There is no doubt in my mind that the PS5 will be a physical box where games are played locally. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if it still ended up using optical discs, given that year 1 PS4/Xone titles are already taking up 40GB. Imagine how much bigger stuff on a console 5-6 years from now will be.

What I'm more interested in is what will be the main selling point for these new consoles. They already started hitting a graphical plateau by the end of last gen--Halo 4 and TLOU look amazing on the new consoles, and I'm sure the Uncharted games and GoW3/Ascension would hold up really well too. As great as UC4 looks, meanwhile, it's hardly the massive leap between GoW2 and GoW3.

They're going to need a different hook this time, I think. But what could it be? VR + motion controls? It's hard to say, given how the Rift is still a PC-only prototype and we have no idea how well Morpheus will turn out. The direction the industry goes this gen is going to be very interesting to watch.

I hope its digital. I always have terrible luck with Sony hardware. I don't wanna count how many playstations have died on me over the years. Wouldn't it be nice if you could buy a little box for $20 with a controller, or even have it up on existing machines like on PC and you just buy the controller. Then no more hardware failures.

Think about it. Systems won't be based on generations anymore. Developers won't be held back by hardware anymore. There won't be any more arguments over resolution and frame rates. No more APUs or GDDR held back for the OS. Manufacturing costs will be next to nothing.

You'll always have the best version of all games. Game piracy won't be a issue anymore, and Sony won't have to spend billions developing new hardware that will be obsolete after a year or earlier. It should be the endgame plan for Sony and MS.

I really hope the PS5 will be a physical console!

No thank you to cloud based gaming. Physical FTW.

I hope its not cloud

It will be a new console.

Cloud-based gaming is inevitable, question is whether it'll start with the next generation or not.

i will not buy games by digital release.
as i will not buy resident evil hd remaster on ps4 because there is no physical copy.

to me if ps5 games is working in cloud, this system is DEAD.

i will smile a lot when ps3 and 360 is closed and people needs to download the games they bough see can´t download again :D
people will open their eyes and will see how all games they bought was only SMOKE.

all you have in your hands is forever or when you decide what you want to do with that. digital copy not depends of you.

and that my friends is the ugly truth!

and just like amazon is? or windows OS is with other companies having the Ability to make hardware also that you can load your Windows OS on. what is if Sony was looking at taking Playstation as an ECO system not tied to only Sony hardware? 

why worry about if you sell less "sony" only hardware box's when every device out there would be pretty much able to run your software! is it about selling the software main goal or is it the main goal of selling only the hardware?

with Phones and tablets and 4G LTE speeds being heavy invested into, its already at a point where soon Games of almost PS4/xbox1 Level of Graphics ie: 720P and higher on Smart devices become the norm because the hardware is more than capable Soon to handle the streaming Quality of the PS3/xbox360 on a d@mn smartphone or Tablet level hardware. for many gamers outside of the Hardcore on gamer forums its enough.

many casual minded gamers far out number us, so the market goes where they trend, and sad to say that is smartphones and tablet level hardware. it where many casual gamers spend their time if or when they game by a freaking landslide..Apple and Google both has disrupted this part of the market, we may not like where it is headed, but that is the Going Trend, does that mean game consoles go away completely, no but it does cut into the growth % right now if you are lucky 150+ million consoles may be able to be sold permplatform holder per series of game console in a 10 year pd. in time..smartphone and tablets just crushes that, and since they in general us Arm Cortex chips porting and development costs are cheaper/ but the level of advanced Ai/Physics?resolution/Audio are good enough to the level of even over the ps3/xbox360 with performance at reduced screen size's. by next year the performance gap between smartphones and tablets  and xbox360/ps3 will be even closer and in some cases even better on tablets and smartphones.

the key is it may not be ps4 or xbox1 level, but since its near xbox360/ps3 and those devices are still current on the market being sold and at the way smartphones and tablets out pace advancement in new system releases, the 3rd party developers are already in support of smart devices and tablets. look at rockstar, and square.

The first they decide to be digital only I'll go Nintendo only as well, their choice...

Now I think it is possible with PSNow initiative that they give PS5 in two formats, disc based physical console or subscripition based digital... I know which I'll choose...

And yes, as much as MS loves digital and tried to go there, I don't think they will throw themselves on the fire twice on a row trying to make it all digital on next gen.