There is a need for the PS3's Blu-ray player because games are already filling up the 25GB of the single-layer discs, according to Sony's worldwide studios boss Phil Harrison.

Speaking in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Harrison said, “Already, at our launch titles, we're getting up close to the 25GB limit that we have on our Blu-ray discs this year. Next year we'll raise that to 50GB, and I'd expect that we'll be getting close to that in the fairly near future as well”.

He denied that the inclusion of the Blu-ray player, which partially accounts for the high cost of the PS3, was an attempt to push the Sony's Blu-ray format. “It's got nothing to do with movies. DVD is not sufficient capacity to power the kind of data consumption ... we need Blu-ray to supply the kind of data that PS3 games use.”

He continues, “It's not just about graphics. It's about 7.1 audio, it's about speech, it's about having up to 1080p movies built into the game”.

When pushed by the interview, Harrison did admit that some early videogames won't make use of the capacity of the Blu-ray format. “Not every game is going to fill 25GB or 50GB. I completely accept that – but there will be games that require that this year, and will push that further in years to come.”

See after the jump for links to the excerpts.

>> Via GamesIndustry.biz - Exclusive interview with Phil Harrison