Popverse's top stories

• Kpop Demon Hunters will be "one of the best" Magic: The Gathering collabs of 2026, says Wizards of the Coast exec
• Here's how to watch all the New York Comic Con 2025 panels
• Marvel is teasing the end of its Miles Morales comic book in January

We’re coming to the end of the PlayStation 5’s lifecycle at this point, with rumors swirling around the gaming industry about when its inevitable successor will be here. Now is the time to reflect on what Sony has done with its console and, oddly, I am wondering if it is time for Sony to decide what they want to do with the gaming industry – or if they’d rather just be making movies instead.

The realization hit me as I was watching footage of Ghost of Yotei before it even came out; the thing that Sony has done better than anyone for two console generations is deliver an incredible cinematic experience for players. The original Ghost of Tsushima was a love letter to the iconic Akira Kurasawa. The Last of Us was so much like a movie that it barely had to be changed to become a hit TV show. The same could be said for Uncharted and Until Dawn, all of which either have had a live-action adaptation on the big screen.

Horizon. God of War. Detroit: Become Human. All these games have helped shaped what gaming on the last two Sony consoles has felt like and they’re all deeply cinematic experience. Sure, there is some fun gameplay in there, but it feels more like they’re dangling the next cutscene in front of you as a carrot to coax you forward. Because I’m not convinced that Sony is actually that sold on the whole gaming concept. They’re like the opposite of Nintendo at this point; a movie studio with a gaming branch as opposed to a gaming studio that dabbles in movies from time to time.

I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, but it does make Sony’s gaming offerings feel predictable at times. They’re not bad, but you can see the third-person action game and you immediately think of Sony. That is both a good thing (consistency is important for branding!) and a frustrating one because I don’t necessarily want to see the same thing every time I load up my PlayStation. I like most of these games. They deliver on what they set out to do, which is tell a story.

As with most things in gaming, I kind of blame Grand Theft Auto. When GTA III came out for the PS2, it was such a big hit that it rewired part of the gaming arm of Sony. They’ve been trying to chase that feeling again ever since, to varied results. You can see that game and its two follow ups, Vice City and San Andreas, in the DNA of so much of what Sony-owned gaming studios have been doing in the years since. The fact that Grand Theft Auto VI is going to be the most obnoxiously big game of 2026 isn’t going to help matters.

It is ironic because GTA, at its best, doesn’t do this. The joy of the game is in the playing it rather than earning the next cutscene. If that wasn’t the case, people wouldn’t still be playing GTA Online all these years later. Rockstar understand the importance of a satisfying, fun gameplay loop. Perhaps the only Sony-owned studio to really tap into the GTA formula without relying solely on a cinematic experience is Insomniac, whose Spider-Man games have been the standout of the PS4 and PS5 years for me. They’re still cinematic heavy but the fun isn’t meant to be in watching the next movie. It is in finding all those little blasted Spider-Bots hidden around the city and cleaning up the streets of New York along the way.

The lines between games and movies has been constantly blurring as graphics got better and cutscenes became the preferred way of delivering narrative to players. Sony has found a formula that works for them and I’m happy for them. Most of the games listed above are very good. I love a story-focused game. I just think that Sony should really consider what they want their next generation of games to be like because, right now, I think of them as movies with extra steps.

The gaming industry has come a long way since Pong blew all our minds in the 70s. We've got everything you need to know about the next big thing in games. Of course, Grand Theft Auto VI is going to be the big game of 2026, but there are plenty of other games coming out between now and then. Here is our starter guide for every gamer:

• All upcoming games in 2025 and beyond
• Gamify My Life, our weekly gaming column designed
• Popverse Picks: The best Assassin's Creed protagonists
• How to play every GTA game in order
• Why the GTA 6 budget isn't as crazy as you think
• The Magic: The Gathering x Spider-Man crossover set wouldn't exist without the Spider-Verse

And be sure to check Popverse regularly for the latest gaming news.