Fans of physical media had enough layers at Sony last year.
The PlayStation 6 casts its shadows ahead: the next generation of the Sony console is to be released on the market in two years. At least this is indicated by the rumor of the finalized chip design.
The release of the PlayStation 5 Pro, on the other hand, took place after a long boring rumor mill almost three months ago. The console had to live away from the start with two criticisms.
In addition to the excessive entry price of 800 dollars for many, the lack of drive was also a thorn in the side.
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Where to go with the discs, PS6? Ex-Sony Manager gives assessment
Shawn Layden made a name for itself in the game and console industry as the head of Sony Interactive Entertainment (you) America.
Layden is now working as a strategic consultant at Tencent Games.
In conversation with Kiwitalkks However, it was primarily about the history of the Sony Playstation and the outlook on the future. Incidentally, we dared a similar view in our Famosen GS-Podcast four and a half years ago-it is best to judge how right or wrong we were:
Podcast
Sony dominates the console market and could relax with the release of the PS5. But that won't be enough in the long run.
In Layden's eyes, Sony cannot afford to completely do without physical media. The great competitor in the form of the Microsoft Xbox has had more success with a completely digital strategy; Especially in important markets such as the USA and Canada.
Here the requirements were simply “better” for a purely digital console. According to Layden, Sony, on the other hand, is the market leader in around 170 countries, all of which are evaluated differently in this context.
Seen through the world market, the PS5 is simply more popular with a disc drive, as shown, among other things, figures from the Circana market research institute. Until last September, the purely digital version only 18 percent of console sales.
Two target groups are explicitly mentioned in the Disc question
Another aspect with regard to the question of which users buy which console is a rarely taken into account according to Layden: The Playstation is the most popular console in military bases around the world.
- Here there are rarely stable internet connections for private use that make the download of several hundred gigabytes at least uncomfortable.
- The same applies to the countless athletes who travel around the world for their sport and take the Playstation to their hotel rooms.
Both target groups are not the largest, but according to the ex-Sony manager, a “significant share” make up. Basically, according to Layden, it is not possible to assume that PlayStation 6 comes without any way to play physical media. It remains open whether this is again a separate accessory as with the PS5 Pro.
