Rax wrote:As Jenuall is saying, its way too early to be talking about download only consoles, the infrastructure really isnt there yet. Its getting there but were still 5-10 years away from enough people having a fast enough internet connection to handle a download only console. I can get a peak of 6 meg where I live and I will remain at that speed until probably 2023. I realise Im in the minority with my situation but not everyone has super fast broadband yet and until 90+% of people do consoles will keep offering physical releases for the majority of games.
However a download only machine will herald the return of the cheap as chips console. As Photek mentioned the performance gains just arent there anymore so prices arent falling like they used to, therefore new consoles will be very expensive if they want to offer the kinds of leaps that people expect from next gen machines. Locking people in to you digital marketplace and only ever being able to purchae content at a price you set will help to subside the cost of these machines. That will last for about 7-10 years before an EU ruling comes along and means that consoles will have to offer 3rd party marketplaces to allow competition for game prices within the platforms.
Expensive times ahead.
I just don't think platform holders will wait for the 90% of households mark to be hit. If the next PlayStation launches with support for physical distribution of games then they'd be looking at 2027/28 before being able to go digital only. It won't be best for customers, and as someone using a 4G connection for Internet access at home it sure as hell won't be good for me, but the PS5 will be a once in a decade chance to ditch physical media and I think they'll take it.
. And this is in south east London 
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