Sony Considered Online-Only Console After PS3

Online only console wouldn't work as Sony would be alienating a good percentage of their potential customers who only buy retail and they'd simply be giving their competition an easy advantage. Instead I would like a bigger emphasis on digital distribution next gen that has day 1 simultaneous releases for retail and digital download and competitive prices, the PSN store becoming the console equivalent of Steam.

There's no way discs will be leaving anytime soon, we've had them for too long, and for a select few of us, the box art is an important part of the game.

@Metal_Mills: why would it need to be all over E3? you announce it in the same year it comes out. Worked fine with the 360 when they did it.

NOT reading the article and them posting a comment of what you think it says only exposes your stupidity.

@DriftSPace: I have absolutely no love for Gamestop. I want them gone, but at the same time the physical stores do still have a place and without the income from screwing people over they would probably give up. Also, coffee shops and libraries doesn't seem like the best idea lol. They really need to have some kind of ultra-compression methods implemented so the downloads aren't too large. It's a tricky situation indeed. I know there are ways to go around all of this so that it's viable and works out best for everyone, I just hope that they make the right choices. Also with the whole flash drive aspect it's not like they wouldn't be able to set their own prices on digital downloads. Hell, it might be better than way to have some kind of competition going on. As we all know, monopoly on anything is a bad thing. I can't speak of their anti-piracy measures, so I can't say whether or not piracy would be harder to mitigate with the flash drive method.

@Matiaz_Tapia: @Matiaz_Tapia said:

NOT reading the article and them posting a comment of what you think it says only exposes your stupidity.

Seriously. All you have to do is read the title to figure out what's happening here, but a special few people can't even get that right; "Considered Online-Only" has all the information, given that "considered" is past-tense, meaning they are no longer considering it. (Otherwise it would have read "considering" right?) What can you do? Public education is in the toilet, and with it went reading comprehension.

If they were thinking about going digital only, then there is a very good chance that all titles will be available digitally day and date with their retail release. Now if we could only do something about those prices.....

November 2013 is my gess.

And then when the Diablo 3 servers go down you can't play Jak and Daxter!

First you need to start providing an excellent online purchasing service, only then can online only even be thought of.

Online only is too early for consoles yet.

But say, an online only variation on the same console after an established quility market is totally an option.

Finally we can put these online-only rumored consoles to rest for another generation.

@PhilipDuck said:

Very risky but i would personally love it! I think if one of the big three (Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft) can begin to mimic what Valve has done with Steam it would be great. One day!

dude, they have absolutely no interest in mimicking what valve has done. Unless you mean allowing GOG, Gamer's Gate, etc. to distribute on their console too. Come on people. Use your heads.

This topic and the similar one have reminded me of something: It was only a couple of years ago barely had enough tech to figure out how to build and display a "Channel Guide". Now every TV has a lot more computing power and actually enough storage that are better than some console SKU.

(Tin Foil Hat Time) I'm not saying that Sony (or Microsoft or Nintendo) are doing it but what if this stuff they are chasing is in preparation of just embedding the console into the TV? Your standard "living room" HDTV is large enough they could hide all of the components of a PS3 back there and you'd never know. The only evidence would be a disk drive slot but this is where the buying up cloud distribution tech would come in and replace the need for an external slot to stick the disk in.

As I wrote, I don't think they are ready enough to do that yet but maybe, just maybe they are thinking about this for the next gen. As Smart HDTVs get more and more powerful and capable, selling a box that goes under it that does one thing becomes less and less desirable. How about selling you a Smart HDTV that plays Playstation games instead?

Considering the PSPGo was such a huge success I wonder why they aren't doing an online-only console.

The day consoles go all digital is the day I stop buying consoles.

Patrick the Wall Street Journal has run literally HUNDREDS of bad iphone rumors.

I doubt their game console rumors are any better.

The more I think about it the more I think Sony never really considered it but after the Vita felt the need to issue a leak ensuring consumers that the PS4 wouldn't be download only. There's no logic to them not continuing to push hard the Blu-Ray platform. And no simply having the drive for movies but no Blu-Ray disc games isn't pushing the format hard.

the more options the better, online only is a bad idea, being able to purchase games in as many ways possible is important, helps get your game out there, etc

hopefully next console has cloud gaming, download to hard drives and discs :)

As long as they don't kill BC and the OS isn't a giant piece of shit like the Vita's, I'm down.

Downloading full games is a great idea for both them, publishers, and developers. However, making it download only is just limiting the audience so I hope they'll make a balance.

