Wishful Thinking: Predicting the PlayStation 4
GameSpot staff from around the globe sound off on their hopes and dreams for Sony's new console.
Randolph Ramsay, Regional Site Manager, APAC Follow
PlayStation 4 Go?
Whatever the next PlayStation ends up becoming, it's a certainty that Sony will give us various configurations to choose from. After all, it has a solid track record of offering different units at hardware launches, with the most recent example being the 3G and non-3G flavours of the PS Vita.
Ditching discs means a quick death to the industry-hated second-hand games business.
But what are the chances that Sony will go all PS Go on us and produce a PlayStation 4 model that doesn't have a Blu-ray (or any other disc) drive? Considering the PSP Go's poor sales performance, you'd probably say not likely. Then again, Sony's not exactly known for being a company that's quick to learn from its mistakes, as the PS Vita's sluggish sales probably suggest. But a PlayStation 4 with a hard drive only isn't that outlandish an idea, and there are several reasons why.
As a dedicated home unit, any PlayStation 4 will likely have a constant connection to the internet, making downloading games and updates a much easier user experience than with the portable Go. Hard drives are cheap and getting cheaper, making it economically attractive. Sony already has a (fairly) robust, battle-tested software-delivery system in the PSN. And consumers are getting increasingly used to having their games delivered to them digitally, certainly much more so than when the Go was first released. But there's another, much more important reason why Sony would want to ditch discs altogether.
Ditching discs means a quick death to the much-hated (by the games industry) second-hand games business. You can't trade in a download, meaning that Sony--and any company publishing on its platforms--gets a guaranteed piece of every sale. An environment where no second-hand games exist, where developers and publishers get a slice every time someone buys their title, is game industry nirvana. And it's much easier to spin to consumers, as well: having a PlayStation 4 model that doesn't have a disc drive is a less nuclear, more indirect method of damaging the second-hand trade than having a machine with a disc drive that somehow prohibits the use of a recycled game.
So, will there be a PS4 Go? For Sony, it's certainly something that makes sense.
Follow Randy on Twitter: @randolphramsay




