Safe to say future consoles won't have physical media/disc drives?

[Kane99]

I'm seeing it more and more these days. From the likes of digital consoles and online platforms. I really think we're nearing a console generation that won't used discs or physical media at all. I think it's inevitable that games will outright stop releasing on physical media, and in turn only be accessible digitally or via special releases like Limited Run Games. With the way physical media is starting to dissipate, with more games dropping digitally and skipping physical releases, I think maybe after the coming generation, the one after probably won't use physical media at all. 

But, I hope that doesn't happen. It's just a direction I see gaming and even movies/tv/music going. I don't think people buy physical albums/movies, etc as much as they used to. Now days you can stream everything online. With that ease of use, I think things will start to move into an all digital future. What do you think though? Do you think we'll see a future where there's no longer physical media. 

[Moonface]

I hope it doesn't happen, since I prefer physical media over digital for most of my games. Plus I can't see a good reception to consoles that are solely streaming or digital with no way to preserve your library or purchases.

[Kane99]

1 hour ago, Moonface said:

I hope it doesn't happen, since I prefer physical media over digital for most of my games. Plus I can't see a good reception to consoles that are solely streaming or digital with no way to preserve your library or purchases.

Same, but I think it's our inevitable future. If they can promise an ecosystem that doesn't go away anytime soon, it could work, but I do hope they keep physical media around. I just don't know how long we have left with physical media when so many more devices are coming out trying to push for digital and streaming.

I hope I'm wrong though and they keep physical media releases for years to come. 

[Reality vs Adventure]

Look what happened to music. Who buys a cd anymore? It went from records, to tapes, to cd's, to illegally streaming and lawsuits, to full embrace of digital music. Movies went from VHS, to DVD, to Red Box rentals and elimination of all other rental places. Movie theaters almost lost it during Covid. And more and more people are streaming their shows and movies. Consoles have gone from cartridges, to disc, to streaming and selling digital only consoles as a sort of cheaper alternative to full disc drive. Even VR headsets are digital only. And since VR is the future, that's an indication that gaming will become pure digital. That is not a good business strategy because we are all at the mercy of our internet speeds, number of gigabytes allowed, satellites, inclement weather, bad Wifi, and whatever other problems in the internet world will challenge digital only sales and downloads of gaming. If you move, travel, can't afford internet, you will never be able to access your games. 

Digital only gaming will also ruin the collector's world of gaming unless you collect the old stuff. But everything will get old one day. How will you show off your games, consoles, art work? Art will end up being NFT's. People will spend money in the digital world without actually owning anything. Living in the future, how will you play or purchase any old games from an older generation when all the servers get shut down permanently as the industry spurs on your purchasing power for the newer stuff without giving you a choice! 

I do see the gaming world heading in that direction. And it sucks! I think competitors will be important in those gloomy days when your choices become extremely limited and the only availability of games is priced sky high. What usually happens, is that starting out, the prices will be cheap for the digital alternative to reel you in there. Then once they own you, they cut off all your options and force you to pay high prices and subscriptions. Then those suppliers get bought off and bought off till there is very little competition left. Or, you will be forced to pay multiple subscriptions to play different games. And that I see happening too. 

[Kale]

Yeah, sadly. I can see this happen for sure. It will go the way CDs went. Now I can just use Spotify, iTunes, and so many other music apps to play stuff I used to listen to via CD format. I do believe digital will be here to stay and may even become a permanent thing someday. I want to be able to still buy a physical copy of my video games. 

 

[Empire]

Consoles will only become all digital ONLY if every location on earth has broadband readily available for cheap and with high bandwidth. As I don’t see that happening in the near future, physical media is here to stay.

And then there is the issue of cost of maintaining servers that can dish out the data fast enough on release days for new titles. No one wants a next gen console and then have to wait days for their game to finally install. At worst they would have to wait a few minutes for their disc to install.

[Reality vs Adventure]

3 hours ago, Empire said:

Consoles will only become all digital ONLY if every location on earth has broadband readily available for cheap and with high bandwidth. As I don’t see that happening in the near future, physical media is here to stay.

And then there is the issue of cost of maintaining servers that can dish out the data fast enough on release days for new titles. No one wants a next gen console and then have to wait days for their game to finally install. At worst they would have to wait a few minutes for their disc to install.

That's a good point. Games are getting bigger and bigger and without disc, they will be sitting there waiting for the download on release day and nobody will even be able to play the game on the day of release...LOL. They will probably have it where a certain percent of game is downloaded where you can play, which would be the opening first 5 minutes of gameplay and that's it. All the gaming forums will be filled with---"I'm still waiting for download." 

[killamch89]

Physical drives in consoles/media devices are already disappearing so I'd say by 2030. It'll definitely be a thing of the past. Most PCs don't even come with physical drives anymore as in the modern era, it's kind of obsolete in the sense that CDs/DVDs don't even hold much data in the first place.

[Smokey]

Before, I would say yes, but now i'm not sure. The revised PS5 model rumoured to be coming is gonna be a digital model but they're gonna be selling a detachable disc-drive for it separately so you'd be able to buy that and play physical media on it. I would see something like that become the norm for awhile before a straight up 'all digital' console with no physical media at all.

[HowHammerYou]

I think we'll get at least one more generation of consoles with physical media (at least from Nintendo), but after that things look pretty dark.

