Tech expert suggests PlayStation swap physical PS5 discs for 3D NAND cartridges

Some gamers worry physical media will disappear, with an all-digital future inevitable. PlayStation amplified those fears, announcing a significant cutback in PS5 disc production. However, a British tech executive has proposed several alternatives, including 3D NAND micro-cartridges. Unfortunately, high costs could make this approach impractical.

Dotun Rominiyi serves as Chief Technology Officer at Assetera, an EU digital asset marketplace. The tech expert also has experience in the gaming industry as a software engineer. On LinkedIn, he acknowledged concerns about the decline in physical games.

PS6 cartridges?

Regardless of whether the manufacturer shuts down Blu-ray factories, Rominiyi notes that PS5 discs are an aging solution. More games exceed their capacity, and the media can’t rival the speeds of console SSDs. Similar to Switch 2 game cards, 3D NAND flash memory could address these drawbacks.  

Rominiyi explains that this compact, removable storage offers read speeds of up to 4 GB/s. Sony could employ cartridges that max out at 1 TB, more than enough for PS5 or PS6 games. Installation times on PlayStation consoles would either be dramatically reduced or eliminated.

On the other hand, the memory shortage has complicated shipping physical games on flash memory. Nintendo has struggled to keep costs reasonable for its smaller capacity game cards. That has prompted some third-party publishers to embrace the digital age.

Physical games could become niche

The LinkedIn post proposes 512 GB as a compromise, but the cartridges would still be costlier than Blu-rays. Sony would also have to decide on a form of encryption to prevent piracy. Nevertheless, devoted collectors may be willing to pay a premium, with the bonus of being able to resell titles.

Glass-like passive photopolymer cards could be a far more affordable alternative. Rominiyi compares them to defunct Nintendo e-Reader media, as a passive technology does not rely on chips or pins. Sadly, the expensive optical device required to read the cards may inflate already-high console prices.

A more immediate solution for the PS6 is an external drive backward compatible with PS4 and PS5 discs. Still, Sony has yet to respond to protests, and whether it will invest in a new type of physical media is questionable.