- Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says Sony’s decision to remove physical discs is ‘pretty dramatic’
- Layden recalls a time when digital sales “were zero percent” because Sony had no market
- He thinks the move will also mean the PS6 won’t have a disc drive
Former PlayStation Worldwide Studios boss Shawn Layden has shared his thoughts on Sony’s decision to stop producing physical discs and plans to go all-digital, calling it a “pretty dramatic decision.”
Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer following the explosive news, the 32-year-old PlayStation veteran confirmed that he had “no idea this was going to happen and was “not necessarily okay with it.”
As for why he thinks Sony made the decision, he suggested, “Maybe it’s just too expensive to eliminate discs,” but he believes that any major decision to abandon a product, feature or model is “largely” a “simple spreadsheet.” [decision]”.
“What are record sales versus digital sales? And I’m old enough to remember when digital sales were like 10 percent – I’m old enough to remember when digital sales were zero percent because we didn’t have a digital market! And that number has only increased over time,” Layden said.
The former PlayStation executive suggested that the COVID pandemic played a role in accelerating the purchase and consumption of digital games compared to physical games, and believes that Sony’s decision could mean that the PS6 will not have a disc drive.
Analysts have also determined that the next-gen PS6 console will launch in late 2028 and will not have a disc drive, or at the very least, one will be sold separately “for playing older PS4 and PS5 games on disc.”
In fact, Layden revealed that the company considered dropping the PlayStation’s disc drive for a year while he was working on it.
“I’ve been asked this question every year for 20 years. ‘When are you going to ditch the disc player?’ My feeling about that has always been, well, when I get to a point where I’m comfortable enough to believe that around the world, broadband speeds are good enough to support that download experience, good enough to reach the majority of customers,” Layden said.
He clarified: “Majority doesn’t mean whole, so there’s a point, a tipping point, where if I have 80% of the opportunity, which is 95% of the revenue stream, what is my motivation to keep the lights on for the other 20% if that’s really only 5% of the business?”
Although Layden admits that Sony has always been “pretty good” at determining the risk of overestimating regional Internet infrastructure, “because unlike Xbox, PlayStation had a larger global fan base, and not just in terms of numbers, but also in reach, because Sony Corp had reach all over the world,” there are also gamers who don’t have access to the Internet, such as people on military bases.
“The idea that they could still buy a PlayStation 4 game, throw it into a machine and play was important. You don’t want to leave those people behind,” Layden said.
“I don’t know what happened in those conversations, but it’s a pretty dramatic decision.”
As Sony plans to scrap physical discs, there are also concerns about the inability to resell games or buy them used in the future, which Layden said “was a huge factor” in the business, but the rise of digital games “kind of wiped out the used game business and made it difficult for people who were making nickels on the secondary market selling them.”
However, he doesn’t necessarily believe this drove Sony’s decision, as it has happened over time, but he believes “we’ve reached a kind of homeostasis where everything is in a weird kind of balance.”
“Used gaming still exists, obviously, but it’s not a significant concern for the company anymore, I think,” Layden added.
Following Sony’s announcement, new reports claimed that the company was testing disc-to-digital functionality for existing consoles and could also launch a next-generation Project Helix console without a disc drive.
While it’s unclear whether Microsoft plans to follow Sony’s all-digital business practice in the future, Layden believes the huge move could prompt other companies, including Microsoft and Nintendo, to follow suit.
“This is certainly an industry where if one company, particularly the industry leader, makes a decision of this magnitude, it will strongly influence what others do,” he said.
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