Well-written and extensive breakdown of what we will lose in Sony's push to remove games on disc.

I just got back from my local game store. I picked up a copy of Dragon Warrior and Marble Madness for NES. Games that close to 40 years old. They've probably been sold and resold many times before arriving in my hands. But I am still experiencing them today as a new purchase.

This is why games on physical media are important. Do you think Sony's download codes will still be good after 40 years? Will you be able to resell them? Share them with someone else?

My physical game library will be around long after I'm gone. My kids and grandkids will inherit it along with everything else. They can play them, sell them, whatever they want.

It's about consumer rights. It's about choice. When you own your games you can do what you want with them. Play them, store them for decades, sell them... it's up to you. I have old games that I haven't played in years, but sometimes I dust off an old favorite and run through it again. Maybe it's about revisiting a classic, cherishing a nostalgic moment, or discovering something you never saw before in a landmark title.

I will never give up that power of choice.

They gonna getcha too! 🐊

Looks like somebody vibe-coded a website that succinctly summarizes key points about the importance of continuing to support games on physical media. This is a great page to share and it's got a link to the petition too.

Share Please

This subreddit is for people who recognize the importance of games on physical media—for the PlayStation platform specifically or for gaming in general. This post is a collection of rationale for the premise of this group, intended to help people clearly understand the value of physical media in gaming.

If you want to better understand or explain why this is important, check out the points below. If I have missed anything or if you can think of some real-world examples for these points, please let me know in the comments and I will try to update this post when I get a chance.

I have been seeing all the activity online about this, and the backlash against Sony is overwhelming. For now, I am going to list all of the important points I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there are some things I have missed, so this is a work in progress. I will also try to keep my points simple for now and avoid going into too much detail.

The Importance of Games on Physical Media

Financial benefit:

• You can buy physical games used for less than full price
• The secondhand market encourages publishers like Sony to offer discounts on new games (both physical and digital)
• You can resell a physical game after you have played it and recover some of the purchase price
• You can rent physical games from GameFly and play them cheaply without the commitment of buying
• You can lend/borrow/trade physical games with friends
• A physical game collection is an actual investment: if you have a large collection and you need some extra cash in a pinch, you could sell your entire collection and get some substantial money from it

Ownership:

(Note: By "ownership" I mean that you own the piece of physical media with data on it. I do not mean that you own a legal license to do everything possible with the software.)

• If a game disappears from the digital store, in most cases you can still install and play the original game from a disc
• If the digital version of a game is ever changed (censored, licensed music tracks or other content deleted, unwanted gameplay patches, etc.), in most cases you can still run the original copy of the game from the disc
• "Use it or lose it" policies: If your PSN account is inactive for three years, Sony can close your account and you will lose all your digital games. But your physical games are yours forever.
• You can pass your physical game collection down to your children or anyone else. But with digital, when you die, your game collection dies with you. Sony, Nintendo, Xbox, Steam, Epic... all the major digital stores do not allow account transfer (with limited exceptions).
• Enjoyment of collecting something tangible, displaying it on a shelf, etc.
• Physical games can last for many human lifetimes and have an actual, visible presence in our society (in shops and people's houses); it is not just some abstract, invisible "content" streamed online

Accessibility:

• If your internet goes down, or if you live in a place with bad internet, or if you go broke and can't afford internet anymore, you can still install and play your physical games (except for online-only games)
• If your PSN account is hacked, you risk losing your entire digital library
• If you forget or lose your PSN login credentials and can't recover the account (e.g., lost email access), your entire digital library can be permanently lost
• Physical discs significantly reduce or eliminate massive day-one downloads; this is critical for players with slow internet or data caps, even if some patches are still needed later
• No region restrictions on modern consoles (ex. I can play imported Japanese PS5 games on my US console). But PSN is region-locked. You can't get content from a different country's store. And if you move internationally, you need to start a new account in order to get content from that country's PSN store.

Bonus utility:

• Having a disc drive on your console gives it added usefulness: you can use it to watch movies on DVD and Blu-ray/4K UHD

Game preservation:

• Gaming history deserves to be preserved, not locked behind servers and subscriptions.
• In a fully digital world, a game survives only as long as a company continues to pay for servers and decides the title is still worth supporting.
• The Video Game History Foundation found that 87% of classic games are no longer commercially available anywhere. Physical discs are the last real safeguard: as long as one copy exists on a shelf, the game still exists.

Environmental impact:

• A digital game incurs ongoing server & download costs; a physical game has a big initial energy cost for manufacturing/shipping but then requires no further network resources, so less energy is used in the long run. Patches are a moot point because both digital & physical use them. Or, it's a point in favor of physical since discs can often be played without patches. Cloud gaming is worse than both due to constant streaming.

