PS4: Sony Sees a Disc-Based Future

[TGO]

Sony's Jim Ryan has told IGN that Blu-Ray discs will still be the PlayStation 4's dominant delivery mechanism for games, despite a wider move towards a more connected console.

Sony has upped its game in the digital distribution field over the past year or two with the PS3, delivering games to PSN day-and-date with their retail releases (although still at full RRP, which in Europe especially is often far in excess of the price you can expect to pay in a shop.) But although Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's president and CEO sees the trend towards digital downloads continuing, he still sees a primarily disc-based future for the console.

What counts as the forseeable future? Five years? "That sort of horizon, yes," Ryan agrees. The reasoning behind this is that PS4 games will take up so much space that in many parts of the world, downloading them just won't be realistic. "For our big first-party games, we’ve encouraged the studios to make as much use of the BD50 [50-gigabyte Blu-Ray drive] as they possibly can – some of these things run to like 45 gigs," he says.

"If you go down to Southern Europe, where we have very big and important*businesses, it can take you 3 days over a standard internet connection to download a file of the size, and that’s not fun. There are certain gating factors in terms of internet infrastructure that*mandate*that the disc-based solution is going to be the primary delivery mechanism for the foreseeable future."

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/02/2...c-based-future

Sony gets it

[RyanGT]

Sounds good to me. I enjoy owning my own physical copy of a game. If it was all digital, one little problem with your HDD and all of your games could be gone.

[Flaw3d Genius]

Anyone else think Blu Ray's could be a problem this gen? ie; 50GB wont be enough?

[Shibby]

I'm all for physical media, but discs are slow. Similar to how HDDs will be taken over by SSDs, discs will probably make way for games on USB sticks or something similar.

[Metal Warrior]

Anyone else think Blu Ray's could be a problem this gen? ie; 50GB wont be enough?

No, no worries there for me. I've not been paying attention to PS3 game sizes but I doubt many games have taken full advantage of the available disk space. Looking at some of the recent titles on my PC HDD, the install folders are rarely over 10GB, and that's uncompressed. I'm sure many PS4 games will fit on a single layer disk just fine, let alone a dual layer. And if a handful of games feature multiple disks down the line, or perhaps a mandatory install of 5-10GB, that's not the end of the world.

[the_jim]

Forget "Southern Europe", I live in the UK and it would take me weeks to download 45 gigs. I can't even stream SD video. Blu-ray will still be the standard for a while with the film industry behind it. I remember reading about a 200gb BD under development so the PS5 could be designed around that if they need to. Physical media will have to stay until high-speed internet is as widespread, stable and steady as our electricity supply.We're lucky that our consoles now have HDDs and should we start seeing multi-disc games, developers can use it to their advantage.

[Completely Average]

Anyone else think Blu Ray's could be a problem this gen? ie; 50GB wont be enough?

Not this generation. Most games now are still on one to two DVDs for the PC. The PS3 used a lot of redundant data on the disks to decrease loading times which is why they were so large, but I seriously doubt you'll ever see a PS4 game fill the entire bluray disk.

[mertle]

Anyone else think Blu Ray's could be a problem this gen? ie; 50GB wont be enough?

No as they will expand like DVD space go duel layer if needs. Worst it could always install to HDD. First DVD 1.46 gb capacity we then mover double layer single sided 2.66 gb.

It could move alot higher to ecompass 200 gb in the future.

You will be suprised nextgen BD already here sure that Ps4 will be capable. Sure the player buch faster early drives.

100 gb BD already on market by verbatim

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/ve...ray-disk-20351

I will hope with USB-3 that they will make it so you can install or use External HDD/memory sticks for expansion HDD space.

One most annoying things on ps3 is to use own music ingame it has to be on core HDD cant do it via external source. That free up HDD for more data.

[RyanGT]

Anyone else think Blu Ray's could be a problem this gen? ie; 50GB wont be enough?

We've seen games with multiple discs in the past, I'm sure it could happen again. Doubt it will though,.

