While we can't live without our round slices of plastic full with data and entertainment, the general consensus is that they are a hassle and should be replaced by transferring data in different ways. Also Sony was about to ditch our optical friends for the Playstation 4 which should be released by Christmas 2013, but according to The Wall Street Journal they changed their mind.
Previously it was thought that Sony would go download only with the Playstation 4 but now insiders have told The Wall Street Journal that the Playstation 4 will likely feature a Blu-ray drive. And Sony is not the only one, according to insiders also Microsoft wasn't planning to include an optical drive in their next Xbox console, but also this rumor seemed to be false.
It's likely that the optical drives are also still included to support brick and mortar stores that sell games, they could go out of business if the games only become available in download stores. Another reason is that internet connections around the world are not always reliable and fast enough to rely only on downloads.