The type of physical media may change as well. Even the 4-layer blu-rays we have now are going to be inadequate for 10th-gen games, which are likely to have install sizes ranging from 500gb to 1tb. We may see vnand flash-based cartridges become the norm, or they could decide to go old-school and ship out bulky game cases filled with multiple cheap dual-layer blu-rays (like how PC games were sold back during the CD era). Personally I'd find the latter hilarious.

[ImmersionGaming22]

I have to agree with you @Kane99 i think unfortunately its the only way forward i can see personally, as its already well on the way to becoming that way. The music industry, Film and TV industry and even the Book industry have all become victims of the same trend! 😞 it is sad really, as its the end of an era and i know personally i prefer to have an actual physical copy when i buy something, be it game, film, album or book, as you actually own that product then for life, instead of the rights to watch or read a digital copy of something. Its the same with money too, people are moving away from having actual notes or coins anymore and just using contactless payment methods, which again i have to admit, there is a lot to be said for actually seeing your money in its physical form and using it to buy something, but again its the future, as with everything else in the digital age. I guess its always been the same throughout history, like in the old days when transport relied mostly on steam, when we made the jump to electric motors and the internal combustion engine, a lot of the people that were used to steam did not like it, but they had no choice as there was no stopping progression. I think all the youngest generations have probably never or very rarely bought a physicals copy of anything, as to them digital products are the norm, so i guess were all just old fogies moaning of the old days and ways hahahaha

I can see the environmental gain i suppose, from not having to manufacture physical products, but again, probably due to my age, i prefer to own an actual physical item given the choice any day, but fear we are having that choice, slowly but surely, taken away! 😞   

[killamch89]

On 1/6/2023 at 3:32 PM, ImmersionGaming22 said:

I have to agree with you @Kane99 i think unfortunately its the only way forward i can see personally, as its already well on the way to becoming that way. The music industry, Film and TV industry and even the Book industry have all become victims of the same trend! 😞 it is sad really, as its the end of an era and i know personally i prefer to have an actual physical copy when i buy something, be it game, film, album or book, as you actually own that product then for life, instead of the rights to watch or read a digital copy of something. Its the same with money too, people are moving away from having actual notes or coins anymore and just using contactless payment methods, which again i have to admit, there is a lot to be said for actually seeing your money in its physical form and using it to buy something, but again its the future, as with everything else in the digital age. I guess its always been the same throughout history, like in the old days when transport relied mostly on steam, when we made the jump to electric motors and the internal combustion engine, a lot of the people that were used to steam did not like it, but they had no choice as there was no stopping progression. I think all the youngest generations have probably never or very rarely bought a physicals copy of anything, as to them digital products are the norm, so i guess were all just old fogies moaning of the old days and ways hahahaha

I can see the environmental gain i suppose, from not having to manufacture physical products, but again, probably due to my age, i prefer to own an actual physical item given the choice any day, but fear we are having that choice, slowly but surely, taken away! 😞   

Definitely as we're also entering the age where we can get internet connection from satellites via Starlink so digital only consoles will be the way of the future. It also saves gaming companies a ton on things like shipping among other things and those bastards will do almost anything to make more profit.

[Shortie]

I think heading towards a future of no physical media or discs would be a blow to be honest. So many people still prefer to pick up physical games even now and taking the ability away from them to do that would affect them badly. I feel what Xbox has done with their consoles, one with a disc tray and one without is a better option going forward as it gives the consumer the chance to choose which one they would prefer and still be able to go either physical or digital.

[ImmersionGaming22]

7 hours ago, killamch89 said:

Definitely as we're also entering the age where we can get internet connection from satellites via Starlink so digital only consoles will be the way of the future. It also saves gaming companies a ton on things like shipping among other things and those bastards will do almost anything to make more profit.

Hahahaha Hey Killamch89 you ok, yes those bastard do do anything to maximize their profits, which to a certain degree is good business, but not at the cost of quality, or freedom of choice, like the choice between owning a digital or physical copy of something! 😞 But like you say mate, everything is becoming digital, so that's progression for you, when you buy something now, you only get access to it rather than actually owning a copy of it, its like renting a house as opposed to buying one, its crazy!

3 hours ago, Shortie said:

I think heading towards a future of no physical media or discs would be a blow to be honest. So many people still prefer to pick up physical games even now and taking the ability away from them to do that would affect them badly. I feel what Xbox has done with their consoles, one with a disc tray and one without is a better option going forward as it gives the consumer the chance to choose which one they would prefer and still be able to go either physical or digital.

Hey Shortie, i hope your well!

I completely agree mate, not being able to own a physical copy is not a good thing at all, but its not something we can stop unfortunately, as that choice has been made for us! 😞 the Xbox thing where they made two versions of their console, isn't going to be permanent, they have only done it this time to ease us into accepting that digital media is the way forward, i would not be surprised at all if their next gen console was digital only! Its not the right time for them to completely phase out physical copies just yet, as you can see from this topic alone, a lot of people still prefer Physical copies, me included, so that's the reason, in my opinion, why they have released 2 versions of their latest console, but again that wont happen for much longer unfortunately! 😞

[Syntax]

I would say it might be a hybrid environment. The issue is that too many people still prefer disc games due to being able to play offline, and also not having to worry about trying to sell them or let a friend or so borrow them. Buying online makes a bunch of sense too, but a good example is the PS5 - you couldn't really have every game you wanted to be installed at once without having to download the huge game files if you run out of space, but with a disc, you can avoid the internet speed and data needed by restoring it from the game file on the disc.