PS4 will probably be disc based

Sony executive believes the next PlayStation will be a disc-based console.

Sony may have already said that they won't be revealing the PlayStation 4 anytime soon, but that hasn't stopped the company from revealing a few details about the inevitable release. Talking to Bloomberg, Sony's Kaz Hirai explained why the PlayStation 4 will likely be disc-based.

According to the executive, "Relying solely on networks to deliver content is unfortunately just not possible. It's still very difficult to have consumers download 50 gigabytes of data or more... To think everything will be downloaded in two years, three years or even ten years from now is taking it a little bit to the extreme."

Hirai also recently stuck by the earlier claims that the PlayStation 3 is only halfway through its life-cycle. Released in 2006, that would give Sony plenty of room to breathe in a ten year life cycle. Will the PlayStation 3 be relevant in another 4-5 years? Let us know in the comments section below.

By Al McCarthy on January 11, 2012

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Cool dude
Imagine having digital based games with 50gb of download. Ugh.. of course its disk based.
Allen
Blu Ray will be the media format of choice for high end movie goers for years to come. It is the best way to watch HD, streaming isn’t true HD and even when it is advertised as so isn’t half as good as Blu Ray.
PS3 will be great for a 10 year cycle. But we will need PS4 well before then. If Xbox comes out with the next console first then Sony might as well quit the game. Stupid people all over the world don’t care now about all the problems with the 360. Could you imagine if they did a half ass good job at making a reliable product with actual features? Then if they win the online market by default again then fk it.
Unfortunately these kids don’t care about loyalty or quality. They want the future now….must have the newest of the new….must have a new console….they will not wait for a quality PS4. Sony must rush PS4 in order to survive. It’s kind of sad…xbots really are ruining gaming.
- Cool dude
  People dont care Allen. Thats how the industry runs. The world doesnt revolve around you Playstation. (Well, it used to, it USED to)
  Seems as though you cant deal with the pressures of life.
Brian
Also they have a lot invested in blu ray movies, no way they’d pull away from that
Tuck
Didn’t ps2 release almost a year after dreamcast and sony destroyed them.
I don’t think the entire issue is head starts, ps4 needs their great exclusives and competitive online features right out of the gate. No more screwing around with high prices, limited exclusives, and sub par online like they did at the start.
But great job for sony building the ps3 up, I thought it was a goner during the first couple of years
- Allen
  @ Tuck
  You are not taking into account online play. I believe it was dreamcast that first did it and xbox and PS2 did have online play but no one really used it. Consoles have gotten closer to PC’s with every generation and at the beginning of this generation I would say they were on par. Same will be true with next gen.
  But this generation is where online play is a must. Last gen it wasn’t, this gen just about every game must have online play. And the most popular console games switched from single player “grand theft auto” to mutliplay “call of duty”.
  You can’t tell me that the one year head start as the only next gen console didn’t win over the online market. All these kids (ps2 gamers) went out and bought a 360. That’s all it took…a few million people to get the ball rolling. The only way to play with your friends is to buy a 360…thus xbox won the online market by default becuase they were the only one out there for an entire year. The $200 better price tag sent more to xbox as well.
- Paul
  I remember being in the dorms and everyone playing online with Halo 2 and there really wasn’t an online game as popular on PS2.
  Halo wasn’t worth selling my PS2, but when the new generation came I knew Xbox was all about online gameplay and I wasn’t sure how things would pan out on PlayStation. Obviously Sony did step it up on developing PSN, but that was well after I had an Xbox and so did my friends.
  It will be interesting to see how Next Generation pans out now that online has been established so well.
- Allen
  Agreed…mostly
- Dovahkiin
  Also, many of those people ended up sticking with Xbox 360 even if it broke; because they already had a bunch of
  games for it. That’s exactly what I did. If I had bought a PS3 after my 360 broke, it would have been a huge waste of money because I wouldn’t be able to play any of the numerous xbox games I had already purchased.
  The RROD wasn’t actually a big issue for me even though it happened multiple times, because Microsoft always replaced it for free.
Tuck
Yup, I see your point now, online was probably the biggest factor. Back in the day it didn’t matter what your friend bought, you bought the system you wanted and the only way you’d play the same game is through split screen. But now you have to consider what your friends own so you can play them.
Frank
Good god, I hope it remains this way. Nothing beats the feeling of buying a game like resistance or gears of war 3 at the mall and coming home and opening it up with a friend and playing for hours on end.
- Ceroon
  Resistance 3 was a joke.
Roach
After the “success” of PSPGo, I’m sure Sony will break away from physical media.
Underworld
Screw Digital, I hate it. So happy to hear it’ll be disc based. I don’t mind having both disc and digital, but not digital only. I love buying discs. Digital offers nothing, IMO. I like collecting my games, and I want to continue to be able to do that.
- Allen
  I totally agree. I think it would be cool though to have the option on every game say $60 for disk format and $40-$50 for digital download. They can even have empty digital download boxes next to the disk format box in stores – that would help retailers out since you aren’t shutting them out. I wouldn’t doubt that retailers put that idea out to all the major publishers too. But they seriously need to give us something for going digital and losing certain rights like trading, selling or even loaning your copy out.
SpazticAssassin
The ps3 definitely won’t be relevant in 4 to 5 years if wiiu and xbox720 release before then. They gotta stay with or ahead of Xbox if they want the ps4 to be relevant. I’m still betting on a 2013 release if Xbox doesn’t back out of a release. That would be 7 years out of a 10 year projected life cycle. The people are hungry for higher quality. Skyrim is about as good as its gonna get for current Gen. Time to step it up.
njb
Obviously u cant have a games console that doesnt have a Physical format in this current decade.
Having to download a 40Gb file is not appealing.
Maybe when the whole western world has Broadband, Minimum speeds of at least 5mb and ISP’s who dont mess u around this may become a reality
Cool dude
I think Allen forgot about Socom in the Ps2. Good one bro…
Allen
No one I knew played online on either xbox or ps2. I never did, I was PC exclusive. Halo is way better on PC than xbox. Better graphics, better controls, better navigation, better online options and the best map Halo has ever had…death island.
Cool dude
I remember playing online on my Ps2. It did take a while to figure out how though.
And of course PC is always the best. So whats your point?
Allen
Just that no one I know played online on orig. xbox or PS2. And I’ve known a lot of people with both systems. I say online was mostly a joke last gen. PC really was the only serious place to play online I still say. Of course I do see that Halo was probably the game changer for consoles there. M$ knew it would be huge, especially with better graphics and better online capability.
Cool dude
Just so you know, I didnt thumb you down..