Sony left the comments live on yesterday's Phantom Blade Zero State of Play, and the chat was pretty much exactly what you would expect.

Back in July, Sony announced it will stop making discs for new games in 2028, which naturally caused uproar within the community of fans who still want to buy physical games. This has been very much targeted, with the likes of a Marvel's Wolverine trailer being bombarded with comments demanding Sony change its mind – as is the case with most trailers on the PlayStation YouTube channel and most posts on the PlayStation social accounts, even games not published by Sony.

However, Sony seems somewhat unphased, saying that "we don't see that there will be any negative impact on our business," further evidenced by the fact it didn't bother to turn off comments for the Phantom Blade Zero State of Play.

During the 20 minute deep dive, the live chat was bombarded with chants of "no disc no buy" and a mass amount of disc emojis. And, via a clip from Twitter user thegamersjoint, it looks like the live chat was not stopping at all, hopefully sending the message to Sony.

This has also continued into the comments on the on-demand version of the video, with tongue-in-cheek comments the likes of "Phantom Disc Zero" and "I'll buy it when it comes out in physical format" flooding the section.

Unfortunately, Sony's decision is having a knock-on effect on games outside of its publishing library. Phantom Blade Zero has been looking pretty sick for years, but its biggest presentation to date has now been overshadowed by Sony's decision to cull physical discs (which has likely made the apparent lack of discs for Phantom Blade Zero a bit more controversial). However, reportedly in 2026, only seven games on PlayStation have sold more than 100,000 physical copies in the US so far, so it feels like people will need to vote with their wallets for Sony to pay attention.

PlayStation killing discs is bad for everyone, whether you care about physical games or not.

Perhaps no single object in all of video games is quite so haunted by infamy as the golf club in The Last of Us Part 2. The prop used to represent that golf has apparently remained in PlayStation's motion capture studio for all these years – until, it seems, the day Deborah Ann Woll walked on set for God of War Laufey.

First, if you haven't yet played The Last of Us Part 2 and have somehow avoided learning about its first act twist for all these years, here's a SPOILER WARNING for the rest of this article. Still here? Good. The opening hours of The Last of Us Part 2 see Joel, the protagonist of the previous game, brutally beaten to death with a golf club by the vengeful Abby.

The golf club itself instantly became something of a meme. Now, years later, it still serves both as a symbol of the game's most devastating moment and a lazy shorthand for those who didn't like the way the story went. Either way, the actual prop used in the motion capture sessions for the game is nigh unrecognizable. You can get a brief glimpse of it in the 2024 documentary on the making of The Last of Us Part 2, around the 52:50 mark: a big, purple stick shaped like an elongated baseball bat.

So you can forgive Deborah Ann Woll, who portrays the title character in God of War Laufey, for not instantly noticing the significance of the purple stick. "My very first day on set for Laufey, we were doing a scene, and they handed me a prop," she says in a San Diego Comic-Con panel. "Unbeknownst to me, this was a very famous prop that they had used on The Last of Us."

A clip of Woll's comments was recently shared on Twitter by Santa Monica Studio. With an ironic grin, she turns to game director Ariel Lawrence and asks, "Was it a hockey stick? Or a baseball bat?"

"It was a golf club," Lawrence dryly responds.

"Some sort of sporting equipment, you know," Woll continues. "They gave it to me, and I was supposed to use it like an axe. And I… broke it."

The clip also shows footage of the incident. Woll is in normal clothes – not motion capture gear – so this seems to be some sort of test footage or rehearsal session. But she's so into the scene that she absolutely smashes that stick into the ground, where it snaps in two with a loud 'thunk.' She awkwardly drops the stick, clearly afraid she's broken something important, but in the background, somebody shouts "Yeeeeaaaah! Yeah!"

"She swung it so hard, it cracked, and it echoed throughout" the motion capture studio, Lawrence says. "And we were like 'hot damn, let's go.'"

God of War Laufey is just one of many upcoming PS5 games worth keeping on your radar.

Christopher Judge, one of the most recognisable and iconic voices in video games, has clarified some recent comments he made on the God of War TV show. Although Ryan Hurst has had to abdicate the lead role, the voice of Kratos wasn't throwing in his hat to take Hurst's place, despite initial impressions.

While attending FanExpo Boston, Judge commented on what he believes is a common problem across video game adaptations. "You have this pre-existing, successful property, and the first thing you do is not hire anyone associated with it," he said.

"I have no idea why you don't take that cast, those writers, especially when you are going to do episodes that are shot-for-shot remakes of the game," he added, referencing The Last of Us. Once these quotes start travelling the internet, it was pointed out that it could be read as him vying for playing Kratos, since Hurst bowed out due to an injury.

Judge, a television veteran who had a starring role in Stargate SG-1 for years, has since clarified he isn't campaigning for the part, because, for one reason, he's probably a bit too old. "As my kids tell me I'm old as balls," he says on Twitter.

"I truly hope they find someone as great as Ryan," he adds. "I was talking more about our writers and devs. I really want them to get the love and respect they deserve. I hope that for all writers and developers of the games that we love."

He then gives a nod to Stargate as an example of "the best" writers in television and film. His broader point stands. If you look at Fallout, or Castlevania, or Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, or The Witcher, there aren't many people who were involved in the games on the production staff.

Neil Druckmann has contributed quite heavily to HBO's The Last of Us, but he's much more of an exception. It's a shame, because narrative designers seem like an untapped resource for translating a game's universe to another medium, but then, their expertise is in one area and not necessarily the other.

In any case, I hope we see Judge make a cameo in Amazon's God of War. And wherever he appears, we get a nice loud "Boy," for good measure.

God of War creator says Sony's decision to kill PlayStation discs is likely because "the needs of the many customers outweigh the needs of the fewer."

After catching flak for their opinions on Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, fighting game icon SonicFox has commented on their win in the game's first major tournament.

Marvel Tokon has been available for just over a week, and it has already had its first major tournament appearance at CEO 2026 over the weekend. The tournament had 1,057 entrants – the second-highest at the tourney behind Street Fighter 6's 1,110 – including the likes of Marvel vs Capcom legend Justin Wong, Leffen, and SonicFox, who would go on to win the tournament from Losers Top 8.

While SonicFox is best known for their domination of NetherRealm games like Mortal Kombat and Injustice, they were a big winner in Arc-Sys' previous tag-team fighter Dragon Ball FighterZ, so their win isn't too shocking, but this win also comes in the wake of their criticism of the new fighter.

Back during the beta, SonicFox said the game "needs way more work still since so many decisions don't make a lot of sense," while adding that "The characters are genuinely pretty interesting, just heavily restricted by the game itself." Naturally, this inspired a ton of comments about SonicFox disliking the game being a skill issue, or using the fact SonicFox primarily plays the generally poorer quality Mortal Kombat games as an excuse to discredit their opinion.

After the CEO win, SonicFox took to Twitter to say "this win should definitely make people actually shut the fuck up and let me voice my opinions on the game" and that it's "delusion to believe that I don’t like a game because I can’t be 'good' at it." SonicFox then adds, "This win was purely out of spite" to those reactions to their opinion on the game.

Marvel Tokon has been struggling out the gate a bit. It launched with rough PC performance (which was swiftly patched by Arc System Works after the game's first weekend), a lack of Linux support, and a requirement for a PSN account, which locks players in certain countries out of the game entirely, resulting in the game sitting at Mixed Steam reviews. This includes seasoned players, like Sajam, who called it "one of the worst fighting game launches," while Maximillian ended up uninstalling the PC version of the game live on stream to grab a PS5 copy after issues with the port.

Meanwhile, analysts reckon the game's reported 485,000 copies sold mark could've been closer to a million had the PC version not had so many issues.

Check out our Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls review to see how Arc System Works' latest stacks up.

We're coming up to the time where Sony would typically reveal the next generation of the PlayStation. But if you're eagerly anticipating the PS6, I would make sure to breathe, because the corporation doesn't have any kind of launch window for the hardware yet.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Hiroki Totoki, the CEO of Sony, said there's no release date for the follow-up to the PlayStation 5. Generally speaking, consoles tend to have about seven years before another full iteration comes along. The PS5 launched in late 2020, thus the back half of next year, 2027, is where expectations lay.

However, it looks and sounds like Sony will be missing that window. Totoki doesn't go into great detail on why, but there are some obvious issues within the game and tech industries right now – he points to the current state of energy and chip supplies, for example, as well as trade wars, noting that "we need to take some action. Otherwise, we cannot survive in this landscape."

Demand is outstripping supply on parts necessary to build consoles, thanks largely to data centers and tech surrounding generative AI. It's difficult for any manufacturer to consistently keep its products moving right now, never mind launching a system on a global scale.

On top of that, things are unsteady within game development, to say the least. Most major publishers have undergone layoffs in recent memory, and lots of releases have been canceled or delayed. It's not a strong climate for putting out a new console and stretching those teams even further.

Similarly, I've got to imagine the launch of GTA 6 plays a factor. After a number of delays, it's out this November. Sony will definitely be expecting to shift a healthy amount of consoles for Christmas, and the potential of the PS6 may slow those down a little bit, encouraging those not in any rush to simply wait for the new, shiny platform.

The same is potentially true for a few other highly anticipated games, like Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Triple-A projects are still looking incredible and running great on the PS5 anyway, so what's the rush?

Indie dev says Sony suddenly ended their publishing deal without "any reason," delisting their games and cancelling PS5 port of Steam game with 97% 'overwhelmingly positive' reviews, won't explain or respond "in any way."

It appears Sony has unilaterally cut ties with Ukrainian developer Ternox Games. The company, most notable for anime stock market sim Stonks-9800, claims there's been no explanation from the PlayStation manufacturer over the decision, which will result in its games being delisted and at least one port being canceled.

Ternox Games made the announcement on August 17, saying its deal with Sony had been unceremoniously canceled. "Sony PlayStation unilaterally terminated my PlayStation developer and publisher agreement without giving me any reason," the dev writes on Twitter.

"PlayStation Support refuses to listen to my arguments or even respond to my emails in any way," it adds.

Stonks-9800 was slated for a PlayStation 5 version, but that's off the table. A shame, because it's a fun, inventive game that could attract a whole other audience on Sony's system. Essentially, you play as a Japanese salary man who's trying to use stocks to make his way up in the world.

The visuals are heavily influenced by '80s anime, and it's largely text-based. It has over 1,380 reviews on Steam, and 97% of those are positive. Getting on the PS Store would've widened Ternox's potential audience considerably, while offering more fascinating games for the users there.

The plan was to do a PS5 disc version in 2027, just ahead of Sony ceasing production on physical games. Since that's no longer feasible, Ternox promises to "do my best" to do physical releases on PC and Nintendo Switch.

A total of 13 earlier releases from Ternox are already available on the PS Store, but you only have until August 23 to get them. These are a mix of in-house releases and from outside developers.

Sony ending PlayStation discs "was always going to happen," says analyst, as the PS6 costing $1,000 would "limit your audience quite significantly"

After the announcement of Marvel's Wolverine, I wondered how much had changed from Insomniac's excellent Spider-Man games. The best part of those previous titles was swinging down digital New York streets, exploring the open world at my own pace. My hands-on time with Marvel's Wolverine put those fears to rest. While the foundations built for those Spider-Man games are clearly present here, the action takes a bloody new form that helps Logan's story sing.

"Central to the Wolverine player fantasy is claw combat, in much the same way that web swinging is the central element of Spider-Man player fantasy," creative director Marcus Smith says. "So we developed a lot of systems for our combat that supply the fast, fluid, and lethal combat system that you would expect from Wolverine."

So Insomniac has traded a web-swinging open-world for a mostly linear roller coaster that takes Wolverine on a globe-trotting adventure. It's a game design decision, yes, but one built on the idea of being true to Logan's character – something the developers repeatedly emphasized to me in my interviews with them.

Not-so-friendly neighborhood

"We're telling a Logan story," senior project director Jess Reiner-Reed says when I ask about the decision to ditch the open world. "He's so different from Spider-Man in so many different ways. One of the ways is that Logan is not somebody who stays in the same spot for a while. He's not somebody who has a friendly neighborhood. He's not settling down in one location. He's a loner guy in a lot of ways."

"It took us a while to say 'traversal is not an important part of Wolverine as a character,'" director of technology Mike Fitzgerald says. "As we talk about those key things, it's about his claws, his healing factor, his rage and anger, his past and dealing with that. These are some of the core things. The game doesn't have to be everything and have everything. At the same time, you don't want to be frustrating or slow."

While Wolverine isn't about movement, I never found the game to be slow. In fact, in some open-ended areas, I was astounded by how fast I could move. There's a part early in the game where you have to take out some anti-mutant alarms spread out across a bunch of half-constructed buildings, and Wolverine's ability to get around, claw his way up walls, and leap between rooftops is plenty of fun in its own right.

"Some of it's subtle, though, in fun ways," Fitzgerald tells me. "Like, he can climb trees. I mean, he's a wolverine with claws that you go up. But if you walk out on the branch, the branch bends, because he's a very heavy guy. That's a whole system we had to build [...] But Spider-Man walks out on stuff and doesn't affect those things at all. He's very light and nimble. As soon as we put it so the branch was bending under the weight and the leaves were all moving the right way, it's like, 'Oh yeah, this feels like this character and not that other character,' even because of that subtle bit."

Lone wolverine

Even Logan's personality provided its own challenges to the team. As it turns out, it's a lot easier to depict somebody like Peter Parker as a character than it is to make Logan's brooding solitude compelling. "Wolverine's a very internal character," Fitzgerald explains. "Spider-Man is an external character. He quips. He talks. He says what he thinks. Logan [is] quiet, and needs to express with his face and his eyes, and interact with characters. Oftentimes, saying one thing but feeling another. How do we express that through the game? It took a lot of work and effort."

These sorts of considerations permeated the game's development from top to bottom, as the devs repeatedly emphasized in our interview. "For making Wolverine," Reiner-Reed says, "we were constantly asking the question, like, 'Okay, what would Logan do here?' Doesn't matter what another character would do. 'What would our guy do? How would he react to this situation?' I think development-wise, that was what we were always focused on."

It's paid off, at least in the two hours I've played so far. Building Wolverine on the foundation of Spider-Man makes sense, since there's a core of biff-boom-bang action at the heart of every superhero adventure. But Insomniac has smartly torn down and rethought just about every element in a way that makes sense for this new hero.

As we await the launch of Marvel's Wolverine, here are the other upcoming PS5 game you need to know about.

I don't normally consider myself a trend hopper, but when the physical media resurgence started popping off I knew I was in for a treat. With new tech surging in price, streaming brands getting greedier, and pride in ownership at an all-time low it was obvious something was about to give and I'm so glad it has. I do worry, though.

With all this rushing towards CD players, Blu-ray rippers, and retro handhelds, how many cheap plastic devices are going to make it into our carts, and eventually into landfill once the trend dies down? What if there was an ahead-of-its-time device that could scratch that itch for physical ownership without requiring the Temu factories to rev their engines? What if we could, rather than shelling out for the latest nostalgia tat, save older devices from their own e-waste fate?