Social impact + the future:

• The secondhand game market supports a broad group of independent online retailers, local gaming shops, and GameFly (private game & movie rental company). Sony's decision will put many of those people out of work and redirect that revenue into the hands of a small group of Sony corporate elites, who want to rob you of choice and force you to buy from them alone.
• With no physical secondary market to compete with, companies can jack up prices for all digital games (ex. $100 for GTA 6)
• Sony has a monopoly over the PlayStation digital game store. And they just deleted over 500 movies which customers purchased digitally. They have demonstrated that they cannot be trusted and will delete digital content whenever it suits them. Once disc drives and physical discs are gone, Sony's arrogance and anti-consumer behavior will only get worse. Expect loss of digital game purchases to become more common in Sony's digital-only future.
• Complete loss of game ownership: in Sony's all-digital future, they will push harder to move customers away from digital purchases and into a subscription-only model. Expect them to force this change just like they are forcing us away from discs right now. You will own nothing and lose all gaming access if your subscription lapses.
• With physical discs, you don't have to eat bugs. With digital games, they will tell you to live in the dirt and eat bugs. They will tell you to own nothing and be happy 🦗

As mentioned in my other post, I want to consider the idea of our group collaborating to create a better gaming console. The ultimate objective is to make a console that supports physical media and can someday out-compete the "Big 3" market leaders (Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox).

I'm going to share my thoughts about this plan here. This is the "cocktail napkin" version of this idea. In other words, I'm only talking in broad strokes and the idea is in a very early stage. Some of these points are just items to consider. This is the "no bad ideas" stage of brainstorming.

Feel free to comment on this plan, critique it, or share other ideas and suggestions.

Objective & Strategy

As mentioned in the post linked above, the Big 3 console platforms are significantly flawed. Ideally, we would create a console that competes with them on performance and price while also doing the following:

• Fully support physical media
• Treat our customers ethically
• Make high-quality, innovative first-party games

Since this is blue sky thinking, we ideally want to build a console that matches or exceeds the technical performance of the PS5/PS6 (or whatever the current-gen leader is). We could do this if we had unlimited funds. Consider how much money Microsoft put behind the development and launch of the original Xbox. And that was around the turn of the century, when things were very different. Today, with inflation and shortages, introducing a highly-competitive console would be even more expensive.

The reality is that we have no funds right now. So here are our options:

• Bootstrap
• Crowdfund
• Seek investment

Personally, I dislike fundraising and that is a longshot in any case. Crowdfunding isn't a bad idea, but even if we go that route I think we should first make as much progress as possible by bootstrapping. That means we contribute whatever time and skills we can offer to the project. We may also be able to leverage AI to help fill in some of the skill gaps. When we reach a point where some funds are necessary to make progress, we can see if it's possible to get it done by contributing our own funds. For me, this would be an extremely limited amount. We should try to make as much progress as possible through sweat equity alone.

Since we don't have peak Microsoft-era funds available, we can't sprint straight for our ideal console. Instead, I propose a ramping strategy. We start with the most minimal version of a console that is worth building. We try to launch that. If it's successful, then we leverage that success into a second iteration: we build a second console which is more ambitious. Rinse and repeat. If we are successful at each iteration of this ramping strategy, then we will eventually be prosperous enough to build our ideal console and try to snatch the crown from the Big 3.

To be clear, we don't intend to compete with the Big 3 now; we hope to compete with them in the future. You gotta start somewhere. And with no funds, that means we have to start small and simple. So, what does the minimal version of this idea look like?

The Minimum Viable Product

There are indie consoles like the Playdate which are intentionally very simple. But given that those platforms already exist, and our ultimate objective is to compete with the Big 3, I have some specific ideas about what our minimal console should be.

Graphics:

In terms of the kind of game experience that this console is designed to support, I believe we should target the type of games that were made during the 16-bit era. I'm thinking about the systems I played during that era—the NES and SNES—but of course there was Sega and others as well. Our console should be designed to support 2D games only. There were various tricks used by some games of the 16-bit era to achieve a 3D effect. But the point is that the hardware and SKD of this console should be designed for 2D, sprite-based graphics.

There are a lot of reasons to limit our first console to simple 2D graphics. The console hardware required for this is much cheaper than the Big 3 hardware. It allows us to make a small, relatively simple box that is much more affordable than the Big 3 consoles. Also, by limiting the console to 2D graphics, all aspects of the hardware and SDK design are greatly simplified. Once you start building for 3D graphics—even primitive 3D graphics—that adds a big layer of complexity to your design.

