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Sony considering delaying PS6 to 2028 or 2029, some analysts think, according to Embracer Group - 1781886619
Somehow, it’s been almost six years since the PS5 launched, and Sony has still said very, very little about the console’s
successor, presumably to be called the PS6. Release date rumors have been circling for months now, with the most optimistic
guesses saying late 2027 and the most cynical predicting 2028 or 2029, or even into the 2030s. With the ongoing memory crisis
keeping RAM prices significantly elevated, not to mention other economic variables making gaming consoles in particular
expensive to make, hardware manufacturers across the board are facing a dilemma: stick to the regular console release cycle
of six to seven years and force buyers to deal with exorbitant prices, or delay everything until things inevitably level out.
According to Embracer Group’s latest annual financial report (via Resetera) Sony is considering moving the PS6’s debut to
2028 or 2029 due to AI-driven price increases and tariff-related volatility in the US. “Both factors could potentially have
a negative impact on console retail prices, which would, in turn, hamper market growth,” reads Embracer’s report. “In the
longer term, higher RAM costs could also cause operational delays to the launch of future consoles.
“In fact some analysts believe that Sony is now considering pushing back the debut of its next PlayStation console from
2027 to 2028 or even 2029.”
This is certainly a reasonable estimation given, well, *gestures broadly*, but I do have to wonder if these “analysts”
Embracer is citing are actually just the sources at Bloomberg who claimed the same thing back in February. It’s very
possible that a publisher of Embracer’s size has its own inside knowledge, but the fact that they’re attributing that
knowledge to “some analysts” gives me pause. If they are just going off Bloomberg’s reporting, it’s worth noting that
the publication also correctly predicted Nintendo’s Switch 2 price hike from May, lending further credibility. Either
way, that reporting and Embracer’s apparent analyst pals both stop short of saying the PS6 has already been delayed
internally, so it’s too soon to count 2027 out now.
We might be over a year out from getting the PlayStation 6 in our hands, but rumours are already starting to circulate that Sony might be ditching a major
feature that gamers have appreciated in their consoles for the last three decades.
According to a report from Insider Gaming, the PlayStation 6 might omit the disc drive that physical media lovers have come to rely on since the
PlayStation 1. Instead, gamers will be forced to purchase a separate, detachable disc drive that plugs in via one of the console’s ports.
This isn’t too dissimilar from how some PlayStation 5 consoles are forced to work today. Sony started the PS5 generation with two SKUs of the console, one
with a disc drive and another without.
However, those with the Digital Edition - the later PS5 Pro, which also omits a disc drive - can opt to purchase a separate disc drive to play their physical
media. However, manufacturing two different versions of the console is thought to have been costly for Sony, which is why it could potentially only offer
one variant of the PlayStation 6 with the disc drive an optional upgrade.
While this likely won’t bother a large chunk of the PlayStation audience who purchase most of their games digitally anyway, it’s a bad sign for the physical
market and brick and mortar retailers. Earlier this year saw the likes of GAME eviscerated from the UK highstreet, and the decline is likely to only worsen
if Sony phases out physical media compatibility with the default configuration of the PS6.