Enter my one true love, the PSP.

The PlayStation Portable, first debuted in 2005 (in NA and EU), had its sights set on being more than a gaming handheld. At launch it not only promised performance closer to that of a PS2 than a PS1, but it heralded in one of Sony's most beautiful designs; the UMD. A shining beacon of creativity that faded to ash far too quickly.

The fact that this is a handheld console running disc games never quite gets the flowers it deserves in my opinion, and it's partly Sony's optimism in its format that keeps the PSP close to my heart. However, that UMD meant the PSP could stand as a portable gaming machine and media center all from your pocket. Ironically, now that Sony has become enemy number one in the fight against digitalisation, it's these little discs that are keeping that physical media itch scratched for me.

The UMD was a product of its time, Sony could never have expected to keep its games limited to the 1.8GB at hand. That doesn't mean it's not still impressive today, though. While it only really lasted about four years (after 2009, Sony was more focused on distribution via is PS Store, as evidenced by the all-digital PSP Go), current estimates put about 1,000 - 1,500 movies available on UMD, and nearly 2,000 games.

It gets even better, though.

Remember when I said the PSP had its sights set on being more than a gaming handheld? It really wanted to be a smartphone, well before ole Steve got on stage in 2007.

Thumbing through 'PSP: The Official Guide Book' on Internet Archive provides a clear look at just how Sony wanted the PSP to position itself in your pocket. The mag notes that "in November 2003, when Sony unveiled its prototype PSP to western journalists, mobile telephone functionality was mentioned among the list of possible features." (25). The spread on future applications speculates around then-rumored hardware upgrades, ranging from a USB keyboard for productivity to the then-"prototype" GPS add-on that would later become the Sony PSP-290 (still kicking around on eBay).

Unfortunately, the PSP never received its call and message functionality, though it could still tick a smartphone's other boxes; web browsing, mp3 playback, movies, photos (via the Go!Cam attachment), and of course gaming. The difference, even back then, was that it still put that physical media ownership at the center of its package. And it could well be the last device to truly be able to claim that.

So where does it stand today? Pretty tall if you ask me.

No, you won't get the latest Blu-ray releases on here (though there was a time when Sony wanted to package PSP-friendly versions of movies in with its Blu-Rays- as per Game Developer). You'll also need to rip your CDs before you can build up a song library you actually own.

But the PSP fights hard to keep your entertainment in your control in 2026. What other device can hold an entire (albeit in the case of movies and games, dated) media library in your pocket. And actually in your pocket, by the way - none of this Steam Deck bulk. It's all the physical media gadgets we've been yearning for rolled into one, and it pulls off that seemingly impossible (by 2005's standards) feat with grace and style.

If you're keen to join my PSP Appreciation club, you've only really got one option. These days, you'll find working PSP 1000s on sites like eBay and Vinted for between $50 and $120 (I generally see working devices for £40 - £100 in the UK), depending on their level of wear and how many accessories are included.

The real fun, though, starts under that 'working' price threshold. I've been hiding my second biggest reason for loving the PSP. It's a tinkerer's gateway.

The thing is remarkably easy to tear down and diagnose. It's got relatively few parts all told, and they generally hold up pretty well. Not only that, but there's a massive market for third party replacements over on AliExpress, and I would say 80% of PSPs I've polished up over the last few years have been fixable without a solder iron.

See, these things were popular and they were portable. They lived in the pockets of 00s denizens, so most of them are cracked and pretty filthy. A broken PSP for $30/£30 is pretty easy to find and, in my experience, most of them just need a good clean (obviously read descriptions carefully and be prepared to lose on this gamble if you're not experienced with more complicated fixes). The first PSP I rescued was sold at a discount due to dead face buttons and a wandering thumbstick. A new nubbin and some isopropyl alcohol later it's up and running like new.

Avoiding the inevitable rush of cheap tat when factories look to capitalize on the physical media trend while saving seemingly 'broken' tech from landfill? Count me in.

I'll go down swinging for the PSP for years to come, but if your EDC does it better, change my mind in the comments below.

We're also rounding up all the best retro controllers for other systems, or if you're looking to scratch a more modern physical media itch, Rosalie's tips and tricks for collecting Blu-Rays is also available.

Story-driven action-adventure games have a special place in my gaming time, because my wife and I have been bonding over them for years. What started as a desire to show her why I was so obsessed with Metal Gear Solid eventually became a couples' tradition, where she'd sit in and we'd enjoy the twists and turns of games like Uncharted and Yakuza together. When Insomniac announced Marvel's Wolverine, I instantly figured it'd be perfect for our gaming time together.

That thought was instantly wiped away when I saw how violent Wolverine is going to be. I can't blame Insomniac for wanting to be true to the character's violent lore, but my partner has an intense blood phobia. Even a quick glimpse of the goopy gore that permeates the game's trailers would likely be enough to push her to the edge of a panic attack.

So when Insomniac announced that it was introducing a new accessibility option for Wolverine which will allow you to toggle off blood and gore, my interest was more than academic. Alongside my hands-on time with Marvel's Wolverine, I had to get the developers' insights into implementing this option and finding new ways to cater to players – and watchers – with diverse needs.

What I do isn't very nice

While I don't have direct access to the violence options in my hands-on, creative director Marcus Smith demonstrates them ahead of my demo. "Yes, we are making a Wolverine game," he says. "Yes, it is extremely bloody. But we also understand that not everybody has the same level of squeamishness where it comes to blood. So we have settings where you can disable blood, disable gore, disable [dismemberment]."

He shows a screenshot of a character on the wrong end of Wolverine's claws. This enemy soldier is spattered with blood, with gore shooting absurdly from the spots where you'd expect. In the next screenshot, everything's the same – all the visual and emotional content is there – but the red stuff is gone. It's not a haphazard edit. It genuinely looks like a version of the game that was targeting a T for Teen rating from the start. There are other content toggles, too, like an option to turn off profanity if you simply want to make the game's dialog a bit more family friendly.

Offering these kinds of options is a big technical challenge since the gore itself is built from "a very complex set of systems," according to head of technology Mike Fitzgerald. "The way it affects characters is one thing. The way it affects environments is another thing. The way it sprays out of the characters is another thing. A lot of cinematics have custom authored blood that's independent [to what] someone very carefully painted onto a character or object. Finding all those places, making them all relate into the accessibility system the right way, took quite a bit of work, effort, and testing."

No surprises

When I first heard about these sorts of accessibility options, my instant fear was that not every edge case would be accounted for. There are, after all, cutscenes where characters get beheaded, or we see Wolverine get shredded to the bone by gunfire. In cases like those, the game simply blurs out scenes with content you don't want to see.

People like my wife have "a real reaction to that stuff," Fitzgerald acknowledges. "We don't want to surprise anyone with it when they think they have it turned off."

A part of me does wonder if these gracious nods to accessibility might undercut something of the game's bite. "The tone of this game is a bit darker, more mature than recent Insomniac games," Smith says, "and the reason for that is because we need to stay true to these characters. They have lived long and complex lives, and the only way to represent them with authenticity is to do so unflinchingly." Is a blood toggle a flinch?

"Wolverine is a brutal character," senior project director Jess Reiner-Reed acknowledges. "That's a part of the DNA of Wolverine. It is rated mature as far as topics, and as you mentioned, as far as violence, but Logan is not somebody who is ever glorifying violence. He's not cutting up people for violence' sake. He's doing it because he got into some situation. He has to defend somebody who can't defend themselves. He has to fight [against] injustice."

That distinction, I think, is why letting people play a substantially less violent version of Wolverine makes sense, even within the themes of the character. This Logan lives in a brutal world, yes, but his own brutality exists as a shield to protect others from having to endure the same hardships. And personally? I'm just glad my time playing Wolverine won't be as lonely as I feared.

We'll keep you up to date with every upcoming PS5 game worth knowing about.

The current voice of Kratos, Christopher Judge, has thrown respect towards his predecessor, TC Carson, on the back of the original God of War trilogy being remade with the first voice of the titular character in tow. To him, it signifies just how much Sony Santa Monica cares about the legacy of the series, since Carson's a large part of the reason why anyone still cares.

Judge spoke on the subject during a panel at Fan Expo Boston, per Collider. "I'm glad it worked out," he says. "And the thing I'm glad, too, is that TC isn't forgotten because where we are now is because of TC Carson and how magnificent he is."

The God of War Trilogy Remake was announced back in February, giving the first three adventures starring Kratos top-down reworks. We don't have many other details beyond Carson's involvement and that it's happening, but it's exciting as is. The original God of War and its immediate sequels haven't gotten much attention since the days of the PS3, and given how big the property is now, it's high time newer fans got a history.

"I'm so happy that they're remastering the original games, and then that will find a new audience, and I just think it's wonderful," Judge adds. I'm somewhat curious both what creative liberties the devs take, and how the games themselves land overall. These are different games to the 2018 installment and Ragnarok.

Their worlds aren't as big, Kratos is more two-dimensional, he's got no little companion around him, and there are jokes and set-pieces that haven't aged well. If you know, you know. All I'm saying is I neither expect, nor necessarily want, these to be one-to-one updates.

To finish, Judge, who's been the voice of Kratos since the 2018 game and is now very much a face of the franchise, says Sony Santa Monica's reverence for the fanbase is what's keeping the series going strong after two decades. "That is a testament to not only Cory [Balrog, creative director at Santa Monica Studio], but all of Sony Santa Monica and their investment in this," he explains.

"They actually respect the fans," Judge continues. "Like, it's not that hard of a thing to do. You ask people to pay for your product, or people invite you into their homes, the least you can do is respect what they have to say, and Sony Santa Monica actually does that."

The next God of War game is Laufey, following Kratos's wife in her journey through the underworld. It's due out next year.

God of War star Christopher Judge criticizes The Last of Us and similar adaptations for excluding people who made the games: "What are you thinking?"

It took Hollywood decades to learn the truth about superheroes: the origin stories are usually the most boring part. Insomniac Games was clued into that fact from the start with the Marvel's Spider-Man games, which deliberately avoided showing us Peter Parker's fateful meeting with a radioactive Spider. It seems they're taking a similar approach with Marvel's Wolverine.

"During our story, Logan already has adamantium infused to his bones," creative director Marcus Smith explains at a preview event for Marvel's Wolverine. "He does not remember how that happened, why it happened, and we are not really covering it because we're not doing an origin story."

During my hands-on time with Marvel's Wolverine, I saw the very start of the game, which does open with a brief flashback. There, we see Logan in the woods, seemingly feral, when he meets Nathaniel Essex – a character whose name will ring a calamitous bell for X-Men fans. The scene is just a few moments, and we quickly fast-forward apparent years to the actual action.

There's a sense of history to the characters, as they regularly reference past events and conflicts, but it's all flavor that makes the world seem bigger. If you have history with Wolverine in the comics or other media, you'll have a pretty clear picture of what these events look like – if not, it'll just be there to make the characters seem richer.

It's the exact same approach we saw Insomniac take in Marvel's Spider-Man, which references Spidey's origins and history in ways that make sense and add to the story, but never explicitly spells out that story. Perhaps the most important part is that it lets players just start being a superhero from the second they load up the game – whether we're talking about Peter Parker or James Logan Howlett, there's no need to make people wait for the fun part.

These are the upcoming PS5 games you need to have on your radar.

There's a moment in the Marvel's Wolverine story trailer released toward the end of July where we see the camera pull back behind Jean Grey as she enters a dance hall. To my eye, it seemed like an obvious tease of a playable sequence featuring Jean, but looks can be deceiving – Insomniac tells me in no uncertain terms that Wolverine himself is the game's only playable character.

When I alluded to that moment with Jean Grey in the trailer in an interview with senior project director Jess Reiner-Reed and head of technology Mike Fitzgerald, they both registered a bit of genuine confusion, before they both told me, "Wolverine is our only playable character."

That'll likely be a relief to many players of Insomniac's previous superhero games. I never hated the Mary Jane stealth sections in the Spider-Man series as much as other people seemed to, but they're unequivocally the least exciting bits of those games. Insomniac going all in on the game's central hero sounds like a good thing to me.

My hands-on time with Marvel's Wolverine was still filled with loads of side characters, and many of them do have a role to play not just in the story, but the gameplay. In my demo, there were big combat sections where Wolverine is accompanied by Sabretooth or Mystique, who'll dynamically join in with your combos for little team-up moves to knock out the bad guys.

Some similar interactions with Jean were shown in the public gameplay reveal, and "there's more of that," Fitzgerald explains. "There's definitely the team vibe in that sense. But we were really focusing on Wolverine as a playable character and making sure we nailed that."

For more, check out all our Marvel's Wolverine Big Preview coverage.

Insomniac built the adamantium skeleton for Marvel's Wolverine with its Spider-Man games. The upcoming PS5 game clearly builds on the combat, the cinematic presentation, and even the progression systems of those previous titles. But after spending two hours playing Marvel's Wolverine, touring Insomniac's Los Angeles headquarters, and speaking to some of the developers bringing the game to life, it's clear that this is more than a simple reskin of Spider-Man. James Logan Howlett's burning heart beats at the center of it all.

"One thing we're really proud about at the studio is shipping games," head of technology Mike Fitzgerald tells me. "This is our fifth title on the PlayStation 5. We're really proud of that. Part of that is knowing how to build on prior games effectively. If we'd taken a Spider-Man game and put a Wolverine character model in, that wouldn't feel right. It wouldn't be right for the character. It wouldn't be fulfilling the player fantasy for the fans. So it's about building carefully on what we have and then rethinking a whole lot of the fundamentals."

So the flippy, acrobatic combat of Spider-Man – which, itself, echoes Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham series – has slowed down, with a closer camera perspective and more tightly-packed enemies. The violence is more extreme. The story is darker. And, most obviously, we're now following a linear, globe-trotting adventure rather than exploring a singular open world.

Rage against the killing machines

"Throughout development," senior project director Jess Reiner-Reed explains, "any decision we're making, we're trying to go: 'Is this right for Wolverine? Is this telling a Logan-centric story? Is this the best way we can do this to make the player feel like they're playing as Wolverine?'"

Nowhere is this intent more obvious than with the Rage system. As you fight, striking enemies and parrying their attacks, you build up a meter representing Wolverine's bestial anger. Once it's maxed out, the color drains from the scene, Wolverine powers up, and you can launch instant-kill takedowns by pulling both triggers at once. The meter quickly drains once you reach this state, but you can keep it going longer by continuing to kill.

This system really incentivizes you to be aggressive, constantly escalating the speed with which you're taking down the bad guys, perfectly in line with your character's own overflowing rage. It's introduced with a great little moment in the game, where Logan's anger at seeing his fellow mutants mistreated boils over, and you're given control with maximum Rage to rip the perpetrators to shreds. If you've seen any of the trailers for Wolverine, you'll know just how bloody this game can get. But, importantly, Logan's violence feels like an outpouring of his desire to protect others.

"He's not bloodthirsty," Fitzgerald says. "He's not a sadist. He's not reveling in the violence that he's doing. We want the game to reflect that as well. The game itself isn't like 'look at how bloody and gross we can be.' It's more like this is a natural consequence of who this character is and what he grapples with over the course of the game."