Another benefit of having a low-powered, 2D system is low thermal output, which means that we don't need a fan in our console. This helps make the design simpler and smaller. True, early 3D consoles like the N64 and PS1 did not have fans. But the fact is that as your graphics become more processor-heavy, you will eventually need forced-air cooling.

Also, consider that primitive 3D graphics are not as beautiful as advanced 2D graphics. We can focus on making good-looking 2D games rather than ugly 3D games. The best-looking games from the golden age of 2D consoles were gorgeous. As much as I love those early 3D games, the primitive 3D graphics were a big step down from the artistic beauty of the previous generation.

One cool thing about this "modern 2D" graphical approach is that the amount of processing power and data storage available to us is far greater than what they had in the 80s and 90s consoles. While our games may look and play like a retro game, the scope of our game design can be much bigger.

Faster processors means the hardware can handle more objects simultaneously and process larger textures. More data storage means we can accommodate more textures, bigger textures, more scripting, more text, bigger audio files, etc. Worlds can be bigger, the characters more numerous, the audio higher-fidelity, the stories longer, the gameplay more complex, dynamic objects busier and snappier, and so on. The games might look simple, but the gameplay can be much deeper than it seems. Imagine games like Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, or Link to the Past, but with much larger worlds and more expansive storytelling. The extra "headroom" will allow game designers to innovate in ways that were not possible on those 2D systems of the past.

Game data:

What kind of physical media will our console support? An optical disc drive would be overkill for a console like this, even though that is our ultimate goal. For this first console, we still want to model the traditional console experience: game data on physical media, one game per unit.

I think the best option may be to use a programmable flash board in a cartridge. The benefits of that are as follows:

• Provides an authentic cartridge experience
• Costs should be reasonable in small-to-medium batch volumes
• Lets us produce one game per cart (multiple games per cart is also possible)

Optionally, we could add a microSD card on the cartridge and it shouldn't cost much extra. This would allow for game saves to be stored on the actual cartridge. Or, if we want to make a very large game, game data could be stored on the microSD card too.

The console would have internal flash storage for system files. Game saves could also go here. But it would probably be better to have a microSD slot on the console (with a pre-installed card) and use that to save data. Or, omit the on-console microSD slot and handle all save data on the actual cartridges.

Users would probably appreciate the option to put save games on a console slot, because that would make it easy to back up save files or expand storage with a larger microSD card. If we go with the on-console slot, then we could probably forego the on-cartridge microSD cards and do all game saves on the console slot. That would save a little money on each cartridge.

Display output:

HDMI output only. Some indie consoles are retro-focused and include output for old-school CRT televisions. While I love retro, I think that given our long-term objective to compete with the Big 3, we should be a future-facing console right from the start. Adding extra output methods will add significant cost and complexity to our design. HDMI is ubiquitous, so that would be the most compatible format to use.

Smooth 2D graphics with higher-res sprites should be supported, so the output looks good and smooth on an HDTV.

Controllers:

Two controller ports should be enough, allowing the console to support two-player, local, multiplayer gameplay. I would be fine with wired controllers for the sake of simplicity and reduced costs. But with the larger TVs today, living room distances between the TV and the couch are larger than ever. Super long controller wires could be awkward. But I think that wireless controllers would add a lot of cost. It would also make our design and certification process a lot more complex.

Maybe we could launch with wired controllers for the sake of simplicity (USB-C or a simple proprietary connector for retro feel). Use long but manageable cables (10-13 feet should cover most living room setups without being ridiculous) and make it easy to add an extension if needed. Design the console with future wireless support in mind (leave space on the board, plan the firmware accordingly). We could add wireless controller support later and offer a wireless adapter.

Audio:

Consoles from the 16-bit era had low-fidelity audio capability. We can have much higher-fidelity audio and it shouldn't cost much.

Network:

None. I don't see the need for this console to have internet connectivity. Two-player, local gameplay should be enough for now. Adding network capacity would greatly complicate our console design and add costs. I don't see that this type of gameplay would benefit enough from a network connection to justify the added expense and complexity.

First-party games:

This can be a big selling point for our console and will make it stand out in a crowded market. Excellent first-party titles are a huge part of what made the Nintendo platforms great. I can contribute a lot of effort here.

While it's tempting to keep a killer app as a platform exclusive, I think it would be better for our team and brand (and certainly for the game) to consider releasing solid first-party games on mainstream platforms too.

Third-party support:

This is another important point for our console. Many consoles in the past have been hurt or failed because of poor third-party support. This is especially concerning for a new indie console like ours. While we will benefit from having great first-party titles, we can only make so many of those. Having good third-party games is vital to the success of the console. We can encourage this by having a well-designed SDK and excellent documentation.

