Like many retro computer fans out there, I was dismayed to learn this past week of Sony’s plan to stop producing physical box release games from 2028.

It is a sad confirmation of what most of us already knew - like streaming is trying to kill off physical blu ray and dvd releases in favor of a ‘pay monthly for getting nothing you can keep’ model, now Sony is going to do the same to games.

Clearly the point of Sony setting 2028 as a deadline is to make sure people know that the upcoming  Playstation 6 will not have physical release games. 

The Playstation 5 will be the last Sony PlayStation model with physical box game releases. I am glad to say I have quite a few physical release games for the PS5, here is a small sample.

With the upcoming removal of factories making these physical releases, the global distribution costs and of course the local country distributor and retailer markups, will the direct digital games bought on the PS6 be cheaper than physical releases?

No, of course they won't be any cheaper. Have you ever seen any company reduce prices when they remove their costs from the products production? They pocket the profits and keep the prices the same, or higher. 

Even today in 2026, physical game releases are often cheaper than buying from the Sony digital storefront, even for PS5 current releases. 

Here is a real example to prove it - I present a AAA title game called Borderlands 4 for PS5. 

On the Playstation digital store in Australia (as of today) it costs AUD$119.95. For a digital license.

If I walk into my local JB Hifi store (or order it online) I can get the physical box release for AUD$74. It costs me almost AUD$46 more to buy a digital license.

You would have to be crazy to buy the digital license version from the Sony Digital storefront in that situation!

If you are buying PS4 or PS3 games especially this is the case - check out the physical stores and then check the Playstation store online if you don't believe me.

I know that the opposite can also be true (digital is cheaper), but I wanted to point out that some (not all) AAA titles are being price gouged on the digital store compared to physical releases.

Personally I like having physical game box releases. That should not be a big surprise to anyone reading my blog regularly - I buy them a lot! The Amiga, C64 especially see a lot of new physical release games!

I buy them on modern platforms too where it is still an option.

The main point of having the physical game on a disc means I can play it whenever I want with no restrictions from a digital license that can be revoked at any time. I especially like the manuals that someone prepared to show me how to play the game. 

I know these days many games include in-game long and tedious tutorials on how to play the game (and endless boring cut scenes too), but some games are complex and need a manual to refer to when you need it. And I don't want to have to hunt for a digital manual buried deep in the settings thank you.

I don't have a massive collection of Sony PlayStation games (compared to my Amiga collection!), but I bought a decent amount of interesting games (at the time) for each version of the console. 

In 2026 I still have a PS2 (slim), PS3 with Playstation Move, PS4 Pro with VR, and a PS5 (the disc version of course). 

BTW Is it scary that Outrun 2006 for PS2 is now 20 years old? Or that the original Outrun arcade game was released 40 years ago in 1986 and I played it back then?

I have games all the way back to the original Sony Playstation 1 that wowed me all those years ago. 

I remember well drooling at the sight of Wipeout intro and game, and with it the sad realisation my Amiga 1200 was never going to run it.

BTW I use the PS2 Slim to run Playstation 1 games. 

You have to keep a cool head here, and remember most of it is the usual click bait YouTube and social media influencer attention-grabbing bullshit for likes and comments (to boost their own profiles and revenue by jumping on a popular topic to appear in your feed). 

I think the reality is most of the people protesting about this decision already buy digital games on PS5 platform anyway. 

This is required since many games are not actually given physical game box releases. I have to do the same thing, even though I prefer physical game releases - with posters, manuals, physical media, stickers, posters and more!

Same thing with digital game releases happens on Nintendo Switch 1&2. The Nintendo Switch 2 is particularly bad for this given the much smaller number of "full game" physical releases.

It is clear where it is all heading. Younger generations generally don’t care about everything being digital only and just having a temporary license to play something that you will never actually ‘own’. Really. 

And before the two younger generation people that do care and are reading this post pipe up to complain, yes I know some do care, but the majority don’t. Really.

I wonder how many people would ‘buy’ digital games in future if they replace the ‘buy’ button with a ‘purchase fixed 2 year license’ option, after which the game stops working and you can no longer play it. 

I suppose the reality is that relatively few people continue playing a game after two years anyway, other than for nostalgia reasons or if they are obsessed with it. For example like me with Trackmania 2 Canyon, a game I bought on Steam for PC and I still play online 15 years after it's release! (no physical release sadly)

Planned obsolescence- perhaps the new 2 year version of the game comes out the day before the old one is setup to stop working. Force you to pay again to play the same game with slightly better graphics (maybe).

Or perhaps just purchase a month by month payment option, much like some ‘subscription’ games already do like world of Warcraft and ‘season passes’ for freemium games.

Or buy regular DLC content released to prop up internet connected games with ongoing micro transactions  sales rolling in with minor tweaks, costumes, virtual cosmetic addendum which will ultimately disappear along with  the game. You own nothing.

These games are fated to disappear forever when the supporting online servers are switched off by the publisher when they no longer make ‘enough’ ongoing revenue.

You won’t be buying a Sony releases game from 2028 in the future when it becomes ‘retro’. It will not exist. Retro game stores will have plenty of old titles for a while to stay in business, but modern game stores will simply disappear or pivot to other things.

Been to EB games recently in Australia? It is almost all licensed stuffed toys and t-shirts. Tiny shelf in the back corner for what remains of new (and pre-owned) console physical releases, with some Retro game platform titles also recently. 

PC boxed games all disappeared from games shops ten years ago in favor of steam digital storefront sold games and other developer digital storefronts like Epic, GOG, Blizzard and others. Today you can’t buy a pc or Mac format game as a physical release except for very small volume indie developer releases or a pre ordered limited release collectors edition with a steam/other digital storefront download code in a box. Consoles are going the same way. It is a sad state of affairs.

