Former Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios CEO, Shawn Layden, believes Sony cannot afford to release a completely digital, disc-less PlayStation 6. While acknowledging Xbox's success with this strategy, Layden highlights Sony's significantly larger global market share. Eliminating physical games would alienate a substantial portion of their customer base.
Layden points out that Xbox's digital-first approach thrives primarily in English-speaking countries, unlike Sony's widespread dominance across approximately 170 nations. He questions Sony's ability to ensure reliable digital access for players in regions with less robust internet infrastructure, citing examples like rural Italy. He also mentions the reliance on physical games among specific groups, such as athletes traveling or military personnel on bases. Layden suggests Sony is likely assessing the potential market impact of a disc-less console. The key question, he states, is determining the acceptable level of market loss before abandoning physical media. Even with the current trend toward digital distribution, Sony's vast global reach makes a fully disc-less transition a significant challenge, Layden concludes.
This debate has persisted since the PlayStation 4 era but intensified with Xbox's release of digital-only consoles. Both PlayStation and Xbox offer digital-only console versions (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S), yet Sony has remained hesitant to fully embrace a disc-less model. This is partly due to the option to add a disc drive to even their high-end digital consoles, like the PS5 Digital Edition. However, the rise of subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus's Games Catalog fuels speculation about the future of physical games.
Physical media sales are declining, and major publishers increasingly release games requiring online connections even on disc. Games like Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Valhalla (correction: likely meant Assassin's Creed Mirage or another title, as Valhalla does not fit this description) and EA's Star Wars Jedi: Survivor exemplify this trend, needing online access for installation. The practice of including what would have been a second disc as downloadable content further underscores the shift away from physical media.
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