Will Sony get cocky next generation?

[scrapking]

AsGryffynn said:

scrapking said:
Several Xbox One and PS4 games are already pushing 50 GB. Developers now have to add in a second set of textures for the PS4 Pro, and possibly other assets specific to PSVR, but have no extra space on the disc.

I understand that developers are being discouraged from making games specific for the PS4 Pro at this time. However, when the PS5 gets released we'll likely have that restriction dropped at a developer's discretion. If the PS4 Pro'd had its drive upgraded from BD to UHD, that would have brought BD-XL along for the ride (which would have doubled capacity to up to 100 GB per disc). At that time a developer would be able to make a game for the PS4 and PS4 Pro within 50 GB, or a game for the PS4 Pro and PS5 within 100 GB. But now they'll be stuck at 50 GB for any PS5 game disc that retains compatibility with the PS4 Pro. Not very forward thinking, if you ask me. Eschewing UHD is about so much more than movie discs, despite what some commenters say.

The way I see it, we will eventually have discs only containing a file manager to download the game. 

Eventually, yes.  But on what time frame?  I'm fully digital this generation, the only physical games I've owned came with systems and I sold them off.  But I have a 150 Mbps connection, etc.  Not everyone has a fast connection, and not everyone has unlimited bandwidth.  I have several Xbox Ones, and when Halo: The Master Chief Collection came out I was having to download around 70 GB *per XBox*.  But at that time my total bandwidth allotment was only 250 GB for the entire month.  Lots of AAA titles are 40-50 GB now.

While pre-loading the game prior to launch day can help compensate for the amount of time it takes to download, I've read comments on forums from people who need to start a AAA download a week before release date in order to get it on time, and they don't always get offered it that far in advance.  Then  you have unusual circumstances like with Halo: tMCC where virtually the entire game had to be re-downloaded by people who had done the pre-download due to some bug or error.

Some people don't have the speed, and some don't have the bandwidth, and some simply don't have a sufficiently reliable internet connection.  I'm none of the above, I have the speed, I have the bandwidth, and my connection is pretty rock-solid.  But the reality is that 70-90% of AAA games are sold on disc.  Some of those people just want to trade it in, but a not-insignificant amount of them do so because they find digital distribution inconvenient and/or impractical.