Digital only games suck, cause you can't trade them in.

Yeah, I don't know if I want to live in a future where the consoles are download-only.

Didn't they see the failure of the PSPGO? I mean I get making a cheaper option that is download only but still you guys won the Blu-Ray/HDDVD war, don't back out now.

Thank christ, bandwidth in Australia is still crap.

@Excast said:

I think the gaming industry is overestimating the number of people with great internet connections.

You hit the nail on the head. It would be foolish for Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo to risk loosing the potential customer base that only buy disk based games and never connect their system to the internet. There are still a lot of those people out there.

lol yep a lot of people here in the outback will not buy one then ... well i guess there isnt that many people but there are still quite a few people that dont have always on online connections in Australia. now connection speed here is really really bad esp after school in lucky to get 1mps though the exchange.

@Excast said:

I think the gaming industry is overestimating the number of people with great internet connections.

You hit the nail on the head. It would be foolish for Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo to risk loosing the potential customer base that only buy disk based games and never connect their system to the internet. There are still a lot of those people out there.

Gee, I wonder why Sony would hesitate to make a download-only console. After all, it worked out so well for them with the PSP Go.

Well, blu-ray is pretty much dead.

If it's a 2013 release then they have to show something this E3. They can't throw it out at the next E3 and make the holidays.

@CouncilSpectre said:

Well, blu-ray is pretty much dead.

Er... no.

@RadicalWall said:

If it's a 2013 release then they have to show something this E3. They can't throw it out at the next E3 and make the holidays.

Why not, thats what Microsoft did.

@troll93 said:

@Cyrisaurus said:

I wish they would put our taxes to good use and get Fiber Optic internet connections out across the nation.

We are trying to do that over here in Australia and the opposition is losing there shit!

WTF!?!? There are people opposing that?

@Cyrisaurus said:

I wish they would put our taxes to good use and get Fiber Optic internet connections out across the nation.

Didn't Verizon just reach a deal with Comcast? Doesn't look good for the future of the internet in the U.S. Not that it's particularly great now. At least in Europe I had less downtime and no caps.

Verizon-Comcast Deal

Bandwidth is a concern for a lot of people, so having both disc and download would be the best option for the next generation. Honestly with how slow it get's rolled out, we might not be ready for download-only by the time PlayStation 5 launches.

Personally I still want the Blu-ray player functionality, and I've sold about eight PS3 games so far. Not having that ability would be disappointing when they cost $60-70 a piece.

It's simple, if it's download-only, I won't be buying it....

I would put money that the majority of PS3s are not online and are primary used for a BR player.

If Sony were to have done that, it would have been one of the stupidest decisions in the history of history.

Sony put so much into blu-ray it would seem dumb to get rid of the optical drive so soon afterwards.

@Napalm said:

@DriftSPace: I'm not dropping sixty dollars on a brand new, digital videogame.

Oh yeah, I mean that plastic box and 5 page manual really adds to the value proposition. Truly!

I'd rather want more of the impulse gaming. IF they make an online-only console, it should give you the option to play the game instantly via streaming while downloading it. When downloaded, your installed game should just magically pick up your progress from the streaming version.

@RadicalWall said:

If it's a 2013 release then they have to show something this E3. They can't throw it out at the next E3 and make the holidays.

Not necessarily. Look at the Wii U. Nintendo showed it off last year and now it's been sitting around for a year doing nothing. What for? Unless Sony wants to target an early 2013 launch.

@MideonNViscera said:

Digital only games suck, cause you can't trade them in.

Surely you can see why Sony would love that.

When I read this in the WSJ, I wanted to see if you would talk about it. Why doesn't your headline focus on the 2013 release? WJS got the New IPad release time correct so, I am going to go with them and " people familiar with the matter". Another interesting thing would be there may not use the Cell processor and work with AMD? Interesting read.

@Napalm said:

@DriftSPace: I'm not dropping sixty dollars on a brand new, digital videogame.

Oh yeah, I mean that plastic box and 5 page manual really adds to the value proposition. Truly!

For people who live in areas with shitty internet connection, this is not good news. I for one fall into that category.

If PSN had better download speeds i would be all for it. But i understand why they think its a bad idea, too many people around the world still have bad internet.

@Hitchenson said:

@MideonNViscera said:

Digital only games suck, cause you can't trade them in.

Surely you can see why Sony would love that.

Of course. If I were a console manufacturer or developer I'd support digital only for that reason alone. Meanwhile we'd be stuck with our digital copies of Duke Nukem Forever for eternity.