Last week, we reported on rumours that the PlayStation 6 will be sold with a removable disc drive, making it essentially a digital-only console. Not everyone was thrilled about this, but new figures from Sony (thanks, Kotaku) clearly show why this is the only reasonable path for them to take.
Sony Interactive Entertainment made roughly $31.5 billion during its last fiscal year, of which physical games accounted for only $945 million. This means that only 3% comes from physical game sales, making it financially impossible to force everyone to buy a more expensive console in order to include a disc drive.
Well-known analyst Daniel Ahmad from Niko Partners comments on the matter on social media, adding that there are a few more parameters to take into account and that the figures are therefore "slightly misleading," but at the same time confirms that "the overall picture is generally accurate."
There is therefore much to suggest that the next generation could be the last where there are any physical options to choose from at all.