may want to buy it close to release instead of waiting for a price drop, because those games are going to wind up having very limited print runs and will likely be rare in the future. Here's hoping Resident Evil: Veronica gets a physical release at all.

[weirdfeline]

I wish Epic would jump in on the console space. I don't care if they do physical media or not, I'd rather support them over Sony. They already have the most popular engine so seems like they would make hardware that supports their engine the best. I think free online and continued free to keep weekly games would be enough for them to find their footing. Make it the best place to play Fortnite and that would certainly help sell a few million at least. Cancel the deal where PS Plus gets free Fortnite cosmetics, take over their 5% stake and just go all in as a competitor. I feel like their work funding and publishing Alan Wake II, Gen Atlas and Playdead's next game has gone somewhat unappreciated.

Steam Machine seems like a miserable failure (again) though. Perhaps a bit bias but Shuhei Yoshida's experience made it sound like he played Ouya 2. https://x.com/yosp/status/2072582164898787363

Other than those two I don't see anyone capable of competing. Google failed, Amazon can't even operate successfully as a game publisher, Apple maybe but they already have a long reputation of not being able to handle demanding games. Nvidia could perhaps try harder with their device.

[bikingjahuty]

Something I just thought of today: If a PS5 game you want is releasing in the later half of 2027, you may want to buy it close to release instead of waiting for a price drop, because those games are going to wind up having very limited print runs and will likely be rare in the future. Here's hoping Resident Evil: Veronica gets a physical release at all.

I thought about this as well. I pray that game comes out in 2027 before physical discs go away. Speaking of, how does Sony manage to enforce no one releases physical discs when they've said all existing game discs will continue to work? That can't tell a third party like Capcom or EA, "you're not allowed to release your games physically!" Those companies can still make physical discs if they wanted to I'm assuming. This gives me some hope that maybe a few publishers will resist this crap and still make their games available as physical copies, although I'm sure most of them, especially the AAA's will gladly follow suit and use Sony as an excuse for why they didn't print discs. I hate this industry so much...

[mark1982]

Haven't replied here in ages.. but it was good while it lasted. Definitely will still collect games and keep using VGCollect to archive them, just sad this day has finally come.

Looks like game key cards is the best option now, as sad as that sounds, lol.

[mark1982]

Something I just thought of today: If a PS5 game you want is releasing in the later half of 2027, you may want to buy it close to release instead of waiting for a price drop, because those games are going to wind up having very limited print runs and will likely be rare in the future. Here's hoping Resident Evil: Veronica gets a physical release at all.

I thought about this as well. I pray that game comes out in 2027 before physical discs go away. Speaking of, how does Sony manage to enforce no one releases physical discs when they've said all existing game discs will continue to work? That can't tell a third party like Capcom or EA, "you're not allowed to release your games physically!" Those companies can still make physical discs if they wanted to I'm assuming. This gives me some hope that maybe a few publishers will resist this crap and still make their games available as physical copies, although I'm sure most of them, especially the AAA's will gladly follow suit and use Sony as an excuse for why they didn't print discs. I hate this industry so much...

Unfortunately, third party publishers can't produce their own discs. I have experience with publishing physical PlayStation games, all PS4 and PS5 discs are produced and manufactured by Sony. So as a third party publisher you have to order the discs directly from them. Disc Label artwork must be submitted to them and they will produce and ship the discs to you. Game Inlay, Manual and Inserts can be produced outside of Sony but still require their approval before final production.

So ultimately if Sony decides to stop manufacturing the discs third party publishers can't sell packaged goods with a disc inside.

[2ko]

I have mixed feelings. Like 90% negative, but there is a little bit of a weird excitement in the idea that I'll be finished collecting video games.

The "positive" (if you can call it that) feeling I have is that I will actually be able to "complete" my physical video game collection. As it stands, I have a highly curated collection where I only want to buy my top 50 games for a console. So most of the games I play I actual already don't own physically. If the PS6 is 100% digital, I can actually have a "complete video game collection" so to speak where there are no new games to add to it. Something about that just sounds nice lol

But at the same time, I don't love that my collection will be ending either. I kinda like curating these console libraries to my specific taste, and yeah sure I have plenty of consoles to still collect for (I don't own any of the Sega consoles for example), the idea that some day I just won't have any more games to hunt for is kinda depressing.

Also, I don't mind buying digitally (I already use Steam extensively) but by going digital only console gaming is basically dead to me. Why would I buy a game on PlayStation where I am locked to a single device when Steam allows me to play on any windows device. Having the option to play on desktop or a handheld is such a better deal. And I don't have to worry that the "Steam 2" will come around and they will shut down Steam along with my access to my library. But someday they will probably shut down the PS5/PS6 PSN Store, and with it I will not be able to play those digital libraries anymore.

So with this news, I don't plan on stopping playing modern games any time soon. But I'll probably be playing a lot more of them on Steam, and I may not even bother getting the next generation of Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

[dhaabi]

I wish Epic would jump in on the console space. I don't care if they do physical media or not, I'd rather support them over Sony.

How would Epic entering the hardware market in this scenario be any different than what PlayStation has announced? Consumers would still be locked to one digital ecosystem with the possibility of game licenses being revoked.

The market will eventually correct itself, and I think there will be many people who begin seriously considering shifting from console to PC at that time. Beyond the hurdle that some may face in the transition process, the benefits and possibilities offered vastly outweigh whatever fixed digital-only console platform exists.

[telekill]

I find it humorous that Sony continues to hide from social media. They're hoping this will blow over....but it won't.

As far as I'm concerned, Sony has dropped an absolute nuke on their goodwill from a consumer perspective. At this point, I won't be touching PS6 at all. Before, I wasn't all that hyped because I don't think the current position of modern gaming is in a good spot and was planning to wait a couple years to buy PS6... but now? Unless there are serious changes made (doubtful), I won't be touching PS6 at all.

It doesn't matter how Sony responds (I expect on Monday). If they walk back the end of physical... great. I'm going to still wait a couple years for PS6 at minimum. If they walk back only for the PS5 gen on physical and have PS6 be all digital... fine... I'll finish up the PS5 gen and then go back to retro games. If they double down... fine... I'll finish up the PS5 gen but buy fewer games.

I'm planning to buy a PS3 slim again before the end of the year. That'll be my "next gen".