Sony: Digital-only content delivery model “not possible” at this time

If Sony does break away from their 10-year PS3 plan, which they recently confirmed they were standing by, then don't expect the PlayStation 4, or even the PS3, to break away from the disc-based mold.

There's no doubt that we've seen an increase in the availability of digitally-downloaded games and DLC, but according to Sony chairman Kaz Hirai we are not yet ready to fully move away from discs.

"Relying soleley on networks to deliver content is unfortunately just not possible," Hirai said at CES this week.  "It's still very difficult to have consumers download 50 gigabytes of data or more."

Given bandwidth limits and the growing file sizes of video games, I tend to believe him.  Would you rather wait to download a 10-20gb game or run to the store and pick one up?

While we might not see a digital-only model in the near future, we could see one by 2016 – which is when the PS3's 10-year life cycle matures.