Kaz Hirai: The PS3 Without Blu-ray Isn't Feasible

The PlayStation 3 is one of the most powerful consoles on the market in terms of hardware and, thanks to its Blu-ray player, it can fulfill many tasks at once, including high-definition media output and a quality gaming experience.

Talking with Kotaku a few days ago, the head of the Sony's Computer Entertainment division, Kaz Hirai, revealed that removing the Blu-ray feature from the console in order to make it much cheaper and thus more accessible to customers would be something inconceivable and it was essential for the platform to have it at launch.

“Purely from a gaming standpoint there was no other choice for us,” revealed Hirai. “Last year's Metal Gear Solid 4 was pushing 50GB as it was. If it was on DVD it would have been a 6 disc set. The packaging and cost would have been prohibitive and it would have been hugely inconvenient to consumers.”

“Conceptually it may make sense to remove the Blu-Ray drive but in reality it doesn't make sense,” Hirai said. “Also we never want to be in the position where countries without super fast broadband connections are locked out of the PlayStation business because the PS3 has gone download only.”

But the executive does have a few regrets in what concerns the launch of the PlayStation 3 worldwide. “Looking back if we could have done it again we probably would have not gone for the simultaneous worldwide launch,” he said. “For other consoles which have a five year life cycle it is much easier to judge performance after two years. But for us, with the 10 year life cycle we have, it is premature to judge after such a short time.”

Hirai does have a point, as the Blu-ray drive and the feature as a whole are certainly a huge selling point for the big black console. Even though it makes it quite expensive, it may prove a winning feature in the long run.