I know that companies like limited run games make a mint charging ridiculous prices for a pre-order limited run physical release of some games for modern (and some retro) consoles. These are then bought en-masse mostly by internet scalpers who then immediately sell them for insane prices on EBay and elsewhere. This further alienates the next generation from buying physical titles, as they are being treated purely as collectors items to on-sell for profit instead of being a standard boxed release.

Meanwhile, companies like Nintendo protect their retro games IP aggressively and milk their older franchises every few years with yet another version of the same old games with slightly improved graphics for their next generation console. 

Last genuinely innovative thing I have seen on Nintendo Switch was the Ring Fit Adventure game and add-on - my wife still uses it every day! 

For other 3rd party games on Switch 2, developers mostly implemented the new Nintendo game key system where you don’t get a game on your physical release cartridge. Just a right to download it from the digital store - the game is not on the cartridge at all. I refuse to buy these. 

For Nintendo specific released new AAA game boxed full game on the cartridge titles on the switch 2 - let's review shall we? 

So far, we have a new graphical version of donkey kong, new graphical version of Mario kart, new graphical version of Kirby air rider, new graphical version of animal crossing, new graphical version of Zelda, new graphical version of super Mario, new graphical version of Pokémon (yes I know they don’t own that), another updated version of Yoshi, and now, wait for it, a new graphical version of Starfox. I know because I bought them as physical releases and played them. 

No genuine innovation, nothing genuinely new. Improved graphics, same gameplay.  

Just slightly rehashed versions of the original titles developed in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Exactly the same as the music industry does with pop music and the fashion industry does with clothing. Recycle old products to the next generation and dress them up as something new and different.

Unlike the pop and fashion industries, from 2028 we no longer get anything physical for Sony consoles I get to keep, like an old piece of clothing or an old record I can keep and play/use whenever I want. With a digital game I only get a license to play for a specified time and after that ends, I have nothing.

I love new technology, but seriously why should I pay for a time locked digital license to play boring rehashed versions of 30 year old games for the latest gen overpriced console?

Where are the new innovative game titles? Outside of some indie developers, there are very few. No larger publisher company wants to take financial risks with a AAA title that takes 5-8 years to make. They play safe. Very safe.

How safe? Let's see. AAA titles in 2026 are games like Final Fantasy 16, Street fighter 6, Gran Turismo 7, Yakuza 6 / Kiwami 3, Grand Theft Auto 6, Tekken 8, forza horizon 6 , call of duty modern warfare 3, borderlands 4, Battlefield 6, far cry 6, yet another new version of Doom - yeah, how innovative.

In addition, will the future versions of these endlessly rehashed  titles be developed by humans or purely using generative AI tools? What we humans called AI slop, and there is plenty of it released on digital storefronts already. 

Will the games be any cheaper if they are using AI? Will they tell us if they do it or eventually just sweep it under the rug, keeping the same high prices while quietly making thousands of hard working developers redundant? 

Why would I or anyone want to pay top dollar for that? A time limited license to play an AI generated graphical version bump of a pre-existing 30-40 year game. 

I’d have to be mad to support that. It’s as bad as buying AI generated music or AI generated videos.

Apparently 1700 games on Steam next fest in 2026 use generative AI! https://www.gamesradar.com/platforms/pc-gaming/even-more-games-on-steam-are-using-ai-there-are-over-8-600-demos-in-this-weeks-next-fest-event-and-nearly-1-700-use-ai/?utm_source=openai

With the move to Digital Only, Sony better have some amazing innovative and exclusive  launch titles for the ps6 that people will want to buy. 

Otherwise, if it is just more of the same boring rehashes of old games, a lot of older gamers like me will not buy the system and just draw a line with the PS5. 

In that scenario I think I would just buy the non exclusive PS6 games on Steam instead, where the games are usually cheaper anyway. Steam, unlike Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, don’t charge customers an extra monthly fee just to play console games they paid for online (with other people who also paid for it)….

Maybe Sony don’t care if I buy a PS6 or not - perhaps I am just not the target market anymore. For the first time in my life I guess I have to be ok with that. They are making the decision to force this path in pursuit of more profits rather than letting the customer decide.

I do my best in 2026 as always to support indie and other developers that make interesting new games for my favorite game platforms, and buying physical releases where available as much as possible. This is not just for retro systems. 

Long may physical releases continue to be released for other systems, even if Sony no longer cares. I care. 

It is kinda like me choosing to line up and wait to use the staff manned checkout counters in the supermarkets so those people can still have a job. Why do I have to do it myself? Do I get the groceries cheaper if I do something the store used to do for me to save on hiring people? No, of course not.

I want to be able to enjoy the games I paid for for decades to come, whenever I want to play them - not having to paid monthly for a license to replay something I already paid for.

I want a game box, a manual (remember those?) and a full game that works from the included physical media,  not a download code in a box.

Thanks to platforms like Evercade which in 2026 continue the wonderful tradition of new physical game cartridge boxed releases with manuals. 

I bought the VS-R solo console recently so I can enjoy the portable Evercade cartridges on the bigger screen at home!

It is nice to have the console version finally:

It has two cartridge slots so you can launch and play titles from either slot:

Very nice.

Very happy to support the Evercade, especially the new indie releases on it. 

You can even update the original cartridges on the Evercade with new bug fixed versions so you don't need an internal storage device to play the updated version. 

I updated Goodboy Galaxy game on Evercade exactly this way:

Now the updated version cartridge can be played on my Pocket portable Evercade on the go.

See Sony and Nintendo, it can be done! 

And with that I will get off my soapbox now, and enjoy some Goodboy Galaxy on my Evercade using a real cartridge with no digital store activation or download required).

This is a great game by the way! See you soon in another blog post!