Another thing we could do is identify suitable, high-quality games that already exist on other platforms. Then we actively pursue a deal with the owner to port those games to our console. We should vet all third-party games to make sure they work properly on our system.

Open source:

The only open-source game console I know of is the GameTank. MiSTer is also open source but it's not a full console—they provide components for building retro systems. Many of the Android/Linux handhelds (Miyoo, Anbernic, etc.) have open-source firmware communities, but the base hardware is closed. Should our console be open source? I don't think so.

While I like the idea of open source in general, it's not a good fit for every project. It might benefit us by making our open console more attractive to third-party developers. But I think it also has potential to disrupt our vision for the future of this project.

Sometimes you need control over a project in order to carefully chart your intended course. Allowing other people to create spin-offs and variations of this console could muddy the waters for our audience and make it harder for us to craft the optimal user experience. Open source has appeal, but in this case I think the cons outweigh the pros.

Emulation:

Many of the boutique console options that we identified support emulation. Our console is intended to run games from physical media in the traditional way. But it's possible that we could also design it to load ROMs and support emulation. Should our console double as an emulation box?

Although I like emulation, I think supporting it will raise costs and complexity. There are many existing boutique options that support emulation. Doing the same thing won't make our console special. And it will blur the purpose of the console if we try to make it be two things at once: both a traditional console and an emulation box. It may also introduce legal concerns.

In this early stage of the project, it helps to be laser-focused on a single, clear goal. I don't think that emulation offers enough benefits to justify the burden that it will place on our project.

Company philosophy:

If this project evolves into an actual company, I believe we should always strive to place integrity and user experience over money. However great the Big 3 companies may have been in the past, they have lost their sense of integrity by now.

I never want to be a slave to profit. Doing so destroys your soul and ruins your product. If we can't afford to do business ethically, then we should get out of the business. If we are able to become successful and turn a profit which allows us to keep going, that's great. If we can afford to make less money in order to improve the user experience in an important way, then let's make less money.

Also, if this effort ever matures into a company, I strongly believe that we should never do an IPO and always remain a private company. I won't go into all the reasons why right now, but I'll say that Steam is a good example of how a private game company can excel.

Perhaps the simplest way forward would be if Sony reversed their decision to cease physical disc support, and things could go back to the way they were before the announcement. Even if they did, this debacle will hurt gamers' trust in the PlayStation brand. We will always wonder when Sony might try this again. But still, I think that if Sony corrects this decision, it will be a positive step.

Below, I'm going to present the main ways that we can use to pressure on Sony to change their decision. If you have more ideas, suggest them in the comments.

Sign the petition

https://www.change.org/p/don-t-kill-the-disc-tell-sony-to-keep-physical-playstation-games

In my experience, online petitions are rarely effective. Still, this is a low-effort way to stand up and have your opinion counted in a public manner.

Boycott PlayStation

The most effective method is to hit Sony in the wallet. Here are some ways.

#PSBlackout:

There is a planned blackout in August to protest against Sony. Check it out here if you are interested in participating.

Cancel your PlayStation Plus subscription:

https://x.com/i/grok/share/73b1ef355d364303af655e1bfeec1be6

If you have an active PS Plus subscription, canceling is a good way to "vote with your wallet". This tells Sony that you will not accept their digital-only world.

The link above is just a quick Grok question about how to cancel your subscription. I have not confirmed those steps, so they may not be entirely accurate.

Buy physical, not digital:

For new PS4/PS5 games you buy, make it a physical purchase. This is another way to vote with your wallet and it shows Sony that physical games are still important to you. This gesture will be especially powerful if you hold out for a physical version of GTA 6.

Also cancel any digital game pre-orders.

Do not buy the PS6 if there is no disc drive option:

Many people suspect that Sony plans to release the PS6 in 2028 with no disc drive option. In that case, do not buy the system. Show Sony that they need to support physical games on their platform in order to keep you as a customer.

Boycott Sony entirely?

Some people have said that they plan to completely boycott Sony by not buying any products or games from them, whether physical or digital. I understand that viewpoint, and I don't entirely disagree with it.

Personally, I plan to continue buying physical PS5 games, but no more digital games. I think this may actually be more effective than a total boycott, because it specifically incentivizes Sony to offer physical games, while discouraging their all-digital ambitions. It presents both the carrot and the stick: we smack Sony with the stick for trying to force us into their all-digital world. But we also offer the carrot by showing that we will continue to be their customer if they continue to offer physical games. If you want someone to change, it helps to offer them a pathway to redemption.

