Kaz Hirai Says PlayStation 4 Will Use Physical Media

[static]

Looks like the PlayStation 4 is going to be sporting some physical media whenever next generation hardware comes around. After PSP Go i don't blame them. So looks like were going to be keeping our media in our hands guys. Per PS Forums

[michealo]

moved to game room

not surprised, the bandwidth just wont be there in a few years.

[KTA]

Not to mention retailers won't want to sell consoles with no games to buy. This was obvious. We're a good 20 years away from physical media losing relevance.

[Badger3920]

+1 to KTA

No brainer.

[hdinred]

I’d love to see something other than a spinning disc, a flash memory card type device perhaps, but the economics probably wouldn’t work out on a per unit scale.

[hairlesswookiee]

Not to mention retailers won't want to sell consoles with no games to buy. This was obvious. We're a good 20 years away from physical media losing relevance.

+1 Can you imagine going into Gamestop and seeing nothing but empty shelves besides the older games?

[Televator]

Maybe they'll just use some of those higher capacity BDs they have in the works and couple it with a higher read speeds.

[upgrayedd]

Just to play Devils Advocate, it seems brick and mortar stores are going extinct. Blockbuster filing bankruptsy, Circut City closing, ect. I went to Radio Shack today for an item and they told me I should go online to find it. Unless it is a restaurant there is a good chance in the not to distant future where everything will be online. There might be places you can go and bring your devices to that have sufficeint bandwith, like Bandwith "R" Us or some crap like that, and you could download games or movies and then play them at home.

[RedRedSuit]

Blockbuster went bankrupt, because Netflix came up with the whole "mail you your DVDs" thing (not because of their streaming stuff, which is less than a blip compared to their disc rentals). CC went out of business, because they sucked, while BB killed them. Radio Shack not having a physical item and tell you to order it online is an example of online shopping for *physical* items, not an example of physical media disappearing (two different issues entirely).

[Averry]

Just to play Devils Advocate, it seems brick and mortar stores are going extinct. Blockbuster filing bankruptsy, Circut City closing, ect. I went to Radio Shack today for an item and they told me I should go online to find it. Unless it is a restaurant there is a good chance in the not to distant future where everything will be online. There might be places you can go and bring your devices to that have sufficeint bandwith, like Bandwith "R" Us or some crap like that, and you could download games or movies and then play them at home.

If that happened, lets' just say, I think you'd see it coming back.

Let's say all the retail stores, just up and disappeared, suddenly customers can't see things in stores anymore, and yeah, that's obvious. That may have been a hang up in online in the beginning, but consumers are becoming less and less caring about that. It'll only progress onwards. However, without people being able to see items in person, it suddenly because much harder for a company to really differentiate their products from competitors if there's no where to go see them again.

I think then you'd see a resurgence in physical stores. Can you imagine the psychology. We go from avoiding buying online because of the lack of seeing the physical product, to not being able to see the physical product at all, to going back to seeking out the physicality again and seeing it as a value added proposition.


The examples you listed however, are worse case scenarios for box stores. Radio Shack? Victim of their own name, haha, and "The Shack" won't help them. Block Buster is an obvious fall for digital distribution, just as we saw Sam Goody and other record stores bite the dust.

We are really just seeing a trend of consolidation, which, to me, has seemed has been a part of capitalism since the industrial revolution. Everything has a patter or springing up, spreading, and then consolidating. Which is what's gonna keep physical relevant. The Target's and the Wal-Marts will have the groceries, the electronics, and other products. The one's who sell everything, will be the only one's competitive enough to stay afloat.

Can I also say though, that bandwidth is not an issue. Besides just taking a while to actually download the game, there aren't any other real issues. It just takes a while. Even then though, there are solutions. Like pre-downloaded and requiring online authorization. Which seems like a reasonable expectation, after all, you got it online so you must have internet.

[weasl]

Not to mention retailers won't want to sell consoles with no games to buy. This was obvious. We're a good 20 years away from physical media losing relevance.

Probably closer to 10 but it is a ways off. Pretty much as soon as the framework is in place every publisher/developer is going to jump on board. There's no reason for them to include an extra middle man in the formula if they don't have to. Gamestop is on it's way out and I for one am glad.

[Vsions]

I like my physical media

[KTA]

Probably closer to 10 but it is a ways off. Pretty much as soon as the framework is in place every publisher/developer is going to jump on board. There's no reason for them to include an extra middle man in the formula if they don't have to. Gamestop is on it's way out and I for one am glad.

I think it will be popular with the techies in 10 years, likely the main way we do business. But too many variables to kill of physical media in 10 years. I mean we're talking about a system not having a physical media input device. Whether it's a disc drive or something else I don't think that'll be gone in 10 years.

Personally i'm loving digital PSP media, mainly because of how painful UMD loading is. But when it comes to games I like. You give me a physical limited edition, or a digital copy priced cheaper i'll still buy the limited edition with fluff, now in Lunar's case the PSP edition doesn't touch my PS1 version

[KTA]

Had to post:

Just to play Devils Advocate, it seems brick and mortar stores are going extinct. Blockbuster filing bankruptsy, Circut City closing, ect. I went to Radio Shack today for an item and they told me I should go online to find it.

Radio Shack not having a physical item and tell you to order it online is an example of online shopping for *physical* items, not an example of physical media disappearing (two different issues entirely).

http://www.theonion.com/articles/eve...ill-in-b,2190/

[weasl]

I think it will be popular with the techies in 10 years, likely the main way we do business. But too many variables to kill of physical media in 10 years. I mean we're talking about a system not having a physical media input device. Whether it's a disc drive or something else I don't think that'll be gone in 10 years.

Personally i'm loving digital PSP media, mainly because of how painful UMD loading is. But when it comes to games I like. You give me a physical limited edition, or a digital copy priced cheaper i'll still buy the limited edition with fluff, now in Lunar's case the PSP edition doesn't touch my PS1 version

The PSP go is a terrible terrible example. Look instead to the Iphone and Steam. I mean I love my cases and discs too but they're going to become a relic of the past in the future.