What can we expect from the PS5 and Sony's publishing efforts in 2026? After a mostly unsurprising 2025 light on exclusives, the landscape is quickly changing to accommodate rising development costs and slow production cycles. Sony has slowly but steadily left behind the idea of keeping its biggest games trapped inside a console. With PC rising as a battlefield which shouldn't be ignored and third-party titles making up for internal pipeline struggles, the "console wars" have become a thing of the past.
The PS5's sixth year will be defined by the success (or failure) of all-new games from Housemarque and Insomniac, but Sony's strategy of nurturing and pushing third-party deals has paid off so far. Looking at the hottest upcoming PS5 games, it no doubt continues to be a pillar of the entertainment giant's larger plans, especially with all the uncertainty surrounding the PS6's arrival. It's been a sluggish generation, and with a few too many live-services bets failing to pay off, regrouping around what the company has always excelled at feels like the most sensible course of action. This will take a while, however, so it's all about riding out the storm now.
