PlayStation 5 in 2026: Is It Still Worth Buying?

The short answer is: it depends.

After more than a year using a PlayStation 5 Slim, I still like the console a lot. It has been fun, it pushed me to play games I had been postponing for years, and it became one of my main ways to finish games. But that does not mean I recommend it to everyone in 2026.

The PS5 makes sense in a few specific scenarios. If you want to play GTA 6 at launch, plan to use PlayStation Plus heavily, and want a straightforward console, it can still be a good purchase. If the plan is to buy everything digitally, pay full price for separate games, and accept a library increasingly tied to one account, the answer becomes much less simple.

Why I bought the PS5

I bought my PS5 new, from Magazine Luiza, mostly because of GTA 6. I did not want to wait until launch season and risk stock problems or higher prices.

There was another important reason: Red Dead Redemption.

Before buying the PS5, I had finished the first Red Dead Redemption on the Nintendo Switch OLED and fell in love with it. Naturally, I wanted to play Red Dead Redemption 2. At the time, I did not want to build an expensive PC or buy a different console just for that. The PS5 felt like the most practical choice.

I subscribed to PlayStation Plus with it. I knew it enabled online play and included some games, but I did not expect the catalog to become such a big part of the experience.

PlayStation Plus changed the value of the console

PlayStation Plus changed my relationship with the PS5 more than anything else. The catalog has a lot of strong games: Red Dead Redemption, GTA V, Horizon Zero Dawn, Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, The Last of Us, Until Dawn, Days Gone, Demon’s Souls, Detroit: Become Human, Stray, Resident Evil Village, Assassin’s Creed, and many more.

For someone who is trying to finish more games, that matters. Instead of buying one AAA game at a time, I can explore a large library and try what fits my current mood.

That is how I finally finished games that had been on my list for a long time, like GTA V and Until Dawn. I also started The Last of Us Part I and am moving into the Left Behind DLC. To me, this is where the PS5 shines most: when it becomes a gateway to a large catalog, not just a machine for buying expensive games.

The Battlefield effect

There was also a surprise: Battlefield 6.

I was never much of a Battlefield player. I was always closer to Call of Duty. But I tested the beta, liked it a lot, and ended up pre-ordering it. I did not need to, but it was one of those cases where the game landed at the right moment.

I played a lot after launch and still go back to it with friends sometimes. It is also the reason I imported a SteelSeries headset from the United States, with a retractable microphone, wireless support, USB-C, and the ability to connect to more than one device.

That is the kind of thing that shows how a console can pull a whole ecosystem around it: game, headset, second controller, charging dock, and a more comfortable setup. Once I started playing a lot, controller battery life became a real problem, so having another controller and a dock made a difference.

What bothers me

What bothers me most about PlayStation today is the strategy around physical media and digital games.

If you buy everything digitally, you are locked into the platform’s prices and rules. You cannot lend a game the same way you can lend a cartridge or disc. You cannot resell it. And if Sony keeps reducing the focus on physical media, that dependency only gets stronger.

That is why I have been buying more physical games on Nintendo Switch. Even when the discussion moves to Game Key Cards, there is still the idea of a license that can move with a physical item. With digital PlayStation games, that flexibility is basically gone.

PlayStation Plus is also expensive. I use the Deluxe plan and pay more than R$ 600 per year. For me, it still makes sense because I actually play a lot of games from the catalog. But if someone is not going to use that catalog often, the math changes quickly.

So, is it worth it?

For me, it was worth it.

I bought it with GTA 6 in mind, played Red Dead Redemption 2, found more value in PlayStation Plus than I expected, finished games that had been waiting for years, and built a setup I actually use.

But the recommendation is not universal.

If you want GTA 6 at launch and plan to use PlayStation Plus a lot, the PS5 still makes sense in 2026. If you only want to buy separate digital games, I would think harder. A used Xbox Series S might be enough. A PC might make more sense, especially because it is a machine you can also use for other things and upgrade over time.

The PS5 is still a great console. The real question is whether the way you play matches the way Sony is selling games today.