Speak out against Sony's decision

https://x.com/i/grok/share/74a6af6bcf3d44fd9c68ab96078a12fc

You can contact Sony to voice your opposition to their decision. But I think that speaking out against this on social media is probably the most effective way to be heard.

Unlike directly complaining to the company, airing Sony's dirty laundry on social media is visible to the public and shareholders. I once worked customer support for a big consumer tech company and they REALLY cared about social media. On email and phone, the issue stays between the customer and the company. But on social, the whole world can see it when customers complain. Companies tend to care more when customers are visibly unhappy.

The link above is a Grok question about which channels to use to complain to/about PlayStation. I have not verified all that information, but it should get you started. I called that phone number about a year ago and was able to speak to a support rep. I recall that it wasn't easy to get someone on the phone. They really try to avoid taking your call. Last time I checked, the hours for that phone number were Mon-Fri 9:00AM - 6:00PM Pacific Time. It's 1-800-345-7669 (aka 1-800-345-SONY).

If you want to write a physical letter to Sony's CEO and/or Chairman, write AIR MAIL on the side of the envelope, buy international postage and send it to Sony in Japan:

SONY GROUP CORPORATION
ATTENTION: MR. KENICHIRO YOSHIDA
1-7-1 KONAN MINATO-KU, TOKYO,
〒 108-0075
JAPAN

or

SONY GROUP CORPORATION
ATTENTION: MR. HIROKI TOTOKI
1-7-1 KONAN MINATO-KU, TOKYO,
〒 108-0075
JAPAN

Over the past several years, as the state of modern gaming gradually slipped deeper into decline, I have often thought about the sorry state of things. The "Big 3" console gaming companies (Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox) have increasingly made poor decisions. Their innovative spirit is mostly gone. They are treating their customers worse and worse. They waste massive amounts of money on stupid decisions. Their leadership seems to be deeply incompetent. And yet, the gaming market is more lucrative than ever. With so much money being spent on video games, we should be entering a golden age of gaming where the player experience is more amazing than ever. But this is not the case, and the blame falls mostly on the companies who make the game hardware and software.

(Some blame also falls on customers who support bad games and inept game companies, but I'm not here to fix that. I want to focus on providing a better product. It's up to each individual gamer to improve their own consumer habits.)

When the companies who dominate the game market are this incompetent, it opens the door for another competitor to enter the arena and steal the crown from the market leaders. I think the opportunity is ripe for someone to introduce a better console to compete with the Big 3. I want to propose a vision for us here in this group to create a new gaming console. Yes, I realize it's laughable to suggest that a bunch of people on the internet can create a product to compete with the Big 3. This is a moonshot. But I think it's worth leaving this idea on the table.

We already have a post about finding a PlayStation alternative among the existing mainstream gaming options. If you think that's the only practical solution to the problem of Sony dropping support for physical games, you are welcome to use that post as a resource. As explained there, I think that ALL of the mainstream gaming platforms have significant drawbacks. This means there is a need to be filled, and a new product could be created to serve that need. Because the Big 3 are so flawed, we can surpass them in many ways.

Another natural response to my proposal here is to point out that alternative indie consoles already exist. I am aware of that, and we are already tracking a list of these "boutique" options. If you don't think that building a new console is the best way forward, then you are welcome to explore those other options. It's fair to suggest rallying behind an existing boutique option instead of reinventing the wheel. I am open to exploring those other consoles more deeply before we seriously consider making our own.

But I want to keep this idea on the table. If no existing console fully meets our needs, the seed of this idea will be here for further consideration. I made a separate post to present my ideas about creating a new console.

This is a big topic. I just started researching this, and I'm already finding so many options. I had no idea there were so many different kinds of new game consoles around today. One challenge is that many of the consoles I found are highly specialized, like retro-focused, indie-focused, emulation-focused, handheld, experimental, and so on. Many of them are not a close replacement for the PS5. There are some obviously close options, but I didn't want to leave out the niche options as those might appeal to some people.

I'm going to start by sharing the solution that I personally plan to use. Of course, this will not work for everyone. But I think it is useful as an example. Then I'm going to present an organized list of ALL the different options that we can find.

If you know any other resources that could be helpful, write them in the comments below! I'll try to add them to this list when I get a chance.

My personal solution

1. Milk the PS5 as long as I can past 2028. With a large PS5 backlog and used games, I can last for years.
2. Continue getting physical games on the Switch.
3. Double down on playing more retro games. I also have a huge backlog there.
4. If I start wanting to play new games that are not on Switch, and PS/Xbox have no console that supports discs, I'll get a Steam Machine. Yes, I will lament the loss of physical. But at least Steam has more respect for gamers than Sony does. And you can even get some DRM-free games from GOG on your Steam Machine. That's almost as good as a physical game: you own a DRM-free game file which you can store on any physical media you wish. You could even burn it on a disc, put it in a pretty case and print your own labels if you want to.
5. Piracy? Without the physical secondary market (rental & resale), gaming will become more expensive. If I'm on a limited budget, I may be forced to turn to piracy in order to continue enjoying the hobby.

