It appears Sony learn't its lesson from PSP:Go a recent interview and conversations from Sony exec's suggest the company has realized the concept of an all digital console is a very long ways away. It makes you think why the PSP:Go happened in the first place, has Sony changed their minds or did they know the time was not right and release Go anyways?

The biggest flaw with PSP:Go was the removal of retailers from the picture. SCE Worldwide studios President Shuhei Yoshida said "Some consumers like shopping in retail stores, talking to knowledgeable store clerks, buying and playing games on the spot. We do not want to remove that capability from consumers," It would seem this is considered to be one of the biggest flaws to Go and the idea of a digitally exclusive video games console. Many consumers just aren't ready to abandon their knowledgeable employees and game store experience.

However he did not stop there , he had another very real reason that an all digital console is just not practical and the market just isn't ready."Some PS Vita titles, like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, will be close to 4GB in size, which could be too large to download for consumers 
who do not have a fast broadband connection," Unlike the smaller sizes of PSP games the Vita's games are much to large for many of the customers Sony would like to have purchase their hardware. It would require very fast internet to download such large software not to mention large amounts of internal memory so that a user could store all the games they purchase. Maybe a 120-gig hard drive would be needed?

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president and CEO Jim Ryan added in some more in sight into the issue "There are consumers in parts of the world – this is a global device – where the digital model has not yet fully been embraced," This is a very important issue as PlayStation products are sold in many under developed regions around the globe and many areas where internet has yet to become the mainstream distribution method it is becoming in North America. This rang true with PSP:Go which was discontinued altogether in Japan and struggles to survive in other markets.

Sony was of course talking about their handheld market, but they seem to suggest home consoles are even further away from a online digital distribution exclusive model. If 4-gig games and internet speed are an issue for Vita titles what about 50+ gig games for PS4? Not to mention if advancements continue at the rate they have in the past game sizes will continue to grow larger with every passing generation. How long before game sizes fall in line with online capabilities?

Another huge issue that will make a digital distribution based console impossible in the near future is internet providers at least in Canada and several other countries are beginning to charge users on the amount of memory and bandwidth they use. Meaning if a user paid 50$ for a full game that took up say 50 gig on their home console. They would not only have to pay for the game but would need to pay for the data plan to accommodate that download. Meaning you'd be adding a lot of price to each game you download!

What do you think, does Sony have the right idea? Or should PSP:Go have been a success? Should Vita and PS4 be digitally based consoles? Or is Sony right and the timing just isn't right. How long has Sony been aware that the timing wasn't right, when they launched Go did they realize that it wouldn't be a success? If Sony is right and the timing right now just isn't right, when do you think the right timing will come along? What things need to change in the industry before an online digitally based console is viable?

Source

What this means is Sony has officially abandoned the idea of digital distribution only full video game systems.

Good.  :)

The time is absolutely right for an all digital console, you just have to actually do it right. The Go was a fantastic idea, Sony just did a poor job of doing.

If you want all digital to be a success, just look at Steam. Make every game available day one, make it cheaper, and have constant sales and bundles. From what I remember of the Go, not all games were there, games weren't day one, and games were as expensive or more than the physical copies. It's no surprise the Go failed.

I would love for them or someone else to give digital distribution only another go because when I travel I hate carrying around 10-20 games.

twesterm

Sureley the Vita approach of all games available in shops and on download is better, then everyone is happy.

The time's not right for Sony, because not enough of the PlayStation userbase has adequate broadband speed.  

Nevertheless, the option to download all games digitally next gen should be on the PS4.

I agree that Steam is brilliant. However, games are not cheap on Steam, not the new ones anyway. A new big budget PC game will often cost 49.99 euros here and I also have to pay VAT on that so it costs me the equivalent of 500 NOK, which is the same as a brand new PS3 or 360 game and quite a bit more than new PC games on disc in any store.

They really srewed us over when they went from US dollar to Euro, that is quite a leap in price for us in Europe since the numerals remained the same (imagine you game prices going up 30-50% overnight). Don't get me wrong, I still love Steam for all their amazing bundles and offers and I even buy new games at full price simply because its simple but the games are not cheap as a rule. If you want to succeed with a digital only console, I think it would be important to introduce a fair global distribution system, otherwise you would never get any sales in emerging markets (which won't have the average bandwidth anyway) and a few other places and these markets are important.

That only proves digital distribution as an option can work. Most of the non-indie games on there still have retail distribution.

As in even if the PSN shop was as good or better than Steam, they would still need hard copies.

But not all games that are on Steam are only on Steam and not available in retail stores.  Currently, both retail and digital downloads version of games are commercially successful.  So what did Sony do wrong with the Go?  Or are you just hating again?

Did you read my entire post?  I outlined what they did wrong.  Read it again.

@LordtheKnightNight

Yes, most non-indie games do have physical options and that's fine.  I'm just saying a platform like the Vita could go digitial only if they chose and could do digital + retail (would probably be the better option because people like options).  You got me there.

@Mummelmann

I have no idea about Euro prices but in American digital games are generallly less. (though that could be because they're PC games too...)  Even if they're not less at day one, they're still less a few weeks later when they start getting put in bundles or on random sales.  If I look at Steam now I can look at a whole list of recently released games that are less than retail.

1 - many people shop at Wallmart etc, where there isn't a single knowledgeable game person in sight. Its cheaper.
2 - Online retailers (amazon) are making a killing btw.
3 - Apple and Steam
4 - What about the size, controls and download pricing?