PS6 Unlikely To Be An All-Digital Console, Says Former PlayStation Exec

The former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden believes Sony won't abandon physical games with the upcoming PS6.

[Terry_B]

It will be the last generation before all digital.

[andy85]

Probably not. Many countries infrastructure still can't support all digital. Jesus, even some of the US are still on data caps. It'll be an optional disc drive extra

[CrimsonWing69]

Ummm, how do all these countries play PC games?

[Cacabunga]

No disc no buy

[badz149]

@Crimson

these countries with underdeveloped internet infrastructure usually has a very "developed" pirated software market. they used to sell them on DVDs, but nowadays, you can just bring over your external HDD for them to give you the pirated copies. EASY!

[CrimsonWing69]

@badz149

Sooooo then they’ll be just fine?

If what you say is true, while throwing out concepts like Internet cafes and other means these underdeveloped countries legitimately play games without having to own a device to play them, why in the hell do they care about having a disc drive?

Here’s a better question, what % of sales do these countries add to physical or digital purchases then with their very “developed” pirated software market?

[blacktiger]

how do all? they don't only few counties plays them. Europe, North AMerica minus Mexico, SOuth Korea and Japan.

Rest of the country plays through INternet Cafe cause computers and Internet are expensive as f!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ravinash]

They said that about the previous one.

[Christopher]

While a good 2/3 of the market is able to live easily on digital, that 33% isn't as such and Sony still wants them to be consumers. It's actually getting worse with everyone having to provide more past-gen support and why this generation has been unable to leave behind the past and most games are made for both generations.

This is, IMHO, why talk of next generation shouldn't be up for discussion. It's obvious that moving ahead at this time would likely result in a three generation development cycle rather than 2. We shouldn't be moving onto a new generation until the last generation becomes the smaller market. It isn't.

[anast]

Good point

[Mr_cheese]

This generation has barely started. It's been lacklusting and needs more time to mature

[TheEroica]

Sony wants them as consumers? Likely the same exact people they won't allow to play ps games on steam without a psn account. I mean?

[anast]

I see I have a fellow oracle. We will see.

[darthv72]

It all depends on how things break down the rest of this gen. Sony is obviously watching the sales of physical vs digital and will make changes accordingly. They spent all the time and $$ designing the add-on optical drive... I'd imagine that will be the same one used for the PS6. Not much is going to change in the way a disc is used so this is probably the last design they will use.

[z2g]

ps5 was the last disc console. I'm 95% confident in that. the ps6 will have an optional drive you can buy for more money on top of the console. Sony wins either way. Thats two products to sell, each with their own respective markup. even if you consider that consoles are usually sold for a loss at launch, not having a disc drive would reduce the loss. it would be a missed opportunity from a business perspective if they didn't do that. They could produce the console for cheaper, and make more money.

also, physical disc sales are plummeting. Sony offered its (then) next gen ps5 with a disc-less option to warm you up. then the next flagship console, the ps5 pro had no disc drive but an option to buy an external one. Based on these facts, I am absolutely confident the ps6 will NOT have a disc drive.

[KyRo]

The PS5 won't be the last disk based console. They tested the water with the PS5 Pro and it was getting torn apart for it not having one. They won't want that bad press again when launching a new machine and potentially alienating a big portion of console players than buy physical media (which isn't as low as you'd think it is).

[badz149]

and Sony can do it because xbox is no more

[KyRo]

The day consoles go all digital will be the day I stop buying consoles as much as a prefer them over PC gaming. Imagine being locked to one store front that can charge RRP for every game with no competition...

Nine times out of 10 disk is cheaper than digital in the UK

[darthv72]

i see people making that proclamation all the time. As if switching to PC is some sort of 'stick it to the man' way to go... and yet that is a platform that has been all digital for far much longer.

Truth be told, you (like many others) wont quite console if they go digital... you are too vested in the libraries over the generations to just walk away from them. You can join the middle of the road club like many more are doing. that is the club that walks the line between both console and PC spaces. Its like those who sub to more than one streaming service because they know that the stuff they like may be spread across the different services.

These are the hoops we jump through to satisfy our need for entertainment.

[KyRo]

Oh Darth, forever with the bad takes. I KNOW myself that I will switch to PC if all digital is forced as much as you seem to think you can speak for me and others.

PC gamers have options when it comes to games. They have many store fronts, launchers, emulators etc. I am not going to sit and play on a potential walled off store front that can charge full RRP without competition. Barely any game is worth £70 in 2025 but will I bite around £50? Yes.

[1Victor]

@terry: “ It will be the last generation before all digital.”
Well and it’ll be a bigger failure in the industry since Microsoft purchased the developers of the popular multi platform games thinking of all the new subscriptions and new consoles sales from the future exclusivity.
Personally I have purchased all PlayStation consoles so far but the moment they go all digital it’s the first console I won’t buy.

[neutralgamer1992]

No one has the balls to make all digital only console. Physical media stills exists for it get media like Blurays. There will always be option for physical media. Any company that makes a console all digital will finish distant 3rd

[Relientk77]

They better not. I buy physical games and if I buy a PS6, it better be one with a disc drive.

[robtion]

Agree. If there is no disc drive that will be the last nail in the coffin for me and I will finally make the switch to PC.

[raWfodog]

Do all PC games come on disc? I thought the vast majority of retail copies just contained an online code.

[robtion]

@raWfodog I mean that if I am forced to go all digital then I may as well swap to PC for the other benefits it provides.

[RaidenBlack]

I think it'll follow the optional drive route

[Eonjay]

Exactly. Especially given that they have figured out how to monitize it.

