Michael Pachter Doesn’t Care About The PS4 Pro’s Lack of UHD Support

In light of the PS4 Pro’s focus on streaming 4K media, HDR and 4K gaming, you would have expected the internal drive to support Ultra HD Blu-Rays. Rather bizarrely, this feature was omitted despite it being a major highlight of Xbox One S which has significantly weaker hardware. When presented with the backlash from this decision Sony said:

“Our feeling is that while physical media continues to be a big part of the games business, we see a trend on video towards streaming. Certainly with our user base, it’s the second biggest use case for people’s time on the system so we place more emphasis on that area.”

While it’s certainly true that streaming seems to be the future, providing the high-end customer with fewer options isn’t ideal. According to the gaming analyst Michael Pachter, it’s not a big issue and he doesn’t rate support for physical media as very important. In an interview with Gamingbolt, Michael Pachter argued:

“When was the last time you rented a DVD or Blu Ray?”

“Almost no one buys DVDs –  well, I shouldn’t say that, DVD sales are down by about 50% in the last couple of years – and UHD disc sales are about 5% of the total, so who cares? You’re talking about such a small slice, why would you build something in to a console that’s going to be obsolete? Now, Microsoft chose to do it, I admire them and respect them for giving us something we don;t necessarily need. But I don’t think anybody cares, I really don’t.”

This is an interesting statement and hs some validity to it given the rise of streaming platforms. However, the negative reaction to the PS4 Pro’s lack of UHD Blu-Ray functionality suggests there’s a vocal niche upset with this decision. Perhaps, it’s simply because the Xbox One S has this feature while the PS4 Pro doesn’t and this omission limits the product’s value.