So, this means mandatory proprietary hardware just to play the four or five true permanent exclusives that will be on the PS6 throughout its entire lifetime, given that everything else will eventually come to PC, and you don’t actually own any of your digital content, meaning that they can revoke your access to your purchases without notice at any point if they choose to do so.
People will still buy it though, that’s the saddest part.
They’ve already said they’ve stopped porting to PC
To reduce costs on printing and to reflect Sony’s vision, they are dropping the L from the name of the console.
definitely end of an era.
I’m not buying a console without physical media.Sony can kill the second hand market if they want, but that was the last thing that differentiated them from Steam. Good bye Playstation, i’ll remember you fondly.
Rest in piss
You guys, they just want to reduce street day leaks
I feel like defending consoles is a lost cause at this point. We can’t trust any of the big 3 anymore.
This was me a decade ago when Xbox suggested something like this. Nintendo was shutting down their old eshops and making purchased games in playable and Playstation was selling shovelware on their online store.
In a dystopia like that… Suddenly, Steam’s digital only didn’t look so bad.
Sega, Atari, and
It warms my heart to see that EVERY comment on Sony’s blog post about it is negative. Hope the decision ends up biting Sony in the ass, but even if not, at least people weren’t silent about it.
Ahhh, remember this PS4 promo video (YouTube for sharing physical games vs Xbox)? Pepperidge Farm does.
The gonna release PS6 without any physical media option, don’t they? Their PS5 digital edition was only a market test.
I don’t pay $70 for a game I can’t even sell after using it.
They are also lobbying to make hosting you own videogame server illegal: https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/esa-bafflingly-declares-private-minecraft-servers-illegal-in-stop-killing-games-hearing-we-consider-it-piracy-we-have-lawsuits/
Sony is part of ESA.
So is Microsoft who owns Minecraft who definitely presents private servers as dangerous (which for children may very well be true).
Having the possibility to setup a server allowed me to setup one for my sons and I. I’d rather have that then them going online…
You would think that’s what every parent would prefer…
Both because it’s more safe and secure. Plus I have very fond memories of LAN parties and without private servers and local multiplayer kids won’t be able to experience that :(
Don’t worry, they’ll still be able to drink a bunch of cough syrup and think they’re really hanging out chatting with random people on forums and Pink Floyd and Abe Lincoln, and then get genuinely lost in a game for what seems like eternity but can only ever be vaguely recalled later.
So are bicycles and kitchen knives. Ffs
That was kind of my point?
That just because it’s “dangerous” for children doesn’t justify banning it wholesale. Sorry I wasn’t more clear.
Yet Microsoft allows people access to host a private server while also putting up scary warnings for kids telling them to stick to the “safe” realms servers or whatever (are they even still called Realms? fuck if I know). On the one hand, it’s good they haven’t removed it entirely, on the other hand, it seems like that may be their eventual long-term goal with how they treat the private server ecosystem.
I also think Discord and Roblox contributed to people not knowing what the fuck “server” actually means anymore.
Just get a console they said. Console just works they said. Why get a PC when it won’t work in a year they said.
This is why I don’t buy consoles. I can use a controller on my computer which is upgradable and not subject to one individual company dictating what I can and can’t do.
Why get a PC when it won’t work in a year they said.
Interesting because my Steam digital purchases go back to 2007 and I can still play them all.
My first digital purchase was the Orange Box and my second purchase was Psychonauts.
I had purchased Half Life 2 as a physical copy and it still works, too.
Sure they’re all just licenses, but a lot of effort has been put into me being able to continue playing them, including on Linux.
Yes, Valve is a different story because they’re a private company, but 20 years of license when I could play on any computer I owned at any time I think is showing that digital licensing isn’t inherently evil as much as it is widely abused for control.
They’re actually not just licenses. When you download a game from steam you get the game data. You can back up this gamedata if you wish. Sure it will have steam DRM but thats something on can get around one way or another.
This is the power of open platform like PC
Real and based. If you get them on GOG, you can download offline installers with no DRM. My GOG collection isn’t as big as my Steam, but it’s also fairly significant as well. Heroic Launcher on Linux is sweet for GOG games (you just have to plan out wine prefix and directory structure to properly have updates install).
If steam changed ownership and control, there is nothing stopping the new people from doing things similar to other big companies.
Many games are potentially a heart attack away from loss of access
Absolutely, that’s my point about them being widely abused.
Orange Box was my first digital purchase too!
Nintendo winning this console generation with the Switch 2 was not on my bingo card.
Nintendo shut down the e-shop for the 3DS. All the digital games you owned? Gone.
They’re part of the problem.
The 3DS is very easy to jailbreak. Highly recommend it. Just in case anyone needs to hear this.
My MSPaint skills aren’t what they used to be, but imagine a console version of this

Nintendo being the best option for a consumer (from a legal perspective) was not on my bingo card
Why bother with consoles anymore? PCs are so much better
They need to up their exclusive game…game. Other than DK Bananza, their output has been disappointing. I only got a Switch 2 now because it’s only going to get more expensive and I’m hoping for quality exclusives in the next 6 or so years that they’ll be supporting it.
