Former PlayStation Boss Shawn Layden Says Sony Can't Get Away With Making PS6 Disc-less

Former Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios CEO, Shawn Layden, believes Sony cannot afford to release a completely disc-less PlayStation 6. While acknowledging Xbox's success with this strategy, Layden emphasizes Sony's significantly larger global market share. He argues that eliminating physical and offline games would alienate a substantial portion of their player base. Layden points out that Xbox's success is largely concentrated in English-speaking countries, unlike Sony's widespread reach across approximately 170 countries. He questions the accessibility for players in regions with less reliable internet infrastructure, citing examples like rural Italy. Layden also highlights the needs of specific groups reliant on physical games, such as athletes traveling or military personnel on bases with limited connectivity. He suggests Sony is likely conducting research to determine the acceptable level of market loss before considering a fully digital-only console. The debate regarding disc-less consoles has persisted since the PlayStation 4 generation, intensified by Xbox's release of digital-only consoles. Both PlayStation and Xbox offer digital-only versions of their current consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S), but Sony has yet to fully commit to a disc-less model. This is notable considering even their digital-only consoles, including the PlayStation 5 Pro, are compatible with external disc drives. However, with the rise of subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus Games Catalog, and the declining sales of physical media, the future of disc-based games remains uncertain. This trend is further highlighted by the increasing number of games, even those released on disc, requiring internet connectivity for installation or gameplay, as exemplified by titles like Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. The practice of including what would previously have been a second disc as downloadable content further underscores this shift.