Sony has decided to keep an optical drive for Blu-Rays in its next console, following reports that it was considering a download-only option that would rely heavily on the web.
The decision to stick with the legacy component was due to internet connection speeds varying so much around the world, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The paper claims that Sony was toying with the idea of making the Playstation 4 a download-only machine.
The plans would have meant that there would be no optical drive whatsoever, rendering physical media useless on the machine, aside from USB devices such as memory sticks.
There has been a growing trend toward downloading games rather than buying them on disc, as technology edges towards an exclusively online environment, with cloud computing growing all the time.
But it seems Sony felt it was a little too soon to completely move online. Given that game files are pretty big, some countries’ connections would simply not have been able to cope – making the console virtually useless.
In addition, Sony has been such a big campaigner for Blu-ray on the PS3, so abandoning its investment in the technology could backfire.
The Journal added that the next Xbox console with also ship with an optical drive for similar reasons.
The PlayStation 4 console is unlikely to be unveiled until sometime next year, with other reports suggesting it could be even further away than that.
While it’s clear that the long-term trend for video games is away from physical media, it looks like gamers will have to purchase one more generation of consoles that come with optical drives.