The Rage system also accounts for Wolverine's superhuman healing. You do have a traditional health meter, but as long as you've got some Rage in the tank, you can get back up and keep fighting. Die without any Rage to keep you going, though, and you'll have to restart from a checkpoint. It may not be 100% true to the specifics of Logan's mutant ability, but it does keep the spirit of those powers intact and faithfully represents the character's relentless nature.

"You wouldn't see another character with that set of abilities or mechanics," Reiner-Reed says. "This is uniquely Logan."

This is no origin story

The start of the game shows a brief flashback to when Logan was living a seemingly feral life in the wilderness, just as he meets a mysterious figure promising a home for mutants. But this isn't Professor X talking about a home for gifted youngsters. This is Nathaniel Essex, a character with a lengthy X-Men comic history as the villain Mister Sinister.

But if Essex is going to become the villain of this story, that's going to be a late game twist. Insomniac dragged out the ultimate heel turn of Otto Octavius as Doctor Octopus in the 2018 Spider-Man game, which could be the blueprint for what's happening here. For now, though, the game flashes forward, with Wolverine rejoining Mystique, Jean Grey, and Sabretooth as part of Team X to rescue Essex from the anti-mutant extremist Bolivar Trask.

What follows is something of a superpowered D-Day invasion, where I charge up a muddy hill toward a massive fort, slicing through Trask's minions as I go. While there's plenty of action and bombast, this is very much the game's tutorial, as I'm introduced to the basics of combat. The true depths of the Rage system haven't unlocked yet, but even here the combat feels meaty and rewarding.

My favorite move is pushing triangle to leap forward and quickly close the distance with an enemy. It's not entirely dissimilar to Spider-Man's Web Strike, but at this closer combat scale, it reminds me of how Batman would automatically leap between opponents in the Arkham games. Here, it's an active ingredient in the combat soup, something to stay engaged with as the rhythm of parry, dodge, slash slash slash carries on.

I find myself surprised by how quickly I can get around the game's bigger areas. Wolverine can't use web shooters to speed through these levels, but he can still move. Logan runs quickly, can climb up walls, and leap leg-shattering distances. There's an open-ended area early on where I have to take out a series of mutant-detecting alarms guarded by patrolling soldiers. It feels like an absolute playground, thanks largely to how quickly I can move through it, and how easy it is switch between brutal, stalking stealth and full-blown combat.

I'm also introduced to each of the game's major cast members, but notably, this isn't their first meeting. Nor do I hear much about Wolverine's backstory, and that's very much by design. "Logan already has adamantium infused to his bones," says creative director Marcus Smith. "He does not remember how that happened, why it happened, and we are not really covering it because we're not doing an origin story." There are already plenty of places where you can learn of Wolverine's origins, and having the specifics shrouded in mystery here helps build gravity and intrigue around his relationships.

Later in the demo, I'm whisked forward to a part near the end of the game's first act. Here, I get the culmination of all the combat tricks I've learned up to this point as I take on a massive Sentinel prototype. It's a multi-stage boss fight where I've got to wear down its various weak points to deal big damage.

It's familiar stuff if you've, uh, ever played a video game before, but it's a great little challenge. In fact, it's the only time I die outside of a later optional challenge room – and it sneaks in a few unique mechanics, like an ability to call in a sniper shot from Mystique with a tap of the R1 button, which stuns the giant machine so I can get a few extra licks in.

Madripoor me another

Eventually, Logan ends up in Madripoor, and here the game allows me a bit of a breather. The story slows down as I wander a small bar and nearby stretch of street while Logan meets up with his allies to discuss everything that's transpired. There are fun little Easter eggs to discover here – a playing card hinting at Gambit wandering around this universe, for example – but the real treat is the character interactions.

I'm impressed by just how convincing the storytelling and character performances are. There's a wonderful little moment between Logan and Mystique where they play a round of "never have I ever," as our hero is grilled on topics like lost loves. I get to choose what parts Logan drinks to, and relish the chance to get inside the character's head and imagine his past and what's brought him to this point.

There's a haunted sense of history to how Logan and the crew refer to their past adventures and the mistakes they've made along the way, and it works in part because the story is so well-delivered. The devs say getting this right was a monumental task. "Cinematics is something where there's not, 'Hey, this is just the cinematics department, and they take care [of it],'" Reiner-Reed explains. "It takes everybody. There's lighting, there's artists, there's performance and optimization, there's animation, mocap."

This Madripoor section is also my first opportunity to properly explore, finding collectables here and there that tie into the game's various upgrade systems. I'm able to unlock a few new abilities – both passive buffs and active attacks that run on a cooldown in combat – and check out some additional suits for Wolverine, but I don't have much space to actually dive into those systems before my time with the demo ends. For now, it feels more like a teaser for the fact that, yes, there will be reasons to explore and go off the beaten path in the full game.

There are also additional challenges to take on in a sort of dreamy cabin space that will apparently appear at various points across the story. Inside, Logan can interact with various totems to take on optional timed challenges, like fighting hordes of soldiers in a snowy battlefield or racing through an abstract, nearly psychedelic collection of parkour obstacles. I certainly wasn't expecting to be reminded of Mirror's Edge during Wolverine, but the abstracted arenas for the traversal challenges put me in a similar frame of mind. These time trials are fun enough, but those that I played were pretty simple and easy. I was able to get not just a gold rating, but platinum after just a couple of tries.

The combat challenge I took on, however, really put me through the ringer. Here, I had to manage an array of goons pelting me with fists and bullets while I whittle down a big, muscular brute with parries, dodges, and strikes – then I had to do it again, with a second wave of foes, all within a strict time limit. I failed this one over and over, but I had a great time doing it, and really learning the fight made my eventual success feel pretty sweet. The solution? Rage. Building up that rage is essential.

Before playing Marvel's Wolverine, I was afraid I would miss so much from Insomniac's previous Spider-Man games. Sure, the combat and missions in those games were fun enough, but the truly excellent part was swinging through the streets of New York City at breakneck speeds and digging for little odd jobs and side missions along the way.

Going hands-on with the game completely erased those fears. Insomniac has repurposed the fundamentals of its previous games here, yes, but it's done so in a way that feels appropriate for Logan. The turn from friendly neighborhood wall-crawler to this brooding new hero makes all the difference.

More from our interviews with the Marvel's Wolverine developers and further impressions from our hands-on time are still to come. For now, here are the upcoming PS5 games you need to have on your radar.

PlayStation and Sucker Punch have announced that Ghost of Yotei is getting a major DLC expansion called Echoes of Sekigahara. It launches on October 1 alongside other new content and Ghost of Yotei: Complete Edition, which includes all previously released updates and will be available on a physical disc.

"Ghost of Yōtei: Echoes of Sekigahara is our new narrative expansion. Split between the present day and flashbacks to Atsu’s time on the mainland, you’ll meet Nagato, a figure from Atsu’s past who has arrived in Ezo," Sony explains on the PlayStation Blog.

"In the present, you’ll explore a previously unseen valley once inhabited by The Snake and his gang of loyal followers, the Vipers. In the past, you’ll experience Atsu’s time in the Battle of Sekigahara and a key moment in her life before she returned home for her quest for vengeance. You’ll meet new enemies and find new heavy weapons, new armor sets, new dyes, and more."

October 1 will also see the launch of Most Wanted, a "single-player combat survival mode" which the devs describe as "our spin on a roguelike." Each run will see you taking down enemies to earn perks and unlock new playable characters. The devs plan to announce more details on both expansions ahead of launch.

Both of these DLC add-ons are part of the $70 Ghost of Yotei: Complete Edition. If you already own the base game, you can upgrade to Complete Edition for $14.99 USD.

The Complete Edition also includes the content that was previously included in the Digital Deluxe Edition, as well as "new tracks for Watanabe Mode," alongside "new photo mode stamps, additional cosmetics for New Game+, and new Trophies for both Echoes of Sekigahara and Most Wanted."

Additionally, a free update will launch on October 1 with a transmog feature, allowing you to equip gear for its aesthetics without being stuck with its stats. This patch will also include the "Beauty of Yotei" mode, which offers what amounts to an in-game screensaver showcasing digital Japan.

The YouTube description for the trailer also confirms that the Complete Edition will have a "physical version available October 1." While Sony is seemingly fully committed to its decision to end physical discs in 2028, it appears the company is treating physical games as normal until then. I'm just hoping that the physical Complete Edition will, indeed, be complete, with all that DLC and add-on content actually included on the disc rather than a download code.

These are the upcoming PS5 games you need to know about.

Every match in Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls feels like it could be ripped fresh from the pages of a comic book in how it builds a tight narrative of clashing superheroes and supervillains. While it may begin as a traditional 2v2 bout, the end of a combo at the edge of a screen smashes the opponent out of one panel and across the stage when another hero suddenly joins, turning this into a 3v2, while each subsequent loss sees another hero jumping into the fray until it culminates in an epic 4v4 showdown. These are the largest teams of any tag fighter to date, and no franchise is better suited than Marvel, which gave birth to this sub-genre back in the '90s with X-Men vs. Street Fighter – which eventually morphed into the iconic Marvel vs Capcom.

The difference, however, is that this latest Marvel fighter has changed hands to another Japanese studio, and in the hands of Arc System Works, it's a much-needed course-correct following the nadir of Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite. Without the heavy hand of the Marvel Cinematic Universe influencing story and art direction, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls instead goes back to its comic book with an anime twist that naturally fits the studio behind stylish anime fighters like Guilty Gear Strive and Dragon Ball FighterZ like an Infinity Gauntlet.

Living comics

Every frame of animation in Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is just gorgeous to behold. You're so convinced that it's 2D animation of the highest caliber until you launch an opponent or execute a screen-filling super skill that shows these character models from a different camera angle. It's a style that Arc System Works has already perfected with its past titles, but also one that it wisely doesn't overly rely on.

To Sony and Marvel's credit, there's no attempt to shoehorn in a half-baked cinematic story mode with the existing assets. Instead, it leans into its origins by literally having episodes that unfold as comic books. And I don't mean the basic, visual novel-style bookends of Street Fighter 6's arcade mode.

These episodes are penned by acclaimed comic book author Kieron Gillen, each having its own visual flair and flavor thanks to a variety of artists – including Marvel veterans as well as renowned manga artists like Fairy Tail creator Hiro Mashima

Episodes have a dynamic presentation as comic panels tease out in a scene, changing in size and order around the page for emphasis, further bolstered by expressive voice acting and a surprising amount of DualSense haptics. It's certainly more lively than having character models standing around talking at each other with an endless amount of shot-reverse-shot (not naming any names).

The central plot of a worlds-threatening invasion that contrives a reason for our superheroes to fight one another is boilerplate stuff for a fighting game (though even the antagonists are actually deep cuts from Marvel history). But, what makes these episodes so memorable is that they are anchored in more tangible human drama, be it the fangirling Ms Marvel wanting to prove herself to reluctant mentor Spider-Man, or Storm's crisis of confidence as she tries to lead a beaten-down but still unbreakable X-Men against a backdrop of mutant prejudices at its peak.

In other words, real care has gone into the composition of each official fighting team, making for a diverse roster that strikes a balance between classic favorites and cult classics, with the addition of Robbie Reyes' Ghost Rider, Blade, and Magik almost feeling like a shout-out to the sorely underrated Marvel's Midnight Suns.

Balancing act

Of course, outside of the story mode, you're free to pick your team of four as you see fit. Yet, as intimidating as the idea of a 4v4 fighter might seem on paper, ArcSys makes it accessible through a lot of smart choices. As mentioned before, you're eased in with a traditional 2v2, as you 'assemble' the full team over the course of the match. Having another team member automatically joining the player who's lost a round feels like gaining reinforcements, always teasing the possibility of an exciting comeback rather than getting swept away in your opponent's momentum.

In the same way, you can only unleash the show-stopping, maximum-meter-draining Tokon Assemble that uses all four fighters as a last-ditch ultimate when your opponent is on match point. Having the team sharing one health bar means it avoids the prolonged bouts in other tag fighters, such as Dragon Ball FighterZ, when you swap out low-health fighters, while also making it feasible for new players to just focus on mastering one fighter and using the rest as assists.

In usual Arc System Works style, Marvel Tokon is a four-button fighter at heart, though this entry emphasizes the simplicity of control that can bring. Pared back to a light, medium, and heavy attack rather than separate punches and kicks as Street Fighter has, the final button is an assist that can call in allies to supplement a beatdown.

With gatling combos, basic chains always respect inputs so you don't have to sweat strict timing outside of really fancy chains, while each fighter's core command inputs are identical (pour one out for fans of charging fighters). Having both simpler commands for specials – one direction with a squeeze of the trigger – and traditional motion inputs – say, a quarter circle and two buttons – available at all times allows for flexibility, be it if you struggle with the traditional Shoryuken motion, or your chain of moves just makes it easier to tap one input rather than the other.

More importantly, even with these shared inputs, each fighter's playstyle feels distinct, from the projectile-based Doom to the combination of tech-powered tankiness of Peni Parker and her mech SP//dr, as are their moves. So, while Cap and Iron Man perform an anti-air with the Shoryuken input, the same move for Spidey is a stylish counter, while Ms Marvel's is a grab.

This might be Arc System Works' most successful attempt at a simple to grasp fighting system yet, but it still has plenty of depth veterans of the genre will enjoy. As fast and fun as Marvel Tokon feels to play, it's going to be for nothing if your only recourse is eating humble pie against seasoned tag fighter players who know how to exploit its mechanics to a high level. Easy combos can be blocked, assist attacks batted away, and before you know it, your opponent's knocked you across the stage multiple times and has their full team criss-crossing to keep you locked into a juggling pile-on you can barely cry, "Stop, I'm already dead."

There are fortunately a range of modes to keep you occupied, including a very robust training mode breaking down every mechanic and character moveset, with combo trials that reveal plenty of depth even with simpler inputs. While the branching arcade mode in All Star Arena is a no-brainer, the most compelling is a roguelike-ish survival mode where your team gets buffs from Soul cards that you can also upgrade if you draw a duplicate card or change out for a different buff, while also encountering regular boss fights in the form of a mega-buffed opponent.

Time will tell whether it will be as beloved as Marvel vs Capcom 3, but after the dire mis-step of Infinite threatened to undo Marvel's long fighting game heritage, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is a fantastic comeback that packs both style and substance, reminding the new wave of tag fighters like 2XKO and Invincible VS just who is the genre's champion.

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls was reviewed on PS5, with a code provided by the publisher.

After another battle? Check out our best fighting games ranking!

Phantom Blade Zero, the exciting action RPG first unveiled during Sony's 2023 PlayStation Showcase, has drawn quite a lot of attention for its Sekiro-style vibes – and we'll finally get to see more of its Soulslike charm later this month.

That's right – Sony is dropping a 20-minute-long "deep dive" State of Play showcasing some of Phantom Blade Zero's gameplay on August 17, as outlined in its latest blog post on the game.

