PlayStation 6 Won’t Be A Completely Discless Console Due to Sony’s Huge Global Market, Shawn Layden Says

An all-digital future may still be far away for Sony, as the PlayStation 6 will likely not be a completely discless console, according to SIE Worldwide Studios’ former CEO Shawn Layden.

In a new interview with KiwiTalks, the former PlayStation executive commented on the PS6, saying that he doesn’t think Sony can get away with releasing a discless console. Xbox has had more success in this strategy as they are mostly successful in markets such as the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, where conditions were better suited for the jump. Sony, on the other hand, is the number one platform in around 170 countries around the world, and has an obligation to evaluate how many of the markets they are successful in would be able to make the jump into an all-digital future. In addition, the former executive also highlighted how PlayStation consoles are popular in military bases, where there’s often no internet connection, and with athletes who bring the systems with them to hotels, where downloading tens, if not a hundred plus, gigabytes would be extremely inconvenient. With their market being so huge, Shawn Layden ended, it will be hard for them to release a completely discless PlayStation 6.

The PlayStation 6 has yet to be officially announced, but work on the new console has unsurprisingly already started. The new system, like its two immediate predecessors, will be powered by AMD hardware, although Intel did try to produce the system. The design of its SoC is complete and already in the pre-silicon validation phase. According to other rumors, there are two different SoCs in the works, and one of them is said to be more affordable, which will possibly power a less powerful variant of the system like a handheld.