[Deeeeznuuuts]

Yeah but when you buy a digital and then the disc drive, it's the same price as a normal PS5, so it's not that bad really and the design incorporates it really well, you wouldn't tell mine is a digital at all

[LG_Fox_Brazil]

I am pretty sure that they will be all digital with the option of getting a disc drive separately, which sucks, but at least would be an option

[andy85]

It'll be exactly like the Pro. Optional disc drive so they can price it lower.

[__y2jb]

I’m out if that’s the case. Also the lack of a drive did not lower the price.

[andy85]

I mean it did, they'd have put it 100 higher if it had a drive

[-Foxtrot]

But it won't be lower...that's the whole con

It'll be the same price and the disc drive will make you pay even more.

It's like those pushing an all digital future thinking that cutting out the middle man means games will be cheaper when they never have been so far. Digital games are just as pricey as retail ones.

[andy85]

But if they put a drive in they'd put that cost on us.

[badz149]

the price of GPUs nowadays makes it almost impossible for us to expect another powerhouse at $500 next gen. sorry but when the overpriced and underperforming RTX5080 (the ROG is $1500) are still sold out on launch, the kind of message consumers are sending to the hardware manufacturers are clear.

[robtion]

It lowered the cost for them to produce it that does not mean they pass that saving on to the consumer. More likely it just increases their profit margin. Possibly a cynical view but these greedy corporations are just out of control.

[MetroidFREAK21]

No physical support = no buy

[BlackCountryBob]

I think PS6 will still have a disk drive, but I think the model of it being an addon for those that want it as in the PS5 Slim / Pro will be the default. More interesting will be, will the current PS5 detachable drive be carried over and used in PS6 or will they look to redesign it. I can’t imagine they can do too much more with the drives design so maybe the same drive, with either an enclosure / shell / cover to connect to the PS6 could be the solution.

[Goodguy01]

Still wild sony is charging the ps5 pro at $699 and without a drive lol. $79 extra with.

[I_am_Batman]

They're gonna offer a disc drive, if just for backwards compatibility reasons, but it'll probably be very overpriced to push people into the digital-only space (which is kind of what we're already seeing). The physical sales sector will further shrink as a result of that. Depending how much of the physical market is left after that, more and more publishers might decide to forego physical releases over time, especially with no new optical media standard to catch up to the rising game file-sizes.

I won't boycot digital-only games if that's the only way to get them, but I'll never pay anywhere near full-price for them unless they figure out digital ownership first.

[CrimsonWing69]

It’s not rocket science here, they’ll make it all digital with an optional disc drive.

It’s the oldest corporate trick in the book when it comes to sales. You make the standard all digital and make the physical option less appealing by charging more.

Sony and all these publishers would rather have digital sales and make more.

[z2g]

hard disagree. the latest, newest flagship console is.... disc-less. and the one before that had a disc-less option. thats a warm up and a trend. and Sony knows it will upset some of its base, so it will offer a disc drive - that you can buy for more money, which will make Sony more money. they've already planned this and demonstrated it. if you couple those observations with the FACT that physical sales are down consistently YoY while digital sales are UP YoY means, an all digital future is in fact coming very soon. PC and Xbox already live in a predominantly digital world now and PC is the number one largest gaming platform.

Disagree all you want and dislike it all you want, but all the signs are there. To ignore them is to ignore some hard truths.

[jambola]

good
considering we probably won't even have 1TB of storage

[BlaqMagiq1]

It should be a console with a mandatory drive. $80 for the optional disc drive is greedy af IMO.

[__y2jb]

If the drive doesn’t come as standard, I won’t buy. Also if first party output doesn’t drastically increase I won’t buy day one.

[__y2jb]

I don’t understand why people are embracing console all digital. PC has great sales all the time but the psn store has games at close to rrp years after release. A game that can be had for sub £20 for physical at retail remains at £70 on psn. Why are people paying these prices?

[Ps5conehead]

Because with me being handicap it’s easy to download and not have to change disk out. I found many digital games on sale

[Deeeeznuuuts]

I completely agree, Sony have kept the 3.5mm headphone jack for their phones when all others have done away with it, not all but most.
I reckon they'll keep it for a while yet or go down the route of having a disc less model but have bundles with a disc drive and actually make enough stock this time 😅 but we'll see

[Deeeeznuuuts]

I completely agree, Sony have kept the 3.5mm
headphone jack for their phones when all others have done away with it, not all but most.
I reckon they'll keep it for a while yet or go down the route of having a disc less model but also have a disc drive available

[Retro1986]

If Sony goes all digital, it will end badly for them.. And i think they know that.

[Miacosa]

PlayStation already has the model format. It will release a digital version with an optional disc drive attachment.

[FACTUAL evidence]

Sony doing an all digital move wouldn’t be the greatest. Not only Sony just starting to put their IP’s on pc, I may as well just get a gaming pc at that rate and not worry if my console will be backwards compatible. Also I’ll be able to play Sony titles on pc making the console an extra piece of hardware taking up room. Sony be smart about this.

[Lionsguard]

It won't be all digital but I bet it won't come with a disc drive, it'll be an attachment.

[Ethereal]

I hope we get another gen of physical releases.

[Miraak82]

I could see it , unless they come out with some new form of storage medium . Let's be real .. if yall think they're gonna support optical disc drives in this day in age yall are delusional , Optical Discs and Disc Drives are a obsolete technology and no other media format supports it now a days . Best case scenario is mini cartridges that you can just plug into a usb-c , can hold a ridiculous amount of more data and way faster data transfer then discs and disc drives . If physical media wants to survive the format also needs needs to evolve, something that supports solid state technology