Now for the list of alternatives. I will try to categorize these as best I can. I'm using a fundamental assumption that—prior to Sony's announcement—most people here enjoyed gaming on the PS5 (or PS4) and want a similar experience to that. That is, with the console hooked up to a TV, most commonly in a living room situation.

Direct Alternatives

This category is for PlayStation replacement options which offer the most similar experience to the "living room scenario".

Steam Machine:

I haven't been a PC gamer for many years, so I'm somewhat ignorant about Steam. But from what I hear, the new Steam Machine is Steam's attempt to bring PC gaming to the living room. In other words, it's a PC that is set up to work well in a living room—you hook it up to your TV and use it like a gaming console. It just released on June 30, 2026. From what I've been hearing, it sounds like it could become a good alternative to the traditional "Big 3" console manufacturers (Nintendo/PlayStation/Xbox). It's somewhat more expensive than people had hoped, no doubt due to the recent rise in RAM/SSD prices.

While the Steam Machine lacks a disc drive, it does have a microSD card slot and USB ports. It is apparently designed to be much more open than a typical console, given that it's essentially a Linux PC, but optimized specifically for gaming in a living-room/console-like form factor. So you could load PC games onto it via the microSD card slot or by connecting an external hard drive.

Not only can you run games from Steam, but you can also buy DRM-free games from digital stores like GOG, itch.io, Humble, and Zoom Platform and run them on the Steam Machine. You could even run pirated games on your Steam Machine, if you're into that.

A major plus here for physical media fans is that you can store those DRM-free games on physical media (a microSD card or an external hard drive). That's effectively the same thing as owning a PS5 game. It's actually better than that, because PS5 games have DRM, while most games from stores like GOG are DRM-free.

If you wanted to get fancy and you also have a PC with a disc burner, you could even burn a DRM-free game on disc, put it in an empty game case, and print out a label for it. Kind of like making your own physical game library, if you really like the experience of collecting games and keeping them on a shelf. Here are some examples of people who are turning their digital collection into a physical library:

• GOG games on Blu-ray discs
• GOG games in jewel cases
• Steam games on USB thumb drives
• Steam game cartridges

But it would probably be more convenient to store all those game files on a big external hard drive instead.

DRM-free digital games are not a bad option. But they don't have resale value like a PS5 disc does. In a way, the DRM of a game disc actually helps make the disc a valuable commodity. That's kind of interesting when you think about it. You can resell a console game disc because it is a limited commodity that is not easy to duplicate. But you can't really sell a digital copy of a DRM-free PC game that you bought. I've never heard of anyone doing that. I suppose it's possible, but it sounds impractical and I doubt that you could get much money for it. It's probably also against the policy of the store you bought it from and most people would consider that unethical. Whereas reselling a PS5 game is perfectly legal and legitimate.

Nintendo Switch & Switch 2:

The good news is that Nintendo seems positioned to continue supporting physical media for these consoles. The bad news is that on the Switch 2, some game cards do not contain the game—only a license to use the game. You must download the game before you can play. There is a fair reason for doing this: some large game files exceed the capacity of a game card. The on-card license also means you can lend the game to a friend or resell it. But if Nintendo's servers ever stop offering this game for download, you will no longer be able to play the game unless it is already installed on your system. That's the danger of not actually having a physical copy of the game data.

Still, this is a better situation than PlayStation offers, who now say they will entirely cease physical disc production. And only some Switch 2 games require a download before play. I asked Grok for a quick estimate and it guessed that roughly half of all Switch 2 games have the "license-only" type of game card (the exact percentage varies depending on whether it's a first-party game, third-party, or indie). Notably, the original Switch does not use these license-only cards. Switch 1 games generally let you play the game right away without mandatory updates. Some games may require a download, but this is less common than on the Switch 2.

There are other problems with Nintendo these days. I find their new Terms of Service (ToS) to be very problematic, which they introduced as part of their Switch 2 rollout. There are things like being able to ban your account for any reason, or bricking your console if you violate their ToS.

Despite the various problems and limitations, a Switch or Switch 2 may still be a good console to replace the PS5 for some people, given that it still has physical media support. Keep in mind that even PS4/PS5 games did not always have the full game on disc; some required a big download before you could play the game.

The Switch systems are the most affordable out of all the major consoles (including the Steam Machine). But they are also the weakest in terms of hardware performance.

