If you’ve read the headline, you’re likely sitting there in disbelief at the mere utterance of the phrase ‘PlayStation 7’.
Me too, my friend. Me too.
I hardly need to remind you that we are still safely within the lifecycle of the PlayStation 5.
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We are in the latter half of that cycle though. The PlayStation 5 is approaching its fourth birthday later this year, with most PlayStation consoles reigning for between six and seven years before it’s time to move on to a successor.
With that in mind, in theory, we’re about two years away from the launch of the PlayStation 6.
Officially, we know practically nothing about the console although, of course, there have been rumours.
We’d expect those rumours to ramp up as we near a reveal for the console in the next year or so but instead, we’re hearing murmurings of the PlayStation 7. A console that likely won’t launch until 2034 or beyond.
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This latest tidbit of news comes from tech analyst Mat Piscatella of Circana who recently took to social media to share his belief that we’ll soon see video game consoles take an all-digital approach.
Piscatella began by tweeting, “Folks should probably just get used to this (no physical Xbox versions) across the market sooner rather than later,” in response to a post by Limited Run Games urging users to get their pre-orders in for Tomb Raider I-III Remastered’s physical edition.
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The Xbox version, which has now sold out, is only obtainable via Limited Run Games and won’t be shipped to traditional retailers.
In response to this, one social media user pointed out that Xbox has stopped releasing physical games completely in some markets already.
“Yep,” Piscatella replied. “Give PlayStation another gen, Nintendo another two.”
That suggests that the PlayStation 7 could be a digital-only console, as could whatever follows the Nintendo Switch’s next two successors.
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Of course, this is mere speculation but Piscatella’s comments follow a whole career of analysing industry trends so it’s speculation worth listening to.
If, like me, you dread the days of digital-only launches, get out there and nab what physical copies you can. Let’s show there’s a demand.
Topics: PlayStation, PlayStation 5, Sony