The PlayStation 4 – codenamed Orbis – hasn’t been announced or even acknowledged yet by Sony. But a report from the Wall Street Journal indicates that the console, currently under development, was nearly created without a disc drive.

“Sony Corp. considered but ultimately rejected a download-only scheme for its next videogame console, people familiar with the matter said, opting to include optical disk drives rather than break with a decades-old model in the industry,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The Japanese electronics maker’s flirtation with dropping optical drives underscores the rising importance of online networks in the videogame industry, which allow console users to download games, television shows and music without the need for disks or cartridges.”

According to WSJ, Sony is indeed “targeting” 2013 as the year the PlayStation 4 (or whatever it will ultimately be called) will come out.