You do realize the Switch 2 already has more exclusives than the PS5, right?
Edit with sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Nintendo_Switch_2-only_games
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:PlayStation_5-only_gamesYes, but the quality of those exclusives is lacking compared to their previous consoles. It’s only been a year, so I’m going to be optimistic that their output will improve. Looking forward to Ocarina of Time and Xenoblade Genesis.
Ports of games to Nintendo consoles are always the worst way to play them due to the weaker hardware, so exclusives matter a lot more on them. It’s the entire reason I got one. PS5 is good for more than just exclusives (especially since, as you pointed out, it barely has any!)
A funny anecdote from outside gaming land:
Sony mirrorless cameras, even MEGA expensive ones, have this quirk where they can’t film 30P HEVC video.
The A6700 for instance, can record 24, 30, 60 h.264, but only 24 or 60 h.265. The A7C II is particularly handicapped, with only 24 h.265.
The $7000 A1 flagship is the same. It doesn’t make any sense; all their hardware supports it.
Why?
Well, people kept asking Sony, and someone finally got a response:
Hello, Sony’s commitment to customer satisfaction is our top priority. The reason for that is that we determined the current product specifications from our analyses of target users and available technologies. For XAVC HS, we envision users enjoying HLG movies by connecting the camera to an HDR (HLG) compatible BRAVIA TV over HDMI, and 60p is what we view as the default setting for playback with it. To record movies in higher quality in 4K/30p, we would recommend selecting XAVC S and XAVC S-I, 10-bit 4:2:2 sampling, either Long GoP and All-I codec. Could you tell us how creators such as yourself want to use HEVC at 30p so we can provide feedback to our design team?
I found that oddly enlightening.
“Well, it’s not optimal for a BRAVIA TV over HDMI, so why would users want this? Why is it worth it for us to waste half a kilobyte for this option in the UI?” Sony cannot fathom anything outside that.
It makes that whole list in OP’s post make total sense. It’s not even cynicism on their part; with that mindset, what would they need a disk player for? What value is Bluepoint is a business review?
They literally cannot understand why PlayStation users would want any of those things. It’s outside the domain.
Could you tell us how creators such as yourself want to use HEVC at 30p so we can provide feedback to our design team?
I just want to fucking choose what I want without having to provide a “user story”!! I HATE uber-market-optimized software and products, give me fucking settings instead of trying to guess for me!
I am jacks complete lack of surprise…
This should be expected from the people who brought us memory sticks and betamax
Essentially suits who don’t and have never gamed making decisions on gaming. They have no idea what the players want and don’t actually care because caring costs money.
I don’t understand why anyone cares.
I can’t think of a single game that didn’t require an install and then updates before playing anyways.
Games on GOG come with offline installer that can be used to install the most reacent version.
But you’re right, many games do require day 1 patches or even game data to be dowloaded but that makes these worse / lower in quality for many.
That is only the case because your console is connected to the internet. For example, I can dust off my old PS3 today and play the version 1.0 release of GTA V after installing it from the disc because the console is offline, meaning there won’t be any prompt asking me to update the game to the latest version, and it simply works.
You might argue that this is a bad example and that GTA V runs better on modern hardware, so let us consider Bloodborne on the PS4 instead, a title you will not find anywhere else and for which current emulation remains, at best, sketchy. I can insert that disc into my PS4 unplugged from the internet and play it immediately without any mandatory update.
Killing physical support means the end of this possibility for further releases, not that Sony has many exclusives these days, but for the handful of PS6 games that won’t make it to PC.
It won’t really affect me, but I understand the appeal of a physical artifact servicing as time game’s license for those who like to lend, sell, trade, library, etc.
And those same benefits are why the corporations can’t wait to do away with it. It’s been quite a while since Microsoft tried the same thing and people freaked out enough that they reversed course.
This is Sony though, they care so much about playstation customers they even went to the effort of updating the ps3 firmware in March this year to improve things for their customers.
I mean it would be crazy to suggest they would do that for a console they discontinued a decade ago just to try and fuck with people who have the temerity to run custom firmware on hardware they bought and paid for 20 years ago…
Sony business logic is fucked.
The updates were for the BluRay licenses they do it on a schedule. You can easily still play online even with pirated games
Sony doesn’t care about what you do on your PS3. You can literally play online and earn trophies with pirated games without getting banned.
Do they still make money of it or was the security hole easy enough to fix, that they paid a few engineer hours from pocket money, just for the fuck you?
Don’t think that there was ever a security hole. I wouldnt consider installing alt firmware to be a security hole
Per the patch notes: https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/support/hardware/ps3/system-software/
"By updating, you can enjoy additional features, improved usability, and enhanced security.
Please note, to play Blu-ray discs, your PS3 system needs a renewed Blu-ray player encryption key. Please update your PS3 system software to the latest version to renew the Blu-ray player encryption key."
I havent actually tried to watch a bluray on custom firmware since, but I’m a weirdo who uses it for playing games so that doesnt matter to me.
I dont see any money being made on the ps3








