Can PlayStation Please Stop Punching Themselves In The Face?

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Can PlayStation Please Stop Punching Themselves In The Face?

by: 
hello world!
Iain McParlandIain McParland
| September 30, 2026
 | Playstation , Pop Culture
hello world!

Okay, guys; enough is enough. 

I’m sick and tired of Sony and Microsoft’s gaming divisions having a competition to see who can annoy people the most. Over the last 10 years or so, that honor has probably gone to XBOX, but right now it’s a really tight call. Sure, XBOX is laying off thousands of people, cancelling games and lopping off its development studios like no business, but I actually think that’s what we expect from them at this point. It’s sad, but it’s par for the course. 

PlayStation used to be “For the Players”, and now they say “It Happens on PS5”. But are they, and does it? Their actions in recent years seem to be belying those promises, and honestly, I’m sick of it. We’re witnessing a race to the bottom, and PlayStation have put themselves in a position that they’ve not been in for years: at risk of being voted out of the Big Brother house. Their unpopular policies and lack of a clear vision for the future are killing their brand, and if they’re not careful, they could fall further back in the polls. 

Yeah, I mixed my metaphors, and I don’t care. I just want to see video games flourish for years to come, so can PlayStation please stop punching themselves in the face? 

The End of Physical

No Disc, No Buy.

Despite my thoughts on how silly that slogan is, it’s easy to understand what the message is. Earlier this year, PlayStation confirmed that in 2028, no more PlayStation games will be getting physical releases. In a time when video game preservation is high on a lot of gamers’ priorities, and ownership is up in the air, this is such an unpopular move. Removing the option to buy a disc is frankly anti-consumer. Plus, the physical media enthusiasts are understandably angry because they’ll no longer be able to collect new games. 

Look, my experience with my PS5 has been mostly with digital games. However, I do own some very specific games on disc because I loved them so much that I didn’t want to leave it up to the server Gods whether I would be able to play them in the future. Sea of Stars, for example, I ordered from the boutique physical media retailer, iam8bit, and I love that edition. It makes me sad that those services could go away in the future. But, regardless of my feelings, the absence of choice for where you can buy your games and the monopoly that Sony wants to have on its digital marketplace is downright devious. 

And trust me, fans are telling PlayStation what they think on every video, social media post, and blog that they can. 

Who Wants Live Service, Anyway?

Back in 2022, PlayStation was sitting pretty, enjoying a pretty good launch of the PS5 with games like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Returnal. However, that was all about to change when they committed to releasing 10 live-service titles by the end of March 2026. This was met with a collective groan by the fanbase, who had been used to predominantly narrative-focused single-player games that may or may not include sad dads. A lot of the “Sony Ponies” cried about it at the time, and those worries have so far been justified. 

Despite the success of Helldivers 2, there are many more failures to point out. Although I really liked it, Concord was dead within TWO WEEKS of launch! Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Bend, and Bluepoint all wasted years of development time on doomed multiplayer projects that never saw the light of day. Naughty Dog has not released a game (that isn’t a remaster) since 2020, and Bend has not released anything since 2019! Hell, Bluepoint’s time developing a God of War multiplayer project that nobody asked for led to the closure of the studio! This is ANOTHER travesty perpetrated on the fans. 

At the end of the day, PlayStation decided to chase the risky big bucks rather than catering to the audience they already had, and it shot back in their face. And it also cost awesome creators their jobs. It was a dumb business decision that just sucks. 

F Kojima, I Guess

Oh, what a mess this is.

Physint was revealed in January 2024 in a PlayStation State of Play presentation. In fact, it was that showcase’s “One More Thing”, promising to be Kojima’s successor to Metal Gear Solid, a genre-defining stealth espionage game which was to be partially shot at Sony Studios in Hollywood. We were all like “OMG!!!!!!!!!” But two and a half years later, PlayStation released a statement to say they have stepped away from the project, and XBOX has stepped up as the saviour of all things holy to fund the game. Asha Sharma for the win (let’s just ignore all of those pesky layoffs earlier this year and the impending 1600 yet to come)! However, that’s not the end of it. Kojima, seemingly annoyed by PlayStation’s statement, came out swinging, saying that Sony tried to cancel the game! 

Boooooooooooooooooo!!!!

Now, whether there are valid financial reasons or not, it doesn’t really matter. You’re never going to win a popularity contest when you dump Hideo Kojima. The guy has a cult following owing to his history in the games industry, and his popularity has only risen in recent years as he’s been in the public eye even more. Sony is the bad guy in all of this, at least to the gaming community. And losing Kojima’s next game to the enemy is embarrassing. Bro fumbled the baddie, right? So at the very least you deserve to be made fun of, just like your friend who got caught staring at the girl at the bar by the girl at the bar and then she laughed in derision. You deserve it.

Where Are The Games?

OK, so I don’t pretend to know what the slate is for PlayStation in the next few years. We know a couple of things in the fairly immediate future. God of War: Laufey releases in February, and God of War Trilogy Remake is coming at some point in the future, so that’s Sony Santa Monica sorted for now. Naughty Dog has Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet in the pipeline, hopefully releasing at the end of next year, but not confirmed. I’m struggling to think of anything after that. 

Now, I’m not saying that there’s nothing in the future, and I’m sure something will be announced at The Game Awards in December, but it’s still slightly worrying, right? I know XBOX is in its whole “we have a new leader” phase, and they’re trying to make a splash, but we know a crap-tonne of games that are in the works, including a new Fallout, Elder Scrolls, StarCraft, and Fable. That’s accompanying the annual or semi-annual Call of Duty’s and Forza Horizon. I’m not usually someone who wants to know things this far in advance, but when it has been this dire, it’s good to know some games are coming. 

A couple of years ago, I made the argument that PlayStation not having any games is a nonsense statement. I’m starting to believe that I was wrong, and that, even if there are games, they’re going to be in genres that don’t vibe with my brand of gamer. I don’t know where we go from here, but I’m worried. 

Or am I too doom and gloom? What do you think? How can PlayStation stop hitting themselves like Nelson makes Martin inThe Simpsons? Let me know in the comments.

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by Iain McParland| September 30, 2026
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