After Sony announced it would stop producing game discs for consoles in January 2028, the earliest possible launch for PlayStation 6 is late 2028.
Following Sony's announcement to cease production of physical game discs by January 2028, industry analysts have uniformly interpreted this as a sign that the next console, PlayStation 6, will certainly not launch before 2028.
Piers Harding-Rolls, an analyst from research firm Ampere, stated that PlayStation's full digital plan clearly indicates Sony's intentions, estimating that this move almost guarantees PS6 will not arrive before 2028, with a most likely launch in late 2028.
Regarding hardware, Harding-Rolls assessed that at minimum, the standard PS6 model will not include a disc drive, as Sony aims to reduce hardware costs for the new console, and removing the drive is the easiest way to achieve this.
However, there remains a possibility that a detachable disc drive will be sold separately, allowing players to continue enjoying older PS4 and PS5 games they already own.
The analyst also suggested that if Sony develops a system to convert old game discs into digital versions, it could help alleviate dissatisfaction among players who have invested in collecting physical discs.
Besides Sony, competitor Microsoft is pursuing a similar direction, currently testing a feature to convert game discs to digital on the current Xbox console, and its next console, codenamed Project Helix, is also expected to lack a disc drive.
Source: TechRadar