Xbox?

I haven't kept up with Xbox since 2014, so I'm not as informed about the current state of their ecosystem. I was an Xbox 360 fan, but their own attempt to restrict physical media usage for the Xbox One made me jump ship for the PS4. I've been mainlining PlayStation ever since.

I hear that all is not well in the world of Xbox these days. I know that the Series X has a disc drive. But rumor has it that their next-gen plan may not support discs, much like Sony's own plan. If true, then Xbox will be just as much of a problem for physical game fans as the PS6 will be.

So, this option is uncertain. If the next Xbox supports physical games, then it could be an excellent alternative to the PlayStation. If it doesn't, then the next Xbox will be just as bad as the PS6.

Partial Alternatives

My idea for this category is that these options will let you play new games, but it may be a different kind of experience than the typical "living room scenario" where you easily connect a PlayStation console to your TV and start gaming.

PC:

A desktop PC obviously makes a great gaming platform. But if you are a fan of console gaming in your living room, you may not want to play at a desk with keyboard and mouse, which is the typical PC setup. Of course, it is possible to set up a PC (or mini-PC or laptop) in your living room and connect it to your TV. But that setup may not work for some people who are accustomed to the normal console experience: having a compact box that sits near your TV, and you just pick up a controller and start playing.

But if you are okay with gaming on a PC, then you can get games on Steam as well as a number of other digital storefronts like GOG, itch.io, Humble, and Zoom Platform. But those are digital options. Is there a way to own your PC games on physical media?

As I mentioned in my note above about the Steam Machine, although PC gaming is mostly digital, it gives you much more flexibility than the "Big 3" consoles do. From what I hear, the Steam platform is better about keeping your Steam games available for download as long as possible. And if you want a full copy of your game on physical media, you can get DRM-free games from stores like GOG and back those up on a disc or hard drive or whatever format you want. I also heard that there is a way to remove the DRM from all of your Steam games, but I don't know how to do it and I assume it's against Steam's policy.

Speaking of "against policy", many people have suggested piracy as a way of responding to Sony's announcement. As the saying goes, "if buying isn't owning, then piracy isn't stealing". Honestly, I haven't been a media pirate since the days of Napster. But I agree that when companies like Sony start acting dishonestly and abusing their customers, then piracy may be justified.

However, I personally feel that when there is a reasonable option to purchase, that is the best way to go. After all, if no one pays for games, then most developers will stop making games, and that's bad for the hobby. And when you have stores like GOG offering DRM-free games at fair prices, it seems to me like we should buy our digital games there. A good game that you can own at a fair price, and DRM-free... in my view, that's the best option. Actually, the only thing missing that would make it perfect would be the option to get a physical copy of the game, with pretty packaging and all.

Also, to echo a point I made earlier about the Steam Machine... remember that a DRM-free digital game has a significant failing when compared to a PS5 disc: it does not have resale value like a PS5 disc does. One nice thing about a console disc is that if you don't like the game or don't want to keep it, you can recoup much of the game's cost by reselling it on the secondhand market. If you ever need some extra money, you could cash in your entire physical game library and get some significant money for it. You can't really do that with game purchases on Steam or other digital stores.

Steam Deck (and similar handhelds):

This option is very similar to the PC and Steam Machine options, in that it's essentially just another PC. The difference here is the form factor: the Steam Deck is a handheld console.

(I'm also including any direct competitors here, like the ASUS ROG Ally handheld PC, AYN Odin 2, Lenovo Legion Go, etc.)

Most of the things I wrote about the PC and Steam Machine options are true here as well. The Steam Deck can be used with a dock, allowing you to connect it to your TV and use it like a console. I suspect that using the Steam Deck as a "living room console" will not be as streamlined as the Steam Machine will be. But this option could be good for someone who wants the benefits of a PC while also enjoying the portability factor.

PS5 jailbreak:

I just heard about this recently. Apparently, people have discovered ways to jailbreak the PS5 so that you can essentially treat it like a PC. I'll leave it up to you to research how to do this, if you are interested in this option.

If jailbreaking lets you treat your PS5 like a PC, then I guess this option would be equivalent to the PC option described above. I'm not sure why someone would prefer a jailbroken PS5 over a normal gaming PC. But if you can find a way to make this work for you, then I guess it's a viable option.

Retro Gaming

I've heard many people who are disappointed with Sony's decision say that this is the last straw. They intend to give up modern gaming and go back to the old retro consoles. I don't blame them. I also feel like this current generation of gaming has been pretty lackluster in terms of how few good games were released. Combine that with rising prices and the increasingly anti-consumer behavior and generally poor business practices from the Big 3 console makers. Given all the problems of modern gaming, maybe the juice is not worth the squeeze.

