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 highlights 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 digital-first approach has thrived primarily in English-speaking countries, unlike Sony's widespread global dominance. He questions whether users in less digitally connected regions, such as rural Italy, could access and enjoy games without physical media. Layden also cites examples of groups reliant on physical games, such as traveling athletes or those on military bases. Although he acknowledges Sony is likely researching the potential impact on its market, he believes the scale of their global reach makes a fully disc-less console a risky move, even for the next generation. This debate, ongoing since the PlayStation 4 era, intensified with the release of Xbox's digital-only consoles. Both Sony and Microsoft offer digital-only versions of their current consoles (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S), but Sony maintains a disc-drive option, even for its higher-priced models, which can be further upgraded with external disc drives. This contrasts with Xbox's commitment to its Game Pass subscription service. Despite the rise of digital distribution and subscription services like PlayStation Plus Games Catalog, and the declining sales of physical media, Layden's argument centers on the vastness of Sony's global market and the potential for significant customer loss by abandoning physical games entirely. This is further complicated by the increasing trend of games requiring online connections even when purchased on disc, as seen in titles like Assassin's Creed Shadows of Japan and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. The practice of including previously disc-based content as downloadable updates further diminishes the importance of the physical disc itself.