[Tetsu]

I wouldn't be too sure about that, C-Average. People scoffed at the DVD format for PS2 at first too. And then they needed more than one layer as subsequent generations of games were made, such as GT4. I know that cinemas can eat up disc space as much as game content, but hey, that's part of the experience, and also part of the reason I prefer console games.

But don't think that true content won't balloon along with everything else. It always does. I can see cottage industries forming to make scene props like cars, houses, shops and furniture, so developers can focus on other matters.

One thing I'm surprised hasn't been mentioned in some article yet is the fact that the PS4 will be the first Playstation to not move to another delivery medium, sticking with Blu-ray.

[ttech10]

Anyone else think Blu Ray's could be a problem this gen? ie; 50GB wont be enough?

I would think Sony have thought about that. That got me thinking about how games like MGS4, GoW III and Uncharted 3 were all around 40GB, though look at PC games and I think it's rare they are close to that size, so I think BD should be fine this gen.

With game sizes this upcoming gen my concern is with Xbox. It seems almost guaranteed they'll go with BD as I highly doubt they want every game to be on multiple DVDs, which started happening recently for some popular games (and download only just seems like a system killer).

Worst case scenario with sizes is we'll have multiple discs in the final stages of the consoles life, or maybe the ability to install data from the second disk and just use the first one.

No as they will expand like DVD space go duel layer if needs. Worst it could always install to HDD. First DVD 1.46 gb capacity we then mover double layer single sided 2.66 gb.

It could move alot higher to ecompass 200 gb in the future.

You will be suprised nextgen BD already here sure that Ps4 will be capable. Sure the player buch faster early drives.

100 gb BD already on market by verbatim

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/ve...ray-disk-20351

I will hope with USB-3 that they will make it so you can install or use External HDD/memory sticks for expansion HDD space.

One most annoying things on ps3 is to use own music ingame it has to be on core HDD cant do it via external source. That free up HDD for more data.

What I don't like is the 100GB disc is around $60 by itself, and how much are BDXL capable drives?

[Coconut_Crunch]

A business right now going all digital would lose sales more in terms consoles strictly going digital. I, in no way could see that happening since I have yet to see a console with over a 10TB HDD. Now with SSD coming into the picture for the future, a 500GB SSD is so damn expensive. It's going to be a long long time before any console goes fully digital only. It would create a loss of sales from lower income families in the united states or around the world that don't have an internet connection. While an internet connection is common there are still a lot of people without one or just like it said in that article, slow connections.

[Completely Average]

I wouldn't be too sure about that, C-Average. People scoffed at the DVD format for PS2 at first too.

You could triple the size of 99% of the games out there and they would still fit on a single Bluray disk.

Like I said, the reason the games took up so much space on the PS3 was because they included redundant data to reduce load times. You would basically have 2-4 copies of the game on the same disk, broken into chunks and spread across the whole disk.

But the same games on the PC fit on one to two DVDs. There isn't a single PC game out there that is even close to needing 6+ DVDs, and there won't be any time soon. Look at the just released Crysis 3 on the PC. Even with the amazing graphics and detail and a decent sized game, it's still only a single DVD and just a bit more than 10GB when decompressed and installed on the hard drive. You aren't going to get a game with 6 times more data than that anytime soon.

[AaronSOLDIER]

Yep, last gen for discs. Sony is pushing digital like never before with it's new streaming capabilities and playing after just a bit of data is downloaded. I'm going 100% digital next gen just like I do with PC, PS3, PSP etc.

From the US Store though, fuck SCEE's pricing.

[MonkeyClaw]

Anyone else think Blu Ray's could be a problem this gen? ie; 50GB wont be enough?