There's more, though… the studio has also revealed that pre-orders are officially live, along with a brand-new pre-order trailer for Phantom Blade Zero. That pre-order trailer? It's a whopping 11 minutes long itself, highlighting combat, story, and more.

It shows off an eye-catching face, too – that of actor and martial artist Donnie Yen, who Sony says "has served as creative consultant for Phantom Blade Zero since 2023, bringing his martial arts and action filmmaking expertise to our combat design to help deliver an authentic kung fu experience."

He has taken on the role of facial and motion capture actor for Mó Yuan, as well, who is the protagonist Soul's father.

As for glimpses of the gameplay that the trailer provides, we see what seems to be an action-packed boss fight atop of a moving cart pulled by horses (moving very fast, mind you), and other such scenes that prove just how wonderfully chaotic and, well, cool, Phantom Blade Zero appears as though it'll be.

There's also the matter of the actual pre-orders themselves, which are up for grabs over on PlayStation 5 now. The Standard Edition comes in at $59.99, while the Deluxe Edition is just 10 bucks more at $69.99.

Phantom Blade Zero will come to PC, too, but as Sony previously confirmed, it'll be at least 12 months (so, a year) after its PS5 release on October 29 this year. That's not so bad, all things considered, although it does mean that those of us craving some new Soulslike action on PC will have to wait a little while until we get it.

GTA 6 doesn't scare Phantom Blade Zero devs, who just moved their release date closer to Rockstar's: "We don't think about any of this"

While PlayStation will end discs for new releases in 2028, most of its major first-party releases still seem to be launching on discs in the meantime. That includes Marvel's Wolverine – but the limited edition console Sony's releasing alongside the upcoming PS5 is set to be digital only.

Sony revealed the Marvel's Wolverine Limited Edition PS5 console and accessories today on the PlayStation Blog. At a price of $649.99 / £569.99 / €649.99, you're getting a digital PS5 model cast in the black and bright yellow of Wolverine's trademark spandex, with a screaming Logan drawn on the side of the console.

I can't decide how I feel about the overall look of the console, but I do like the detail on the claw marks running down the side of the machine. Those are made up of transparent plastic, allowing you to see the PS5's innards at work, just as if the Canadian anti-hero had really cut a little viewing hole in the side of the machine.

The price is slightly more than the standalone console, but it does come with a download code for the game, so you're getting a slight deal here. Unless, of course, you want Marvel's Wolverine on disc, but Sony is willing to throw you a $75 bone if you're in that camp.

If you already have a PS5 and want some X-Men flavor, you can also just buy console covers for the same effect at a price of $74.99 / £64.99 / €74.99. These include parts for digital only models alongside those for real consoles with disc drives. There's a separate cover set for PS5 Pro consoles, as well, which also comes in an "Adamantium" silver color if you don't care for the yellow.

This is all pretty standard stuff for a limited edition console released alongside a major new game, but given all the scrutiny around Sony's decision to drop support for discs, players are having about the response you'd expect to this digital-only console. "Wolverine would have fought for physical media rights," as YouTube commenter SolidSmiech puts it.

Here are the upcoming PS5 games you need to know about.

It's been nearly three years now since Marvel's Spider-Man 2 first launched back in 2023 on PlayStation 5, and over a year since it dropped on PC – but it's seeing quite a spike in players now, and it might all be thanks to Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

The latest movie in Tom Holland's lineup of Spider-Man adaptations has been making rounds in theaters for a couple of weeks now, already standing as the highest-grossing movie of the year – but it's not just having an impact on the film end… it's also apparently motivating folks to dive into Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

Rhys Elliott, head of market analysis at Alinea Analytics, reports as much, sharing some new estimates in an online post.

"The new Spidey movie has given a massive lift to Spider-Man 2 on PS5 and Steam (Alinea Analytics estimates)," he writes. "So far, Spider-Man 2 has sold another 316k copies since Brand New Day hit cinemas on 30 July, generating $11m+ across PS5 and Steam in under two weeks. About 20% of the film-window PS5 copies were physical, and another 274k players jumped in for the first time via PlayStation Plus."

That's… pretty huge. I mean, $11 million is no small figure – especially not this long after the game's release. An uptick in active users is notable, too, according to Elliott.

"In total, Spidey 2 has slung its way past 18.2m copies sold (92%+ on PS5) and over $1.2 billion (!!!) since launching nearly three years ago," he says. "This past weekend it topped 1m daily active users for the first time since launch week, roughly 2.6x its pre-film daily engagement."

The analyst explains that "some smart discounts had an impact" here potentially, but "hype around the movie did most of the work here, as shown by the pricing data in our platform." In other words, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is mostly responsible for Marvel's Spider-Man 2 re-rentering the limelight.

Elliott points to specific sales as examples here, highlighting how the game is selling better post-film than it has with previous discounts.

"This is one of the clearest transmedia halo effects we've ever measured," Elliott explains. "And it's still an untapped opportunity. Right now, these lifts happen mostly by accident. Brand New Day landed almost three years after the game. Imagine if a platform holder or publisher managed to align a major game and a major film."

That would certainly be quite the spectacle… "If only dev timelines and delays weren't so hellish," that is.

"Movie and especially game development cycles are notoriously unpredictable, and syncing two multi-year, multi-hundred-million-dollar productions to swing in together is a logistical nightmare," the analyst concludes. "But for the handful of publishers making movies AND games in the same IP, surely one of these has to line up. I'd kill to see that impact."

Honestly, so would I – just look at what's happening with Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

Cut Spider-Man: Brand New Day cameo star Rosario Dawson said she had a social media post with her grandson "ready to go" before she found out it was axed

Stop Killing Games has joined an ongoing legal effort in the Netherlands pushing against PlayStation's alleged "monopoly" over digital game sales on its platform. While the lawsuit primarily concerns digital game pricing, the end of physical media has exacerbated worries over Sony's ability to fix its own prices.

A Dutch consumer rights organization called Stichting Massaschade & Consument has been preparing this lawsuit since 2024 as part of its "Fair PlayStation" campaign. "Sony has a monopoly on digital game sales on PlayStation," organizers argue in a video breaking down their stance. "Your PlayStation is designed so you can only buy digital games through Sony's own store. And once Sony stops selling physical games in 2028, you won't have any choice at all."

Today, both Stop Killing Games and community resource DoesItPlay? have announced that they're backing the Fair PlayStation campaign. They've reposted SM&C's video with the title "It's time to sue Sony, join us."

"We're putting our full weight behind SM&C's case, with the Dutch court," the groups explain in the video description. "SM&C has to show the court it actually represents gamers, not just claims to. Our support backs that up globally. Every Dutch gamer who signs on backs it up directly."

PlayStation's ability to set its own digital prices is a big part of why I'm so concerned about the end of discs. On PC, where digital has been standard for decades, there are at least a variety of different stores that can compete against each other to offer different prices on digital games. On PlayStation, the prices are set purely by Sony and their third-party partners.

The same issues obviously hold for Xbox and Nintendo, as well, but neither of those platforms have yet announced that they're going to stop selling physical media. "You end up paying way more" on digital PlayStation purchases, SM&C argues, even without the physical media market driving prices down. "On average, up to 47%. It's basically a Sony tax, and that's clearly against the law."

"The end of physical discs removes the last place where a PlayStation game could still be bought and sold at a competitive price," SM&C said last month in response to Sony's announcement about the end of disc production. "No discs means no second-hand market and no alternative to the PlayStation Store, so from 2028, Sony alone decides what a game costs and even how long you are allowed to use it."

Up to this point, Stop Killing Games has largely focused on campaigns to ensure games remain accessible to players even after servers for them shut down. Notably, the EU commission ruled against Stop Killing Games' biggest effort back in June, but it seems the group is expanding its remit to help support other digital consumer rights efforts. Maybe the all-digital future really is inevitable, but legal challenges will be the only way to ensure digital purchases offer the same sorts of rights as physical ones.

With GTA 6 digital only, Take-Two boss says discs "don't really make sense" – "if you're already connected, who cares if you download digitally?"

Now that Sony's getting rid of physical discs in come 2028, a warning is apparently being stuck onto new PlayStation 5 consoles. The label foretells of games only being available by digital means, and existing discs will remain fully functional.

On Twitter, YouTuber Behind the Games posted about the tag, using an image and information that comes from a third party. "From January 2028, newly released games on PlayStation game releases will be available for purchase on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital format only," the sticker reads.

"Discs for games released before January 2028 can continue to be played on this console," ends the disclaimer. As you may have guessed, this comes on the disc PS5 machines.

Behind the Games has since posted this isn't their purchase, but comes from a trusted source. There's some skepticism around the legitimacy here, because the black box-out doesn't line up properly with the surrounding imagery, but this is likely down to it being a new addition that assembly workers are manually sticking onto every PS5 that's getting ready for shipment.

They mention they're going to post further proof, but this is already distinctly plausible. Sony will want to give consumers as much runway as possible for when discs stop being available to them, especially for those who are buying consoles that take physical games.

People are no less unhappy about the prospect, either. "I hope PS6 will be a disaster for Sony," says one Twitter user. "This is so nasty. PlayStation will never see me again," another posted.

This probably protects the corporation from legal fallout too, in case anyone buys a disc-based console only to realize they can't buy any new disc-based games for it. The odds weren't strong that Sony would reconsider this move, and this only compounds the fact that the corporation's decision will be lasting.

PlayStation users are treated like renters but charged like owners, say Mexican politicians amid complaint filed against Sony over physical games

Mexican federal deputy Iraís Reyes and senator Luis Donaldo Colosio back a complaint filed against Sony with the country's National Antitrust Commission following the news that PlayStation will end support for physical games.

A joint Instagram statement from Colosio and Reyes describes the complaint (thanks, RespawnFirst). The pair accuses PlayStation of charging customers for ownership but only offering renting rights (per DeepL translation).

The pair focuses on Sony's January 2028 deadline for physical games support, suggesting that locking new games to the PlayStation Store thereafter will create monopolistic conditions that give Sony unprecedented control over pricing and access while eliminating the resale market, forcing consumers to pay whatever price is set.

"And what you buy digitally isn't yours," the statement adds (again, machine translated), citing the recent removal of hundreds of digitally owned movies from PlayStation accounts. Colosio and Reyes also point to the pending shutdown of the PS3 and PlayStation Vita stores, which will end new purchases for digital games in those libraries.

"You pay the price of an owner. They give you the rights of a renter," the translated post concludes.

Sony's decision has already drawn legal scrutiny, and will surely face more in the coming years. Last month, a commissioner said the EU can't stop Sony from ending physical games, on the grounds that "companies are free to offer games and services in the manner that they see fit."

PlayStation is getting "most" of Sony's estimated $508 million tariff refund, but despite lawsuits there are no apparent plans to give refunds for price-hiked PS5s.

Don't expect a refund for your price-hiked PS5 any time soon, despite Sony receiving a massive refund from the US government in response to previously implemented tariffs which have now been ruled illegal.

Months after the United States Supreme Court ruled President Trump's sweeping global tariffs to be illegal, Sony has reported ¥80 billion ($508 million) in refunds from the federal government. PlayStation raised PS5 prices in response to US tariffs last year, but parent company Sony has provided no indication it plans to refund people who purchased consoles at those increased prices.

This comes from Game File's Stephen Totilo, reporting comments from Sony's chief financial officer, Lin Tao, who said last week during a Q&A with press and investors that "most" of the company's received tariff refunds are going to PlayStation, suggesting the gaming division bore the brunt of tariff-related increased costs.

According to Totilo, unnamed Sony executives confirmed that 70% of the tariff refund (about $356 million) was collected in the period between April and June 2026. That leaves an estimated $152 million still to be received by Sony from the US government.

Of course, in a truly just world, consumers who'd already purchased consoles at hiked prices due to tariffs would receive some of the money recouped by the console manufacturer in the tariff reversal and refund, but while lawsuits are ongoing, Sony has revealed no such plan. In response to a similar lawsuit against Nintendo, the Switch 2 maker rejected any responsibility to those who bought consoles at tariff-inflated prices. "Those who bought Nintendo's products received exactly what they bargained and paid for: a console, game and/or accessory at a price to which both parties agreed," the company's lawyers said.

Sony reportedly plans to respond to a consolidated class action lawsuit from a group of PlayStation users next month.

Sony doubles down on plan to end PlayStation discs despite "strong views" against it: "We don't see that there will be any negative impact on our business."

PATCH NOTES v04.08.2026 – Ubisoft and Insomniac Games are enjoying a healthy boost to player counts across Assassin's Creed and Spider-Man games off the back of cinema blockbusters, with numbers so staggering it points to an exciting new normal for the relationship between how games and movies help one another extend experiences.

What's going on this week in gaming?

• 2018's Assassin's Creed Odyssey's active player count is surging
• Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered returns to Steam's Top 10 best-selling games list

Why is this happening now?

• Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has reignited interest in the Ancient Greek time period
• Spider-Man: Brand New Day secures second-biggest opening weekend in box office history

The Hollywood Patch is live

• The last week has been a reminder that sometimes the box office can deliver just as meaningful of a live video game update as its developers

It's unusual to see such vast spikes in sales and player counts of older games like Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Marvel's Spider-Man, and in this case, blockbuster movies are the driving forces. It highlights a shift in the way that people are interacting with big adaptations, as they search for ways to stay in these worlds once the credits roll.

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has become a monocultural moment, dominating cinemas and conversation for weeks. It's also sending players straight back to Assassin's Creed Odyssey, with analysts estimating that the 2018 release has seen a 90% player engagement jump in the 10 days following the film's release.

AC Odyssey features a lot of the same mythology as Nolan's latest despite not actually being about Homer's Odyssey at all, and with RPGs having a bit of a moment in the 2020s, it makes sense that vast open-world games that feature similar themes, settings, or characters as a major film can receive a second wind by association.

A similar trend is emerging out of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, though this time via direct brand synergy. The film has reportedly brought in $927 million across its opening weekend, success which has inspired Marvel's Spider-Man and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 to launch back into Steam's top 10 best-sellers. For Sony and PlayStation, it's proof that a great movie can be as effective as a big game update.

Meta Shift

Both The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day demonstrate how successful movies can help revitalize older games of a similar or shared IP. Assassin's Creed Odyssey has immediately become a go-to game to play after watching The Odyssey, featuring many mythological elements seen in the film's epic poem source material, while sales of the Marvel's Spider-Man games have benefitted from a timely Steam sale in line with Brand New Day's launch.

The trend of film-game crossover speaks to more than just the enduring success of select franchises. We've seen a general increase in licensed game adaptations (or brand new instalments) of movie IPs as of late, with 007 First Light and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle being two notable new games that center on icons of the big screen. There's even an untitled John Wick game also in the works from Saber Interactive!

Paired with Halloween: The Game and Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival, two licensed upcoming horror games launching in 2026 that feature some of the most famous names in the biz, the potential for symbiotic success as film IPs cross over to gaming is stronger than ever.

But will it work the other way? I'll be interested to see how the new Zelda movie affects sales of games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, for example, and the same can be said of the numerous other upcoming video game movies out there. Me and my colleagues on the GamesRadar+ team often find ourselves on a bit of an IP kick after a fresh release, be it film or gaming. That's just how fandom works, and gone are the days where movie prestige outpaced that of video games.

