Recently in the news, it came out that Sony is discontinuing its latest standalone 4K UHD Blu-ray player, the UBP-X700/K. With this in mind, the PlayStation 5 (PS5) home video game console now remains Sony’s last permanent 4K UHD-compatible device on the market, which is far from an ideal situation for physical media enthusiasts worldwide.
The reason this is bad news is that Sony has also confirmed the end of disc production for PS5 consoles, starting in early 2028, leading many to assume that the next generation PS6 will well and truly launch disc-free from the start. To add insult to injury, the PS5 itself has undergone a significant price increase in recent times, now costing $650 (up from its MSRP of $500 when it launched in 2020).
All in all, this is a bad situation for the state of physical media, and it stinks doubly when you consider the fact that Sony was a pioneering force behind not only the 4K UHD format itself, but also older physical formats like standard Blu-ray, DVD, and CD optical discs. For a prominent company like Sony to see its back on discs is an unfortunate reality, and in some ways it’s a bad sign of things to come.
- 4K capability
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Yes
- Game support
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PS5, PSVR 2, PS4, PSVR
- Processing power
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10.3 TFLOPS
- storage
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825 GB SSD
- CPU
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x86-64-AMD Ryzen Zen 8 Cores
- Dimensions
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390 x 104 x 260 mm
Sony’s current generation home video game console, the PlayStation 5 is a high-powered system capable of playing the latest AAA releases from game studios.
The PlayStation 5 is ripe for the picking
Now is a good time than ever to pick up a unit
Even at its elevated price point, I think the time is right to pick up a PlayStation 5 console sooner rather than later. With next-gen consoles just on the horizon, and with the PS6 all but guaranteed to lack a 4K UHD disc drive, the PS5 remains the de facto 4K UHD player for those looking to play video games on the side.
Sure, there are still standalone games from Panasonic out there on the market, but they obviously don’t double as a dedicated gaming console (plus, they’re still expensive in their own right). The PS5 hits a certain sweet spot in terms of functionality that simply can’t be replicated, and that probably won’t carry over to its next-gen successor.
The fact is that time is running out to buy the PS5. From the historical predecessor, production may end as soon as next year, which means that Sony’s latest 4K UHD Blu-ray player will soon fall into the ether. $650 for a new unit isn’t exactly affordable, but it’s hard to deny the value of an all-in-one gaming console and 4K UHD games in today’s market.
… Sony’s latest, best 4K UHD Blu-ray player is not long for this world.
The PS6 generation is certainly an exciting one, but I don’t expect it to be a cheap generation or a fruitful one from a disc owner’s perspective. I would like Sony to release an attached or external disk drive for the PS6, but I see this as quite unlikely considering the climate.
At the end of the day, Sony’s latest, greatest 4K UHD Blu-ray player isn’t long for this world, and now is as good as ever to collect a unit and use it for years to come. Even if the PS6 enters the fray, the PS5 remains more than operational, and it will stand tall as Sony’s latest 4K UHD-compatible player that also happens to play AAA video games.