Maybe it will be BDXL? I am hoping for this since 4K is going to require more than 50GB of space even with the newer H.265 encoding standard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc#BDXL

BDXL

100 GB BDXL Triple layer disc made by Sharp




The BDXL format supports 100 GB and 128 GB write-once discs^[90][91] and 100 GB rewritable discs for commercial applications. It was defined in June 2010.
BD-R 3.0 Format Specification (BDXL) defined a multi-layered disc recordable in BDAV format with the speed of 2× and 4×, capable of 100/128 GB and usage of UDF2.5/2.6.^[92]
BD-RE 4.0 Format Specification (BDXL) defined a multi-layered disc rewritable in BDAV with the speed of 2× and 4×, capable of 100 GB and usage of UDF2.5 as file system.^[93]
BDXL discs are not compatible with existing BD drives, though a firmware update may be available for some newer drives.

[radgamer420]

A business right now going all digital would lose sales more in terms consoles strictly going digital. I, in no way could see that happening since I have yet to see a console with over a 10TB HDD. Now with SSD coming into the picture for the future, a 500GB SSD is so damn expensive. It's going to be a long long time before any console goes fully digital only. It would create a loss of sales from lower income families in the united states or around the world that don't have an internet connection. While an internet connection is common there are still a lot of people without one or just like it said in that article, slow connections.

Not to mention bandwidth caps that alot of US IPs impose on their customers. Luckily mine doesn't but alot of other ones do.

[Sufi]

Well of course they'll try to push the discs...for obvious reasons.

Thing is, both mediums can co-exist (until it's time to move on) and Sony will make sure they don't stay behind on digital media and disc as they have a stake in both.

MS would rather go digital but they have to meet the demands...which are that discs are going to stay popular as long as digital media has limitations.

[PeanutButterMunky]

We're going to be using discs until insanely fast internet is standard... which I don't think will be for quite some time.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

Sony has all bases covered. It established Blu-Ray, has decent DD offerings and has Gaikai. Whatever the future leans towards, they're covered.

[Blacksite]

We're going to be using discs until insanely fast internet is standard... which I don't think will be for quite some time.

I agree. Also, people like having options.

[Sylar]

I am glad they're keeping with the discs, I remember saying when rumours were going around about a download only future, that Sony has invested too much in blu-ray to throw it out the window

[PeanutButterMunky]

I agree. Also, people like having options.

I LOVE options.

Google needs to expand their 1 Gbps fiber internet to more than just the middle of effing nowhere.

[MonkeyClaw]

I LOVE options.

Google needs to expand their 1 Gbps fiber internet to more than just the middle of effing nowhere.

yes, Yes and YES!!! And when they do they need to keep the same price point, 1Gbps has never been so cheap!

[Lefein]

With a 6X BR drive, the need for redundant data is greatly reduced, even for content in 3D 1080P. The format should hold up well during this generation. There's also enough bandwidth in the spec for 4K video, which should be a nice perk for developers who want to utilize FMV.

In short, all issues are addressed with BR for next-gen games. Sony is wise in reusing the format for distribution.

[mertle]

I would think Sony have thought about that. That got me thinking about how games like MGS4, GoW III and Uncharted 3 were all around 40GB, though look at PC games and I think it's rare they are close to that size, so I think BD should be fine this gen.

With game sizes this upcoming gen my concern is with Xbox. It seems almost guaranteed they'll go with BD as I highly doubt they want every game to be on multiple DVDs, which started happening recently for some popular games (and download only just seems like a system killer).

Worst case scenario with sizes is we'll have multiple discs in the final stages of the consoles life, or maybe the ability to install data from the second disk and just use the first one.



What I don't like is the 100GB disc is around $60 by itself, and how much are BDXL capable drives?

found site cheaper £20

http://www.totalblankmedia.com/verba...ce-p-4068.html

true at but likely come down like 50 gb was not used intially due to costs but some games was on 50 bd at a later stage.

I would think it little cost on lasers was this not worry for 50 gb Sony just firmware the lasers to cope. Probably will need new finer blue laser diode to cope they should not cost much more if anything at all. Tech was defined 2008 to cope with upto 128 gb quad layer BD's.

My worry is Holographic Versitile disks not expected to be 5 years at least prices green lasers they use come down sharply. That could move it up maybe 2 years before it hits market.

They have infinate more storage uses green lasers.