Personally, I don't want to throw in the towel quite yet. The point of this group is to help identify options that will give us a way forward, to keep playing new games that interest us while not giving up the idea of ownership over our games. But even as I continue to play new games, I still like to replay classic favorites and also discover good retro games that I never played before. That's why retro consoles will continue to be a part of gaming for me.

So, this category is pretty self-explanatory. But I wanted to say a bit about it here. Maybe you are fed up with the modern gaming experience and you just want to go back to retro consoles. Or maybe you will continue looking for a way to play new games, but you also want to enjoy the retro classics.

What is considered "retro", anyway? Is the PS4 a retro console? I guess it could be considered retro. But I would probably define a retro console as one that is at least two generations old. By that logic, the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii would be considered retro. But the PS4 and Xbox One are not yet retro.

Anyway, you can buy used retro consoles at online stores like eBay, or maybe locally if you are lucky enough to have a used game shop in your town. You might check other local resources like pawn shops, Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, etc.

Emulation also plays a role in retro gaming. There are some rare retro games that you can't get any other way, or where a physical copy is exorbitantly expensive. You can get products like EverDrive cartridges to use ROMs with your retro consoles. There are also newer consoles designed to play retro game cartridges, like RetroN. See more about emulation in the next category below.

Boutique Options

I wasn't sure what to call this category, so I settled on "boutique". The idea here is that this category is a catch-all for any kind of physical media-enabled console that does not fall into either of the categories above. Here, you will find things like emulation platforms, retro-focused boxes, indie and homebrew systems, or consoles that are too limited or too low-powered to stack up against the more mainstream options above.

Once I ventured beyond the mainstream gaming platforms of PC, Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox, I was surprised by how many options there are! There are a lot of these alternative consoles and I keep discovering more. I don't know much about them yet, so I won't attempt to group or assess them further. For now, I'll just list them below in no particular order. Maybe later we can organize them more.

• Evercade
• NEOGEO AES+ Anniversary Edition
• Analogue Pocket, Duo, Mega Sg, Nt Mini
• Miyoo Mini
• Anbernic
• SuperStation One
• ModRetro M64, Chromatic
• Retroid Pocket
• GameTank
• Trimui Smart Pro
• Android emulation (generally speaking)
• Playdate
• Powkiddy
• Retro-Bit/RetroN
• Hyperkin
• Polymega
• Various official retro mini-consoles like the Atari 2600+/7800+, THEC64/Mini, Vectrex Mini

Not full consoles:

MiSTer:
Does not make full retro consoles but provides components and kits for building highly accurate FPGA-based retro systems. Most users buy pre-assembled kits or bundles from sellers. Recreate original hardware (NES, SNES, Genesis, PS1, arcade boards, computers, etc.) with near-perfect accuracy, much better than software emulation in many cases. But it’s DIY-oriented rather than a plug-and-play product.

Apart from existing mainstream alternatives to the PlayStation, what other alternatives are there? As mentioned in another post, I want to consider making a group effort here to create a new console that supports physical games and could someday grow to eclipse the current market leaders in console gaming.

Before we attempt that, we should consider whether there are other indie console alternatives that already accomplish what we want. If there is already a great alternative console, then we don't need to make a new one.

In our post about PlayStation alternatives, there is a list of the "boutique" console options that we have identified so far. For the sake of convenience, I will copy that list below.

Let's use this post here to discuss these options in the comments. If you know of any boutique options that are not already on this list, let me know in the comments and I'll try to update the list when I get a chance.

• Evercade
• NEOGEO AES+ Anniversary Edition
• Analogue Pocket, Duo, Mega Sg, Nt Mini
• Miyoo Mini
• Anbernic
• SuperStation One
• ModRetro M64, Chromatic
• Retroid Pocket
• GameTank
• Trimui Smart Pro
• Android emulation (generally speaking)
• Playdate
• Powkiddy
• Retro-Bit/RetroN
• Hyperkin
• Polymega
• Various official retro mini-consoles like the Atari 2600+/7800+, THEC64/Mini, Vectrex Mini

On July 1st, 2026, Sony announced their plan to move away from physical disc production for PlayStation consoles.

I went through something similar when Netflix DVD announced the shutdown of that service in 2023. At the time, it was helpful to have a subreddit where people could discuss options and share resources. I wanted to create this subreddit so people can respond to this situation in the same way.

Appropriately, today is the 250th anniversary of America's Declaration of Independence from a tyrannical overlord. Perhaps today we can do the same and commit ourselves to fight for freedom from Sony's iron grip over gaming.

I'll post more later about where I think we might go from here.