Patch Notes summary

Ancient Greek-set Assassin's Creed Odyssey has seen a 90% increase in active players as Christopher Nolan's take on The Odyssey storms theaters. At the same time, the Marvel's Spider-Man games have soared into the Top 10 Best-sellers list on Steam, bolstered by an attractive discount to celebrate Spider-Man: Brand New Day's opening weekend.

It's clear that fans are seeking to extend their experiences of both film and video games by helping themselves to both. It just goes to show how the power of an excellent IP can bring years-old games back out of retirement – even if you might have to dust off an old console or take advantage of a Steam sale to make it happen.

Related stories:

Generally speaking, using generative AI is a quick way to annoy your fanbase, and that's exactly what happened when Stellar Blade: Blood Rain developer Shift Up revealed a music video using the tech for the upcoming game. The head of the company has now responded to the waves of backlash, clarifying that the original design of the sequel's protagonist was made by human beings.

On Twitter, Kim Hyung Tae, the CEO of Shift Up, responds to someone asking if the developer could rely more on its actual workforce rather than AI. "Evie, the character at the heart of this video, was created from head to toe by our talented artists and modelers through more than a year of dedicated work," he starts.

"The AI is not creating her from scratch," he explains. "It is rendering and presenting the character based on the data, designs, and craftsmanship our team created."

It sounds like Shift Up created its own AI tool, then fed it various models and ideas for it to spew out the video on the other side. Developers and publishers adopting the tech have been using it similarly, essentially creating their own, in-house ChatGPT for whatever they need it for.

Even if everything given to the interface was manmade, it's still resource-intensive technology for what you get that comes with a myriad of ethical concerns, including how labor is deployed and valued. To finish, the studio's CEO asks that we view the Stellar Blade: Blood Rain clip, made for the song 'Wanna Be In Love,' through a lens of meshing human creativity and AI.

"We would truly appreciate it if you could view the work with that understanding in mind," he adds.

While it's helpful to get more context for how this thing came to exist, I'm not sure he's going to convince anyone to change their perspectives. "If this is your defense then you're not getting it," says one fan on Twitter. "Nobody is debating that you made the character, but you then used the big old AI shortcut to make content with that character."

But then, this is all in line with previous comments, as the Shift Up lead considers AI necessary to the South Korean game industry. Prepare to take more hikes through the uncanny valley courtesy of Shift Up.

Stellar Blade Switch 2 age rating suggests release date news could be imminent, and we probably won't be seeing any Dispatch-like censorship, either.

My physical movie collection is my baby. I covet my shelves of videotapes, DVDs, and Blu-rays just as much as my game collection. Not only do I love having a piece of media that I physically hold in my hands, but owning one of my favorite movies on DVD or Blu-ray means I can always get access to that film without having to rely on a good internet connection or whether it's even available on a streaming service to begin with.

Should Netflix ever decide it no longer wants to host Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster Jaws, it's okay, as I own multiple copies of my favorite film that's forever made me too terrified to swim in the ocean. Yet cultivating this collection hasn't been an easy feat. I have made a lot of mistakes in my over 15 years of collecting Blu-rays alone, from over-spending to accidentally grabbing bootleg releases of films that are no longer in print. But the cool thing about making mistakes is that I share what I learned with a new generation of physical media enthusiasts.

I've laid out my top tips in total below for those of you who may be suffering from streaming fatigue and are starting a new physical collecting journey. Just remember that while you can invest in a new swanky Blu-ray player to play your growing collection, any disc-edition PS5 can run both standard and 4K UHD discs. If you've already got the Sony console in tow, sticking with it can help save you some cash, which you can put towards more Blu-rays. Or DVDs, I won't judge.

1 - You don't need to own every single Blu-ray release in existence

Before you go buying up every Blu-ray that you find, my number one tip is to try and narrow down what type of films you want to collect and watch. This is always the most realistic approach to collecting any form of physical media. Not everyone has an unlimited budget, and so narrowing the types of movies or TV you want to own physically can really help make building your collection a more realistic and approachable endeavour.

For example, I focus primarily on collecting Blu-rays and films of the horror and anime genre - with general film and TV shows being secondary. In my living room right now, I have shelves dedicated purely to horror and purely to anime, and it helps keep me focused whenever I'm in my local second-hand store or browsing films online as to what to grab. Just the other week I stumbled into CEX (a chain of second-hand media and gaming stores in the UK) and immediately went to the anime section and picked up a second-hand copy of the Magic Knight Rayearth: The Complete Series boxset by All the Anime.

I'm really happy with my latest acquisition as I not only got it for far cheaper than its MSRP, but it's one that's frequently sold out at retailers online, including All The Anime's own online storefront. Yet, had I gone to CEX without that 'anime' focus, I may not have immediately spotted the boxset. Not to mention, without that focus, I could have spent far more than would be healthy for my bank account to endure. I really don't like making that mistake, and neither do my savings.

2 - Pre-ordering new 4K Blu-ray releases can help avoid disappointment

Some 4K UHD Blu-ray releases can be highly sought after, particularly if they come with a whole bunch of physical goodies. With that in mind, I highly recommend pre-ordering any that you have your eye on to avoid disappointment and having to hand over your hard-earned cash to re-sellers on eBay down the line.

This is a tip that isn't always manageable, especially if you've got a limited budget or if a film drops weeks before payday. However, it's your best bet to avoid dealing with some serious FOMO. Had I not bothered to pre-order the Dogma 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, I'd have been kicking myself as it remained out of stock for a while at UK retailers like Zavvi, where I predominantly pick up the latest 4K releases.

However, I knew I had to grab it as soon as possible, as not only is it one of my all-time favorite films, but it had been out of print for years due to rights issues. That gave me an inclination that it would sell out fast, which nicely rolls into my next bit of advice.

3 - Always do a little bit of research before you buy

Not all Blu-ray releases are created equal. Just because a film or TV series is getting a new physical release doesn't mean it's going to be produced with the utmost care and quality like the rest of your collection, so research is always vital.

For example, I'm a huge fan of the Dragon Ball anime franchise, and yet I don't own the series physically besides some of the movies. Why? Because the Blu-ray releases often don't look fantastic, and I'd rather wait until another company comes along and gives the series what it's due. The way the episodes of Dragon Ball Z are remastered often looks blurry and gives me a bit of motion sickness. As a result, to this day I still don't own one of my favorite series physically, but I'm glad I did research beforehand so I didn't waste my cash.

Research can help in other ways too. As I mentioned above, being familiar with the fact that Dogma was out of print for so long was partially what spurred me to ensure I grabbed its recent re-release. Taking your time to read up about upcoming Blu-ray releases, how they're made, and what's included with the film can help ensure you have a collection that you're proud of, and one you hopefully haven't spent more to build than you needed to.

4 - Never be afraid to shop second-hand

I wouldn't have as big a collection of DVDs, Blu-ray, and 4K Blu-rays had it not been for thrift stores, eBay, and other second-hand retailers. While I get it's always a nice serotonin boost to unwrap the cellophane of your movie for the first time, buying pre-owned Blu-rays can open up your collection to a whole new world of possibilities.

For one, it can make collecting physical media far more budget-friendly. There have been so many instances where I've stumbled in a local second hand store only to find a film I didn't yet own for £1-2, which was, at the time, sitting online at Amazon for at least £10. Sure, every time I've done this, the cases aren't always in the most immaculate condition, but saving cash (which I can put towards even more movies) can be far better in the long run.

Being open to adding second-hand Blu-rays to your growing collection can not only be better financially, but it can be a great way of finding gems or movies you wouldn't have otherwise known to watch. Plus, nothing beats having a rummage to find your next favorite movie.

5 - Familiarize yourself with the best US and UK Blu-ray retailers

This tip is a biggie, as without it I'd not have the collection I do today. There's a myriad of US and UK retailers that stock Blu-rays and 4K UHD releases, but not all of them will have the same bountiful spread of new releases, nor will they have the same kind of sales that can help fill up your shelves.

If you're based in the US, I've gathered a list of the top online stores for picking up the latest Blu-ray releases down below:

• Amazon: regular discounts across a wide range of Blu-ray releases
• Criterion: a huge variety of Blu-ray types presented perfectly for cineaphiles
• Walmart: provides super-low, budget-friendly prices on a range of blu-rays
• Zavvi: a huge range of limited edition 4K releases at competitive prices

When it comes to the UK, my personal favorites are Zavvi and HMV. Zavvi is well-known for supplying some of the snazziest limited edition releases, and it's where I instinctively went to grab my steelbook copy of the Jaws: 50th Anniversary Edition 4K UHD Blu-ray at launch. How many Jaws copies is too many?

HMV is also dependable for providing sales and discounts that cover a wide range of Blu-rays and 4K releases. Each payday I regularly check back in to see what I can grab, and even as I type these very words, the online store is currently running a 2 for £18 Collector's Blu-ray deal. I've gathered the two retailers, and a few more of my favorite places to shop here in the UK, down below:

• Amazon: regular discounts on a plethora of Blu-rays and film
• HMV: the best place for Blu-ray sales and offers
• Zavvi: great prices for limited edition Blu-ray releases

FAQ

• View all Blu-ray deals at Amazon

Already got plenty to watch? Check out our guides to the best gaming TVs, the best gaming chairs, and the best gaming headsets to help transform your gaming and movie-watching setup.

There isn't much better advertising than having a direct connection to what is one of the biggest movies ever. Thanks to Spider-Man: Brand New Day absolutely smashing the box office, two of Insomniac's games starring the wallcrawler are charting very well on Steam.

That's right, not one, but two of the masked menace's biggest video games have climbed the charts. J Jonah Jameson will be furious. According to the Steam Top Sellers list on SteamDB, Spider-Man 2 is fifth on Valve's platform, while the first is at ninth.

The two of them in the top ten is a nice little bit of synergy. Brand New Day just started its theatrical run in the US, Britain, and many other major territories, bringing in an obscene $927 million over the course of the weekend.

Watching Peter Parker's latest Hollywood outing clearly inspired at least a few fans to go home and look into if there are any games that have the similar energy. Lo and behold, there are several, and Insomniac's releases are at the top of the pile.

It's impossible to say for certain, of course - the well-timed discounts may have convinced a couple of buyers as well. But between the film and Spider-Man 2 being 33% off, it's hard to imagine any other causes for such a clean jump up through the ranks.

It won't hurt that there's a costume based on Brand New Day now as well, for maximum synchronicity. Insomniac's first Spider-Man is down by 60% too, letting you pick up both for the price of a completely new release at full price.

If you're someone who's made these purchases, might I suggest Miles Morales - Spider-Man as well? It's considered something of a sidequel, since it effectively bridges the other two Spidey games from Insomniac, but it's as good as either, if shorter and more contained. Don't gloss over it - Miles is a worthy successor and partner to Peter, and you'll learn exactly why by playing.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2's new cel-shaded suit is a lot cooler in theory than it is in action as fans tear it apart for looking like cheap CGI: "It reminds me of Spy Kids"

As Sony doubles down on its plan to end support for physical PlayStation games, game preservation group DoesItPlay finds that about a third of physical PS5 games effectively don't work without a download, and that jumps up to 50% on Xbox Series X.

Ars Technica spoke to DoesItPlay owner and head admin Clemens Itsel, reporting that 27% of the 3,511 physical games tested so far require a download "to fix game-breaking bugs or obtain core game content" not present on the disc.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a useful example. Can you play that game on console without a download? Sure. But should anyone suffer through the disastrous day-one console build of that game? Heck no.

“There is a clear trend that physical releases are increasingly treated with ignorance from larger companies," Itsel argues. "There is no reason physical games would ever die unless someone like Sony deliberately kills them."

DoesItPlay tests physical games using an offline environment and local accounts that have "not been connected to any online services like PlayStation Network, EA Origin, Bethesda.net, Battle.net, etc."

The group's methodology is fairly straightforward. By beating a game's main story (or mode), testing "common stress situations," documenting bugs and missing content, comparing region and edition gaps as well as platform discrepancies, it creates a profile for how offline-friendly a disc is.

It's easy to call out whether a game requires an online connection to function. The necessity of a download gets a little grayer. DoesItPlay has four different ratings for "download required," which can be summarized as:

• No: The whole game is on the "physical medium," disc or cartridge, doesn't have significant bugs requiring patches, and "only insignificant content" requires a download
• No*: the game is content-complete but "has bugs that are either too severe or too many to provide," or is missing minor content accessed via downloads
• Yes*: You can beat this game with "a very high tolerance of bugs or luck to progress past them," or the game is missing "significant side content" like story DLC, new characters, and so on
• Yes: If a "hard-coded prompt for a download" doesn't stop you, game-breaking bugs or essential, download-only content will

Again, let's pick on Cyberpunk 2077. It gets a "yes" for offline friendly, and a big red "yes" for "download required." DoesItPlay explains: "Power of the PS5 masks a few technical issues, but even the PS5 can't completely mask the framerate issues, pop in, and bugs."

Itsel heavily criticizes the way even physical copies of games have been hollowed out.

"Xbox has long given up on producing fully functioning physical releases," he says amid rumors of Microsoft testing a disc-to-digital service. "They far too often require downloads or force players to create a Microsoft account. It's deliberately undermining the value of physical releases by making them incomplete or online-dependent in other ways."

It's not just Xbox, either. Itsel calls the Nintendo Switch 2's game-key cards "a form of deception" for essentially putting redemption keys on a cart, and says the root problem is how companies have been allowed to "relabel a purchase into 'licensing'."

PlayStation ditching physical games is "a bridge across the bad years" of high hardware costs, analyst says, but it means "casuals and youngsters will drift off to mobile, PC, and free-to-play even faster."

Remember Sir Daniel Fortesque? The skeleton hero of Gallowmere and the star of the iconic PlayStation game MediEvil that released back in 1998? Well, he's back, in toy form.

The iconic skeletal knight and one of my personal favorite video game characters of all time is part of a new Console Heroes diorama, which simultaneously appeared and was marked as "sold out" at Target for $24.99 (Target), despite not yet being on sale. I fully suspect this listing is just a placeholder for when its release date is ready to drop, and I'm going to need that to be soon, as I'm desperate to own one of the only and best toys of the '90s era PlayStation hero.

I'm well aware that there's a MediEvil Funko Pop available, and it's still $40.77 at Amazon, but that's pretty pricey, and I'm not a fan of Pop figures in any shape or form. Sir Dan's inclusion in this upcoming diorama toy feels like a better fit, as even though his mini-figure looks absolutely tiny at just 1.5 inches, it goes the extra mile to include his skull-covered Silver Shield, which I've been considering getting as a tattoo for decades.

Of course, Sir Dan isn't alone in this set. It also includes figures of additional well-known PlayStation characters, including Gabe Logan from Syphon Filter, Yagi from Cool Boarders, and Axel from Twisted Metal 2. The listing at Target states that each of these includes "peggable bases" so you're free to display them inside the diorama as you see fit.

