THQ CEO Brian Farrell believes that the next generation of consoles won’t require discs at all, he pronounced to an audience at Cloud Gaming USA. The lack of a disc drive would result in cheaper consoles and result in more mass-market adoption. Farrell said stated there would be “no physical goods cost for game makers, no inventory, no markdowns, and all the money spent by the consumer would go to the developer or publisher”.
He also claims that a cloud-only gaming future would also help publishers build stronger relationships with gamers.
“Our games are always on and our players are always connected… We have the opportunity to interact with players in new ways that can be reactive to their desires, play habits, and buying habits.
“We intend to create an online digital ecosystem with the consumer that keeps them interested for almost a year, perhaps even longer. And we expect most of our large console games going forward will extend the base experience with DLC packs. Things like online in-game storage, and consumables and other online items that will go on for at least a year post-release.”
Kaz Hirai, however, disagrees with Farrell. In August, the ex-SCE boxx insisted that disc-less consoles were ten years away, at least.
“We do business in parts of the world where network infrastructure isn’t as robust as one would hope. There’s always going to be requirement for a business of our size and scope to have a physical medium. To think everything will be downloaded in two years, three years or even 10 years from now is taking it a little bit to the extreme.”
There are other obstacles to a download-only console. First off, brick-and-mortar retailers won’t sell a console if they’re not permitted to sell software for it; this is why Sony was compelled to release a boxed copy of Patapon 2 which only contained a download code when they went all-digital with a single game. The other issue is the EULA, and gamers might not want to allow companies to dictate whether they’re permitted to even have a game on their hard drive, since the EULA states a company has the right to remove the game from a player’s system even now.
