The PS5 Obviously Has Games. Why Do People Say It Has 'No Games'? A Long-Running Meme Explained

The PlayStation 5 infamously had a rocky launch period where everyone who wanted one had a hard time getting one due to limited supply. Additionally, upon launch, one might say it had "no games" — apart from a smattering of PS5 exclusives, the console wasn't exactly flush with playable content.

Still, it's been years since the release of the PS5 and we can safely say it now has "games." So why do people meme about the fact the PS5 has no games? There's actually more history to it than you might think.

What Is The 'PS5 Has No Games' Meme?

The idea that the PS5 has "no games" is actually an offshoot of the "PS3 has no Games" meme, which is something of a dinosaur from the "Console War" days of the mid-2000s. When the PS3 launched, Xbox 360 owners crowed over the fact that the console only had 14 new titles.

By the end of the PS3's life-cycle, that total ballooned to over 770 — which still dwarfed in comparison to the 1,000+ titles available on the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. The "PS3 has no games" meme stuck around for the duration of the PS3's life, but mostly died down as the console wars got less intense.

The PS5 iteration of the meme picked up in September of 2023, when a tweet by @Bolverk15 joked about a picture of a man buying a PS5, noticing he didn't purchase any games to go with his new console. A nearly two-decade-old meme was suddenly back in fashion.

Does The PS5 Have Games?

Obviously, the PlayStation 5 has games. Wikipedia lists nearly 700 games available on the PlayStation 5.

The key bit of "support" for the meme is that the PS5 has few exclusive titles. The PlayStation website only lists 40 "exclusive" titles for the PlayStation, and several of those were released first on the PlayStation 4, are remasters, or are soon releasing on other consoles. The few exclusives that are only available on PS5 include remasters of Demon's Souls and The Last Of Us, as well as Returnal and Ghostwire: Tokyo.

This fact plus that September 2023 tweet helped turn "notice how there are no games on PS5 into a meme," as gamers took to politely pointing out that the PS5 had "no games" whenever they could.

So while it may be a silly exaggeration to say the PS5 has no games, it's not to say the PS5 has only a handful of games you can play on it and nothing else.

For the full history of notice how there are no games on PS5 and PS3 has no games, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.