The housing of the diorama itself is also pretty spectacular. Much like the brand's SEGA-themed toys, which included replicas of Genesis carts (or Mega Drive carts if you're based in the UK like me), the housing is a replica of the original PlayStation console. The brand even went as far as to sculpt the controller ports, which you can see at the front as you open up the collectible - a detail I'm very much a fan of.

What about iconic original PlayStation-era characters like Cloud and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7? Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that this new line-up of Console Heroes toys also includes sets dedicated to the beloved RPG, but the bad news is that the $14.99 (Target) set is also listed as "out of stock" for now.

I was hoping this was because they haven't officially launched quite yet. However, a quick search of X (Twitter) reveals users like @asashii29 posted on July 30, 2026 that they were able to pre-order it for just $15, so stock might be gone for now. Which is disappointing, as I love the fact that the toy brand has re-created the burning Nibelheim as Cloud and Sephiroth's toy backdrop. Fortunately, there are no plastic 1.5-inch replicas of the townspeople dying in a fiery blaze behind them. But it's a neat reference which sets it apart from Square Enix's previously released polygon Final Fantasy 7 figures.

For you UK toy collectors, I'll be keeping an eye on these new waves of Console Hero dioramas and will update this page if and when I find stock available. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll be just as easy to find on toy shelves both online and in-person as the SEGA ones before them.

• View all Console Hero toys at Amazon

Our team's toy expert Benjamin Abbott has also gathered the best Lego sets and the best Nintendo gifts if you're on the hunt for more nostalgic collectibles.

Sony's decision to end physical disc production for new games on PlayStation consoles in 2028 isn't exactly popular among consumers – but that doesn't mean the company thinks it's making the wrong choice.

The end of physical media as we know it is quite the hot topic, with game preservation experts predicting it'll all just lead to more piracy and folks within the industry speaking out against companies' move toward digital-only gaming. Lords of the Fallen 2 publisher Marek Tyminski, for example, stated that Sony's choice to axe discs and the fact that GTA 6 is going disc-free itself "feels unfair to studios still backing physical" – so, yeah.

However, Sony appears to be unwavering in its decision. Following its quarterly financial conference during an earnings call Q&A (as transcribed by Investing), Sony chief financial officer Lin Tao implies as much.

The "biggest" reason? "The digitalization of contents overall has been progressing. That's the big factor. It's not just for PlayStation, but for all kinds of contents – digitalization is progressing." I immediately think of DVDs, personally.

According to Tao, Sony considered its decision for quite some time.

"When we think about the future – and we put in a lot of thought and time, we cautiously considered this – we came to this conclusion: we're going to cautiously move this forward. To this decision, we have received various opinions; people have strong views, and we understand that the community has put forth those views to us. Games are loved by many people."

That's perhaps an understatement – and, unsurprisingly, the nostalgia factor doesn't help. "It's a form of entertainment that's loved by people," as Tao says, "it's connected to people's fond memories in many cases."

And, although Sony isn't backing down on going disc-free, the executive explains that it's not a cut-and-dried process. "We understand those emotions. We want to consider that," she admits. "And in the future digital ecosystem, how do we engage the gamers is something that we would like to continue to explore."

I do wonder what that means – but, again, it's probably not what most gamers want to hear. It's not an admission of Sony taking its choice back and opting to support physical media… and "future digital ecosystem" is admittedly a tough quote to swallow as a longtime game collector myself.

Plus, Sony goes on to say it doesn't "see that there will be any negative impact on our business."

I'm choosing to remain hopeful that we'll still see discs and game cards in the future in some capacity – even if I'm holding on to a dying form of media here. A girl can dream, right?

Here's why we think PlayStation killing discs is bad for everyone, whether you care about physical games or not.

Ghost of Yotei animator Jean Nguyen says Sony studio Sucker Punch was "very supportive" of him making his own game, the hit Steam release Dinoblade, at a time when "most game studios don't let you do that."

Dinoblade, a dinosaur action RPG, is the work of Nguyen and a few supporters, including his own brother. Nguyen still works at Sucker Punch – and he still really likes working there – so it was a little surprising that he was allowed to make his own game at all.

"I had to go through legal, just make sure that I got approval to work on my side project. And I still own the IP 100%," Nguyen tells me. "They're very supportive, and they have supported other employees before. It's a really good position I was in, because most game studios don't let you do that. So I was very lucky to be there and to have Sucker Punch's support."

Just this week, Game Developer published a report on how side work clauses in game dev contracts, which restrict or prohibit what projects employees are allowed to make on their own time, can create "undue burden" on devs and deny them creative outlets that often lead to better performance in their main job.

"As long as I'm doing well and you can see that I'm not slacking off on the quality of work," Nguyen says Sucker Punch doesn't mind at all.

In his case, learning to make a whole game largely on his own was a big shift that taught him a lot about game dev, even after years in the industry. He started with animation work in mobile games at Glu Mobile, later working on some bizarre Britney Spears and Nicki Minaj games, and eventually went to larger studios before winding up at Sucker Punch about three years ago.

"With a big studio, it's important to work with the team, to have everyone come together and have a vision," he explains. But as an indie, he was suddenly flooded with freedom.

"I don't have to do a lot of meetings with people," he continues. "I kind of just go in and do what I want. I have the vision myself. I get to go as unique or crazy as I want without worrying about what my teammate thinks, so I get to try new things and unique things that are more risky that could have a good reward.

"And that's important because it's a way to differentiate Dinoblade from AAA games. What can I do to have players want to play my game when it's, like, low quality? What's unique about it? They could play a high-polish AAA game, so I'm trying out risky stuff, anything I could think of that's fun that I could put in the game. I get that freedom."

Shifting from an animation focus to an everything focus meant, you guessed it, watching a bunch of Unreal Engine tutorials. Over roughly three years, putting in 5 to 15 hours a week, Nguyen slowly cobbled together a real, breathing game based on the viral sword-wielding spinosaurus animation demo that not only put a lot of eyes on the project, but also pushed Nguyen to make this game at all.

The maker of Combat Fury, an Unreal Engine combat system framework, was hugely helpful early on, Nguyen says. He also hired contractors to make models for some of Dinoblade's key story bosses so they'd stand out from the ready-made assets available on the Unreal shop, and he commissioned some music to round things out. But the majority of the work boiled down to his nights and weekends, with some animation and QA help from his brother.

With 83,000 copies sold in a week and a 90% positive score across 1,700 Steam user reviews, Dinoblade is a certified success. Encouraged by its launch, Nguyen plans to continue supporting the game. He says he'll also consider a direct sequel or indirect follow-up once things have calmed down a bit.

"Maybe in the future there's potential that I would like to start my own studio, go full-time on it," he explains. "I want to dream big. I enjoy seeing people play my game. It's really rewarding, so I just want to keep doing that. But it's more of a hobby to me than a career, I would say."

Two devs made a game in 4 months, now it's made $360,000 in 24 hours as Steam's 15th best-selling game: "Still a bit unbelievable."

The crossover we've been waiting for is finally about to arrive. Warhammer 40,000 is coming to Helldivers 2 in the form of new weapons, armor, stratagems and more, to make destroying the bugs and robots even easier than before.

Developer Arrowhead Game Studios has shared a trailer revealing everything in the Helldivers 2 Warhammer 40K Warbond, and there's plenty to dig into. Right off the bat, and I think we all expected this, the Bolt Pistol is being added to the armory. A safe, sturdy piece of kit that'll reduce any insect to flailing limbs.

Then you've the Meltamine, used against Automatons in the video to demonstrate its usefulness against metal and heavy armor. Anything that gives robot scum and even worse day is perfectly fine by me. Preferable, even.

The Hot Shot Marksman Rifle rounds out the standard weapons, a semi-automatic sniper made for picking out headshots when faced with a maelstrom of enemies. Ideal for giving cover, or staving off a wave of insects from a distance.

While these can be used for your loadouts, the Meltagun is a new stratagem. I gawked at first at the notion of this not being something I can lock and load as soon as I drop in, but then seeing it in action, I get it. Melting things by pulling a trigger is a power you should earn, and only for a limited time.

Two sets of armor accompany these, inspired by the Astra Militarum's Kasrkin, which are certainly far more appropriate for Super Earth's loyal army of death-prone soldiers than the more robust, superhuman Space Marines of the 40K universe, for example. Otherwise, there's a smattering of other minor changes that'll come in tow. It all looks like a lot of fun, especially if you like war, and boy howdy, do I like war.

The Warhammer 40,000 collaboration kicks off on August 12.

Helldivers 2 targets Super Credit cheaters with "radically improved" tools, but not everyone's on board with Arrowhead's announcement.

Marvel's Wolverine could very well be one of the last Insomniac games to ever get a physical release. Sony's decision to put an end to physical releases after January 2028 means it's very likely that I won't be adding more of the studio's PS5 titles to my shelf after my beloved Marvel's Spider-Man 2, one of my favorite modern games over the last 10 years.

That realisation is why I was pretty comfortable paying full price for Marvel's Wolverine just to ensure I was sent a physical copy for my collection on its September 15 release day, but I'm far happier with its new pre-order deal. Smyths Toys has dropped the £69.99 MSRP down to £57.99 (Smyths Toys) right now, which means I've saved £12 off the game and it's not even out yet.

One of the reasons why I adore physical PS5 games so much is not just because I like to have a physical game sitting on my shelf so I can gaze lovingly at the box art, but because I can take advantage of deals like this one.

A quick check of the PlayStation online store shows the game available for its full £69.99 (PlayStation Store) MSRP, with no discounts in sight. Had I only had this option to pre-order the game, I would not have been able to take advantage of that £12 off, which is very likely going towards another physical game, if I'm honest. I'm looking at you, Silent Hill: Townfall.

If you're based in the US, the early pre-order discounts aren't as fun to sink your Wolverine claws into. At retailers like GameStop and Best Buy, the game is listed at its full $69.99 price, unfortunately. However, PS5 titles are so prone to price drops, even mere weeks ahead of release, so I recommend bookmarking out Marvel's Wolverine pre-order page to keep up to date with the best prices, which is curated by yours truly.

• View all Ps5 gaming deals at Amazon

Check out our guides to the best PS5 controllers, the best PS5 headsets, and the best SSDs for PS5 if you've already got plenty to play.

The Pokemon Company and Sony have issued statements showing support for those affected by the shindo 7 intensity earthquake, which hit Kumamoto, Japan on July 28. The Pokemon Company has donated 100 million yen (approximately $612,000) and Sony at least 50 million yen (roughly $306,000) towards restoration and relief efforts for the region.

Kumamoto prefecture was hit by the highest intensity earthquake on the afternoon of July 28. It claimed the lives of at least 34 people with hundreds more injured. A mall in Yatsushiro city collapsed following an explosion caused by the earthquake, trapping shoppers inside, and a fire broke out in nearby Uki city. A train was also derailed in the disaster.

The Pokemon Company released an official statement on social media that has been translated by GamesRadar+, titled: "Support for areas affected by the 2026 Kumamoto earthquake disaster."

"We would like to humbly express our deepest sympathies for everyone affected by the Kumamoto earthquake that occurred on July 28, 2026," the statement reads. "The Pokemon Company has decided to donate a total of 100 million yen [approximately $612,000] to Kumamoto prefecture, the Japanese Red Cross, and other support organizations to help with relief efforts for those affected, and to aid in the restoration of the affected areas. From the bottom of our hearts, we sincerely wish a speedy recovery for and restoration of the areas affected."

Sony has also issued a statement that it has donated 50 million yen (approximately $306,000) and is asking employees for further donations, which the company will match. The money will go to the Japanese Red Cross and the Emergency Relief and Recovery Fund for Children, which is jointly operated by Save the Children and Sony.

The statement from Sony president Hiroki Totoki reads, "all of us at Sony Group are deeply saddened by the loss of life, injuries and destruction caused by this devastating earthquake. Kumamoto is a key hub for Sony's semiconductor business and an important base supporting the Sony Group's businesses."

The message continues, "since the establishment of the Kumamoto Technology Center in 2001, Kumamoto has been a place with which we share deep ties, having grown together with the local community over many years. Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by this disaster. We send our sincerest condolences to all those affected and hope for a full and swift recovery."

I'm in dire need of a new PS5 controller. My current DualSense spread has taken a bit of a beating, and I get a sense that they all suffer from a little bit of stick drift. That being said, I don't entirely feel comfortable forking out the $74-79 required for a replacement pad.

With that in mind, I've been considering investing in an out-of-box controller, and seeing that you can grab one for as little as $25.99 at Best Buy right now is definitely a good motivator. That's a saving of $48 off a brand new model, and better yet, it's the stunning Cobalt Blue version and not the garish-looking white pad that I already own.

If you're considering grabbing this lovely blue PS5 pad for yourself, do remember that it's an "open box" controller. That means that it's been "opened and returned by another customer" according to Best Buy, which is a nice way of saying that it's already been played with.

As is the case whenever you buy any of the best PS5 controllers second hand, you can expect some general wear and tear and light cosmetic damage to the pad, but it should be in full working order. In fact, Best Buy has given this controller in particular an "excellent" rating, which means it should work and look like new, and that includes all the parts and accessories. That being said, you're likely not getting the box it originally came in, but who needs more packaging when it's just going to end up in your recycling bin anyway?

If you aren't entirely comfortable buying a pre-loved PS5 controller, I get it. You can alternatively pick up a brand new DualSense for $69 at Best Buy, saving you $10 off the shimmering Chroma Indigo model. It also happens to be blue, but it includes a bit more of a sparkle and will be brand-new and includes all the packaging for your storing or recycling pleasure.

• View all controller deals at Best Buy

Our team's controller expert Duncan Robertson has also rounded up the best PC controllers for gaming, the best Nintendo Switch controllers, and the best Xbox Series X controllers if you're on the hunt for a new quality pad.

Early this month, PlayStation briefly edged out Xbox in the race for most figurative rakes stepped on by announcing the end of physical game production in 2028, and a prominent industry analyst says there are more risks for Sony to worry about than its current PR crisis.

"PlayStation going digital in 2028 is more of a stopgap than a strategy, I reckon," says Alinea Analytics' Rhys Elliott on Twitter. "This is short-term margin harvesting during a rough period. It's PlayStation buying time. The bet is that today's cost squeeze is a phase and not a permanent state.

"Hopefully, the component crisis eases once the AI-datacentre gold rush stops devouring the world's memory and storage supply, hardware gets cheaper to make again, and the macro picture (interest rates, cost-of-living pressure on discretionary spend) softens."

It's possible, argues Elliott, that Sony's decision to phase out game discs could help PlayStation offset elevated hardware costs in the short term and leave it with a record of healthier margins and growth if and when things go back to normal. The big guess is whether the ongoing memory shortage driving exorbitant hardware manufacturing costs is the new normal, and even if it isn't, whether it's worth potentially pricing out a reliable market segment for short-term stability.

In Elliott's words, PlayStation's strategy is "a bridge across the bad years," and there's always a risk "that the bridge doesn't reach anywhere better," implying the possibility that hardware prices will never go back down to where they were. But there's another risk to Sony's decision: "Budget-conscious and younger players enter the console ecosystem through cheap pre-owned discs, then get locked in by buying digital DLC, subscribing to PS Plus, and building a friend list they won't walk away from.

"Killing physical media boards up one of the cheapest doorways into PlayStation," Elliott says. "In a gen where consoles cost $700+ and games hit $80, kicking down the cheap ladder accelerates audience split. Outside of the sports games, casuals and youngsters will drift off to mobile, PC, and free-to-play even faster."

In Elliott's estimation, PlayStation is ditching discs under pressure by "component inflation, ballooning AAA budgets, flat install bases, and post-pandemic readjustment," but it could prove to be "short-sighted" if the price of making consoles comes back down and PlayStation is left with a fractured install base. And if prices don't come down, "it looks like managed decline," he says.

"Either way, it is a lever pulled under heavy pressure. And it's a new base line in a world where the number needs to keep going up."

Trying to find a good deal on Saros has made me angrier about PlayStation killing discs – it's anti-consumer and will price gamers out of our hobby

Peter Parker got new threads in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 recently. One inspired by new Marvel movie Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the other drawing from the wallcrawler's appearance in Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, and the latter's art style doesn't sit quite right with Insomniac's aesthetic.

As with other suits that have distinct aesthetics, the Marvel Tokon costume retains the particular coloring of the game it's drawing from. This gives it a bright, cel-shaded glow amid the realism of Insomniac's vision of New York City. And in cutscenes and transitions featuring Peter and Miles, there's a bit of a color clash.

"God this shit looks so fuckin goofy," says one Twitter user, sharing screenshots of Peter, unmasked in the Tokon suit. His regular, adult face looks photoshopped onto the cartoony body, and it's made worse in moments where he appears to have a serious or glum expression.

They follow this up with a clip of Peter and Miles heading off on a mission, and in the video, Peter puts on his regular mask, which looks even more jarring atop his newer get-up. The game switches to the Tokon mask afterward, but it's hilarious to see in motion.

"For some reason it reminds me of Spy Kids," says one reply, referencing the heavy use of CGI in those films. "It's like if Nintendo were forced to have actor face-scans in their games," another says.

Spider-Man 2 already has a few suits that contrast with the game's generally realistic aesthetic – notably the Into the Spiderverse suits, which by default even cut the frame rate of Spidey's animations to make them look in line with the animated film. It's still a visual clash, but at least we get some absurd visuals to laugh at – win-win, honestly.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day box office predictions are in – and it could make Marvel history

Colorful PS5 console covers are pretty commonplace, and Sony has even churned out a few based on games like Ghost of Yotei. But officially licensed covers sporting art of iconic anime characters aren't quite as widespread. Want the likes of Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, Trunks, and Piccolo on your console? This Dragon Ball Z Silicone Cover for the Disc Edition PS5 Slim by FRTEC has you covered.

The brand behind the £29.99 (Argos) accessory has created some of the best PS5 accessories for Dragon Ball fans in the past. I even own a pair of their official Dragon Ball thumb grips that transform the classic 4-star ball into a comfortable add-on for my plain and boring DualSense. This silicone case entirely slipped me by when it released in March earlier this year, however. It's not a typical set that you can swap with the default white chassis, but a silicone cover that wraps around the console as is, and as big a Dragon Ball fan as I am, I can't tell if I love or hate it - but I'm glad it exists.

The variety of console covers is pretty lacking throughout the PS5's almost 6-year lifespan. Right now, if you were to pop onto the official PS Direct storefront, you could choose between the three Hyperpop collection color combos, the Ghost of Yotei set I referenced above, and a couple of other colorways, but there's nothing for anime fans.

Third-party brands have plenty, but in a world where Gen AI images are running rampant, I'd rather not accidentally invest in a set of covers for my PS5 only for them to arrive and have Goku sporting 6 fingers.

Where I'm hesitant is that I'm not the biggest fan of how it looks. If I were tasked with designing the Dragon Ball accessory, I'd likely not have chosen to re-use the same Super Saiyan 2 Gohan art we've seen time and time again.

A Capsule Corp look, making the PS5 look like a contraption Bulma had conjured up in her spare time, would have felt more suiting. However, I'd take seeing Gohan's shining yellow Saiyan hairdo over having no official Dragon Ball PS5 covers at all. At least FRTEC ensured to include my boy Shenron at the back, which is a pretty neat addition as the brand could have easily left it blank instead.

I'm a little uneasy that it's a silicone casing rather than a traditional cover, as there's the chance that extra dust and grime can get stuck in its crevices. Not to mention, it could insulate the console if a vent or port got accidentally covered.

Regrettably, I can't even pick it up to try it out for size as it's only compatible with the Disc Edition PS5 Slim. I'm still sporting the chonky old launch model console, so when Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 launches sometime next year, I'll have to stick with my Dbrand Spider-Man inspired covers instead. If you're based in the US, you'll sadly have to do the same, as I haven't managed to find these available across the pond.

That being said, a range of FRTEC's anime goodies are available starting from $24.99 at Amazon in the US, including a Dragon Ball case for the PS5 DualSense controller, if you're eager to show off your love of Goku and friends.

• View all FRTEC gaming accessories at Amazon

Our team has also rounded up the best SSDs for PS5, the best PS5 controllers, and the best PS5 headsets that are worth adding to your Sony setup.

There's a new Spidey film coming out this week, and what better way to celebrate than with an update to Marvel's Spider-Man 2? Two costumes have been added to the game, and there's some added support for upscaling.

Of the two suits that are now in Peter Parker's closest, the first is the Fresh Start get-up, taking heavy inspiration from Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the latest movie featuring the wallcrawler. This is another take on the classic, iconic Spider-Man look, and I'm not complaining because it's still extremely pleasing to the eye.

The second costume actually comes from another game, Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls. This one's got a more contemporary sci-fi edge, with white accessories and a larger spider emblem on the chest. It maintains the slightly cel-shaded aesthetic from Fighting Souls as well. I do love when Insomniac incorporates different aesthetics for the suits, the resulting effect is always impressive.

In the replies on Twitter, Insomniac clarifies that these are completely free of charge. You need only start up the game, let it auto-update, and you'll have access to both of these as part of your wardrobe. Since Brand New Day opens tomorrow, July 29, the timing is perfect to see it, then settle into swinging around New York City in the same threads as our cinematic Peter.

Besides these ensembles, support has been added for both Enhanced PSSR on PS5 Pro and Power Saver mode. The former, if you're unaware, is an AI upscaling feature on the system. Your mileage may vary depending on how much you like what changes it makes, but it's good to have options for your crime-fighting escapades.

Now then, I have side-quests to complete. And by side-quests, I mean taking dozens of cool pictures with these two suits I can hopefully sell to The Daily Bugle.

After keeping the secret for over a year, Sadie Sink's Marvel character is spoiled at the Spider-Man: Brand New Day premiere.

A new promotion from Sony spotlighting its LX3 vinyl record turntable sparked renewed backlash from PlayStation fans frustrated and disappointed with the company's move to end physical media on the games side.

In January 2028, Sony will end support and manufacturing for physical copies for all new PlayStation games. Yet the love of physical media is alive and well in a new post from the company, which, like everything else Sony posts right now, has become a lightning rod for criticism.

"Rediscover the warmth, detail, and ritual of vinyl with the LX3 Turntable," Sony implores. "Drop the needle, press play, and enjoy music the way it was meant to be heard."

The responses to the post are about what you'd expect. Game preservation group Does It Play? writes, "Apparently, physical media is worth supporting even if it is a small niche. PS games are much bigger than vinyl. Yet for some reason, they feel the need to kill gaming culture for profit. Shame!"

"If you can do physical for music, you can do it for games," replies another user.

"So physical media is cool again... as long as it isn't game discs?" says a third.

Noted PlayStation and FromSoftware sleuth Lance McDonald sums it up with his reply: "Ahahahahahhaahahhaahahahhaahhahahaahhahaha."

The irony is that the mounting support for vinyl records and waning support for physical games are largely driven by similar factors but to different ends, even though a non-trivial number of consumers in both spaces love physical media.

A larger and larger percentage of game sales are digital following overwhelming audience migration, and Sony stands to make a lot more money per sale off digital copies. Ending physical PlayStation games will also drive more users to its in-house store, furthering its control over the sales pipeline.

The market for vinyl records, meanwhile, has shown impressive recovery and growth in the past five years or so, and music companies and artists love to sell their stuff physically because a single record sale is worth about a zillion plays on digital services like Spotify.

The mediums are distinct and their markets are wrestling with different forces, but there's something to be said for just how music, so thoroughly digitally commodified, got into the position that actual record sales are now treated as an oasis.

Pertinently, vinyl records are still supported by a relatively small but enthusiastic market that's willing to pay for something refreshingly tangible – exactly the sort of audience that, many experts have argued, physical games could sustain if supported. As someone who owns a lot of video game vinyl, specifically, I'm comfortably in this camp.

But demonstrably, Sony doesn't see that audience as relevant enough to outweigh the potential gains of a digital-only future, which absolutely, positively will not lead to enormous knock-on effects or access issues.

Ubisoft CEO says ditching physical games "helped" PC gaming, and PlayStation ending discs won't "disturb" the industry much anyway.

Sony's Days of Play sales have long since ended, and I had assumed all of its deals ended with it. However, both the Death Stranding 2 On the Beach Collector's Edition and the Ghost of Yotei Collector's Edition, which include copies of the game and a smorgasbord of exclusive physical goodies, have returned with the same set of savings as the annual Sony event.

For a limited time, you can grab the Death Stranding 2 On the Beach CE for just $129.99 (PS Direct) and the Ghost of Yotei CE for as low as $149.99 (PS Direct), saving yourself $100 off each. These savings are part of a wider sale at PS Direct, which includes discounts on PSVR2 and even a rare deal on the 8TB WD BLACK Internal SN850P SSD. However, unless you have a spare $1,099.99 to spend on a spot of storage, I recommend sticking to these collector editions to get your PS5 deal fill while they're available until August 10, 2026.

Before you add either Death Stranding 2 or Ghost of Yotei to your online PS Direct shopping basket, I do need to give you a major heads up: neither one of these collector's editions includes a physical game.

As if the fact that there will be no new physical PS5 games after 2028 wasn't disappointing enough, these fancy and merch-filled versions of both games have included a digital download far before Sony made its big announcement earlier this month. That means that while you'll get a boatload of physical merchandise for each title, both Death Stranding 2 On the Beach and Ghost of Yotei are included as digital downloads. There aren't even empty boxes to add to your shelf, as is the case with the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6, which is mega disappointing.

With that in mind, it's better if you see these deals as ways to get your hands on some exclusive collectibles above all else. The glorious 15-inch Magellan Man Statue, which was CG modeled, 3D printed, and produced under the watchful eyes of Metal Gear Solid artist and industry legend Yoji Shinkawa, is only found within this version of Death Stranding 2, and cannot be bought separately unless you're okay searching through the mines of second-hand sites like eBay and dealing with its extortionate prices.

Considering you get it, a 3-inch Dollman figure, art cards, a letter from big-man Hideo Kojima, and a fancy box to keep it all in feels worthwhile enough at $100 off today. You could think of the fact that the game and some in-game extras are included as a little extra, rather than the focus. At least, that's what I'm going to do as a physical game girlie.

View all PS5 gaming deals at Amazon

Check out our guides to the best PS5 headsets, the best PS5 controllers, and the best SSDs for PS5 if you've already got plenty to play.

Former president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida has explained that the company shut down Japan Studio in 2021 because its games didn't "drive console sales." He goes on to say that if you love the company's "creative games," then support the former developers by playing Slitterhead and Ratatan.

During his keynote speech at the Computer Entertainment Developers Conference, that's been translated by GamesRadar+, Yoshida says that he is frequently asked about PlayStation's closure of Japan Studio. "Players from around the world have said that it's unbelievable that Sony would shut down Japan Studio," he says. "Japan Studio released loads of games, creative games, didn't it? At that time I was saying something similar."

Japan Studio is responsible for some of the best and most innovative games in PlayStation's history. Ape Escape, Shadow of the Colossus, Siren, LocoRoco, Patapon, Gravity Rush, Astro Bot, and many more games come from the talented teams at Japan Studio. Essentially, if you fondly remember a PlayStation game with an ingenious hook, it was probably made there.

"At that time, as the head of development, I was worried about [Keiichiro] Toyama [creator of Silent Hill] and the other Japanese developers at Japan Studio," Yoshida says. "But while they came up with a lot of creative ideas, the games they made weren't big in scale. What we call AA games are a perfect fit for the PlayStation Vita, but we were slowly shifting to AAA on the PS4 and PS5, and sometimes it's difficult to scale up like that."

Despite the creativity of Japan Studios Vita and VR games, sales were poor compared to other PlayStation behemoths. Sony then decided to put its bets on AAA games. "As a company, PlayStation wanted to drive hardware sales with games like God of War and Uncharted, because that's the kind of game that's in demand," he says. "It's hard for Japan Studio to launch a new series on console."

He finishes by urging people who loved Japan Studio to continue supporting the developers who worked there. "Toyama also had a number of ideas which weren't able to be greenlit before Japan Studio shut down," he explains before encouraging PlayStation players to try his new game Slitterhead, and Patapon creator Hiroyuki Kotani's latest game Ratatan.

Even former PlayStation chief Shuhei Yoshida doesn't know why Bloodborne hasn't been remastered or released on PC: "It's a complete mystery."

Sony's Playstation Store and PlayStation Network are down for many users, making purchases and some games and features unavailable.

PlayStation status detector reports "all services are experiencing issues" for both the US and UK. The issues began around 10:19am EST, according to a footnote in the status detector. Ol' reliable, Downdetector, shows the same.

When Sony says all services, it means it. On every platform, from PS Vita to PS5, the ability to purchase, download, browse, search, or redeem games is looking wobbly. Sign in, account details, PlayStation video apps, gaming trophies and widgets, and, perhaps most obviously, streaming may also be affected.

GamesRadar+ UK staff have ran run issues of our own, though some US writers have lucked into functionality. I was somehow able to claim and start a download for Crosscode, one of this month's PS Plus freebies, and a game everyone should play.

"You might have difficulty getting products on the PlayStation Store," Sony's official disclaimer reads. "We're working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience."

This, of course, comes on the heels of the news that Sony will end support for physical PlayStation games in January 2028. Among the many, many concerns around the move, an especially relevant one is the fragile nature of all-digital platforms and how outages or connectivity issues can obstruct access to games.

Provided there's no login wall – another wonderful tripping hazard of modern gaming, most recently demonstrated by Halo: Campaign Evolved – the only way a server crash will break a physical game is if that server stack lands on the disc and shatters it. But digital games are beholden to their platform holders, and those platform holders are powerless before the ruler of ethereal spaghetti code, culprit of all technical issues.

All PS5 error codes explained, with fixes and solutions

PlayStation might make the growing $7.2 billion second-hand games market shrink down to roly-poly size once it officially abandons physical discs in 2028, analysts say.

A CNBC report cites data from market researcher Dataintelo describing the video games resale market as worth $7.2 billion in 2025, though experts anticipated in March that it would expand to $13.8 billion by 2034. But that estimate might look dramatically different now that PlayStation has decided to stop feeding it.

"Brick and mortar game retail is doomed," Wedbush Securities managing director of strategic planning Michael Pachter tells CNBC definitively. He explains that at least one-third of sold games are used, and these sales help fuel new game purchases, too. Fewer discs from PlayStation lead to fewer opportunities to purchase games in general, whether new or old.

Morningstar equity research director Kazunori Ito likewise imagines the secondhand games market will "keep shrinking and eventually disappear" once Sony makes the transition to digital-only. PC games are already there with the help of major online shops like Steam, Epic, and GOG, and while Xbox technically hasn't renounced game discs yet, it's apparently headed that way, and it's practicing by testing a feature that digitizes entire disc collections.

Without new PlayStation and Xbox games to keep it freshly stocked, the secondhand games market will grow stale. We'll all be passing around the same 5,000 copies of Cabela's Monster Buck Hunter until they'll rot, and then I'll really have no chance at securing one of the world's highly coveted Silent Hill 2 discs for less than $300.

Ito adds, "There is an important difference between players accepting that shift [to digital] because they see value in it, and having it effectively forced on them by taking away the alternative." But it doesn't seem to matter to PlayStation.

PlayStation killing discs is bad for everyone, whether you care about physical games or not.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot seems largely in Sony's corner regarding the scheduled end to physical PlayStation games, going to bat for some advantages of an all-digital future.

Guillemot fielded a question about the January 2028 discontinuation of physical PlayStation games during Ubisoft's financial call earlier today.

One caller asked how Ubisoft feels about Sony's decision and if it has any worries about its direct or indirect effects, such as the end of the used games market which can enable gamers to pawn games and use those funds to buy new games.

"What we saw on the PC is that it helped to grow the market," Guillemot replies. "There's also some pressure for the future on the cost of machines, and being able to be only digital will help to have a more accessible machine, I would say. As you said, there are pluses and minuses. But we think it will not disturb, too much, the industry."

There are a couple of points to unpack here. PC gaming has been functionally digital-only for decades, and the popularity of Steam proves that a lot of people don't have a problem with digital games, even if that means licensing rather than owning them.

However, other storefronts are also available on PC, whereas PlayStation only has the PlayStation Store. Additionally, since Steam isn't built for any one hardware specification, it won't up and vanish alongside aging, unsupported hardware the way the PS3 and PS Vita stores will soon enough, and even if it did, we'd still have the likes of GOG. And as general use machines, computers make it much easier to back up and preserve games, so in digital game debates, PC and console aren't perfectly equal.

We have seen digital-only consoles used as a way to lower price points, and with AI data center-induced component droughts continually pushing platform holders to raise console prices, almost anything that can lower entry points will be welcomed as we stare down an increasingly likely $1,000 console generation. But the idea of losing physical games to the AI boom has not gone down well with many.

Digital-only PS5s are outselling disc versions today, according to analyst Daniel Ahmad – but roughly 70% of PS5s sold do have a disc drive. Likewise, many of the games that are actually available physically see much greater diversity in digital and physical sales split compared to the lopsided, collective figures that Sony touts as evidence of the shrinking physical market.

Two truths exist: physical copies are important and can sell well, and relatively few people buy physical games globally. People have already voted with their wallets in the enormous shift to digital games, but a relevant audience of physical buyers remains – it's just not relevant enough in Sony's eyes.

Nintendo is now selling some digital Switch 2 games $10 cheaper than physical versions – building out a more enthusiast market for the minority of people who do want boxes – but it's unclear how Sony's digital future could see savings handed down to players, if at all. Frankly, I wouldn't bet on it. The games industry's got multiple fires to put out and taking less money from players is generally not high on the to-do list. GTA 6 is digital-only, for instance, but it's still $80.

It's not just savings, either. Sony – and, let's not forget, publishers like Ubisoft – will earn more per copy from digital games, so it stands to earn a lot more if all game sales become digital, even if it does lose some users by abandoning discs. Obviously, this is also another reason digital PS5s are sold cheaper: Sony makes less up front, but much more off game sales, so it wants the digital option to be appealing.

Only 7 PlayStation games have sold over 100,000 physical copies in the US this year, says analyst, as commenters demand discs without buying them.

Former president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, has no idea why PlayStation hasn't released a PS5 or PC version of Bloodborne, and as a mega fan, he personally hopes that a port, remaster, or even a special edition is on the horizon.

While speaking about Bloodborne during his keynote speech at the Computer Entertainment Developers Conference, that's been translated by GamesRadar+, Yoshida expresses his disbelief at Sony's decision to keep his favorite Soulslike as a PS4 exclusive.

"This game [Bloodborne] has a lot of fans all over the world, and it still doesn't have a PS5 version," Yoshida says. "PlayStation's first-party team is releasing a ton of remasters, so why don't they release this one? There's no PC release.

"I am often asked why these haven't been released, but it's a complete mystery. Maybe they'll come out in the future. Maybe they won't. Maybe they'll make a special edition. Maybe they won't. As a huge fan, I hope it will come out."

Yoshida also boasts about his Bloodborne platinum trophy, though he complained about some of its more challenging bosses. He also jokingly called the "highlight of his career" defeating hell beast Watchdog of the Old Lords live on stage.

During the speech, he talks about almost 30 games he helped shape during his time at PlayStation, starting with Crash Bandicoot all the way through to Ghost of Tsushima and his work promoting indie games.

"I should have listened properly to Miyazaki": Ex PlayStation boss admits giving FromSoftware "the lowest number possible" for physical copies of Demon's Souls after getting stuck in its "demanding" starting area.

Ex-PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida has spoken about his history with the company, including his biggest career fumble with Demon's Souls. When he failed to understand the genius of its challenging, opaque gameplay, very few copies were printed, which led to Sony stopping him from signing Dark Souls due to his lack of support for its predecessor.

While giving the keynote speech at the Computer Entertainment Developers Conference, which has been translated by GamesRadar+, Yoshida, the former president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, explains how he didn't understand Demon's Souls when he first played it.

"At that time I should have listened properly to [Hidetaka] Miyazaki-san [FromSoftware president and Demon's Souls director] and the in-house producer about what type of game they were making," he says. "I just thought they were making a kind of fantasy-themed action RPG.

"When I tried it, after two hours I was still standing in the spot at the very start of the game. I thought, 'why is this game so hard? Why is it so demanding?'" Sony was split by region at that time, and each region would pitch games developed on their home turfs to the others. Yoshida's pitch to America and Europe must have been pretty underwhelming as neither chose to pick it up.

"In Japan production started with 20,000 copies, the lowest number possible," Yoshida says. "And it wouldn't be sold in Europe or America." However, despite its limited release, Japanese gamers began to catch on to how special the game was, and word of mouth saw it gain success steadily. "At that time users online, on places like 2chan, were really excited about it saying things like, 'Isn't this actually really fun? Isn't this a god-tier game?'" he remembers.

Demon's Souls was picked up by Atlus in the US and Bandai Namco in Europe, but there was still a lack of trust in the series at Sony. "After that, the spiritual successor Dark Souls was announced," Yoshida starts. "Because we knew how amazing Demon's Souls was, and that in truth it was an amazing concept and a new type of game, we asked if we could have it, but Sony said 'You didn't really support Demon's Souls.'"

Reflecting on the fumble, Yoshida blames his history with platformers, where onboarding your players is vital, for his distaste of Demon's Souls' blatantly opaque systems. "I realized that it's important to truly understand the kind of user experience the developer is trying to create when they make a game," he reflects.

His opinion of Soulslikes has become a lot more positive over the years. To pay for his sins, Bloodborne was eventually signed with Sony, and Yoshida nabbed the platinum trophy. He even calls defeating Watchdog of the Old Lords live on stage the "highlight of his career."

FromSoftware experts find evidence Hidetaka Miyazaki's breakout RPG Demon's Souls deleted the biggest middle finger in the series: giant birds that hurl you off cliffs.

The industry is continuing to react to Sony's decision to end physical PlayStation games in 2028. Amid the pushback, a former writer from God of War Laufey studio Sony Santa Monica has revealed that the company is now enforcing particularly strict guidelines on what employees can and can't say regarding the choice.

In a video on her YouTube channel, Alanah Pearce, a writer who worked at Sony Santa Monica for a number of years contributing to God of War Laufey, revealed the current social media policy is among the most stringent people have seen in recent memory. "Sony already knew everyone would be pissed off. They knew this," she says.

"People working within PlayStation first-party studios told me Sony had the strictest social media guidelines for this particular thing they've ever seen issued," she explains. Elaborate rules for what developers and other employees can and can't say aren't anything new, as she mentions working on Laufey came with a lot of communication restrictions.

That much is par for the course in the industry, especially when a project is pre-announcement. Sony doesn't want any leaks or rumors. But here, the prerogative is weathering the storm of criticism.

"In this instance, it's apparently the strictest the employees I spoke to have ever seen regarding public communications," Pearce adds. "They would only have done this if they knew it was going to be an enormous PR issue. This is no surprise to them."

Sony will have prepared for waves of critique, from many sides of the industry, and part of that preparation will be making sure nobody involved in a project at the PlayStation maker can say anything too off-brand to the public. Consistency is often key to messaging around pivots such as this.

Don't expect to hear a revolt from developers across the blue-tinted console brand for the time being. At least there are plenty of advocates doing so in their stead.

Former Valve writer says PlayStation killing physical discs is no conspiracy: "You, the consumer, have made your choice, and the choice is for digital"

A game publisher has spoken out about Sony's plan to kill off physical games, saying it's still valuable to reach certain audiences.

You know the story by now: Rockstar Games opened the floodgates by announcing that GTA 6 will only release digitally – well, technically there will be a physical version, but it's a code in a box, so I'm not counting it – and then shortly after, Sony announced it will stop making disks in 2028. This caused massive outrage from players, with the latest Marvel's Wolverine trailer – and most trailers on the PlayStation YouTube channel – being bombarded with comments demanding Sony change course.

Speaking to Game File, founder and CEO of publisher Serenity Forge, Zhenghua Yang explains, "For us, physical publishing has actually never just been another sales channel" and that the disk releases are "actually an important part of our mission to bring meaningful games to as many people as possible globally."

Serenity Forge has published a number of iconic indie titles like Lisa, Doki Doki Literature Club, and Slay the Princess over the years. Yang adds, "Physical games help us reach audiences that digital often can’t," explaining, "They can be discovered in retail stores like Walmart/GameStop/etc, given as gifts, distributed to places with limited internet access, and preserved as lasting works of art."

However, Yang stresses the importance of digital games too, saying, "Digital distribution has made games more accessible, and it's been one of the biggest drivers of growth for our industry."

However, he doesn't see it as a 'one or the other' situation, adding, "We see physical and digital as complementary rather than competing" and that a combo of the two helps games reach the "widest possible audience."

Yang adds, "Every platform holder has to make long-term decisions based on manufacturing costs, logistics, consumer behavior" and says he has "no doubt Sony evaluated all of those factors carefully."

Industry analyst Mat Piscatella also revealed that in 2026, only seven games on PlayStation have sold more than 100,000 physical copies in the US this year, suggesting that, unfortunately – despite the massive online outrage – people aren't putting their money where their mouth is.

Despite Sony's decision likely having massive effects on the industry, Yang says the company's mission statement hasn't changed: "Our responsibility can really only be to adapt, continue serving our players, and keep finding new ways to make meaningful interactive art accessible to the widest possible audience."

PlayStation killing discs is bad for everyone, whether you care about physical games or not

Left 4 Dead writer Chet Faliszek hears you crying about PlayStation's decision to end physical game discs in 2028, and he's shoving your own fist in your mouth to make you stop. You caused your own suffering, he wants players to know.

"You, the consumer, have made a choice, and your choice is for digital," Faliszek says plainly in a new YouTube video on the subject. "I keep seeing this, like, 'Oh, they should do memory cards. They should do…' Right now, today – the games we are talking about are available at retail today. The used games are available at retail today, and you aren't going into retail and buying them."

Unfortunately for the thousands of commenters spamming Sony's last trailer for Marvel's Wolverine with emoji pitchfork and torches, he's right. Circana industry analyst Mat Piscatella just revealed only seven PlayStation games managed to crack 100,000 physical sales in the US this year.

Even worse, "Anybody who's reporting software sales right now, and they're doing digital and retail, they're all under reporting," Faliszek says, "because they're not reporting Steam. Let's not even get into mobile. And what was Game Pass? Game Pass was digital only. You as the consumer have forced the large corporations hand, and you've told them 'Stop with retail.'"

Once you, apparently, regretted your decision to invest almost entirely in digital, you didn't start buying Crimson Desert discs while you could, nor did you abstain from making digital purchases altogether. Now it's too late, says Faliszek.

"You should have started protesting Game Pass, and stop buying Xbox games, and stop buying digital," says the frustrated writer. "But you didn't, because it's easier."

The Steam Machine isn't doing exclusives because Valve thinks "restricting where people can play" doesn't work.

PlayStation fans continue to demand physical game discs from the company after it announced it would stop making them in 2028, but actual sales numbers gathered by Circana industry analyst Mat Piscatella suggest that – as much as I hate saying this – Sony might be right.

People are not buying physical games, though the 12,000 wailing comments under the latest Marvel's Wolverine trailer might confuse you into thinking you fell asleep and woke up in a physical media Eden. But – I'm consoling my tired, creaking DVD shelf as I say this – we are not in Eden, as Piscatella reveals only seven PlayStation games have sold more than 100,000 physical copies in the US this year.

"2 PlayStation video games sold more than 10k physical units in the US during week ending July 11, 2026," the analyst shares on Bluesky, "7 have sold more than 100k physical units year-to-date." Global estimates from earlier this month by Alinea Analytics suggest EA Sports FC 26, Resident Evil Requiem, and 007 First Light might be among those seven games, as each saw at least 12% of their millions of international sales derive from physical games. In Requiem's case, a hefty 27.8% of its 3.5 million copies sold are estimated to have come from physical discs.

Those are not small numbers. But they're not big for PlayStation, either, especially when considering the fact that Piscatella's data comes from "all games, all pubs, all PS platforms," he explains.

Things used to look very different for all games, all pubs, all platforms. According to a wedge-shaped chart Piscatella posted on Bluesky in June, US consumer spending on physical games went on a sleigh ride downhill from $11.5 billion in 2009 to $1.6 billion in 2026. We're still nurturing a capital-B Billion, but that wad of cash is a much smaller prize for Sony than it's used to.

Piscatella predicted this summer, "More than half of all Xbox Series consoles in the US don't have a physical drive, while over a quarter of PS5's are the same. We likely have less than a decade left of physical software."

Now, PlayStation is fulfilling the prophecy. Piscatella says about players' recent outrage, "Commenting is cool, use your voice and all that. But commenting is cheap." So, remember, if you really do care about physical discs, buy them.

Sony's attack on physical goods spreads to Crunchyroll as it adds a $14 subscription requirement just to access new store "experience."