Summary
Sony’s mid-generation PS5 refresh boosts rendering performance, doubles storage, and puts another nail in the coffin of physical game releases. The future is looking depressingly all-digital.
Disc Drive Not Included
The PS5 Pro is the first flagship PlayStation console that doesn’t include a disc drive. The original PS5 launched in two configurations: one version with a built-in disc drive, and one version without. This was the only notable difference between the two, apart from the size and weight.
But the PS5 Pro will launch at its $699 price point without a disc drive in the box, or as a bundle. When thePS5 Slim was launched in late 2023, Sony offered the revised $449 console on its own, or as a $499 bundle with an optional bolt-on disc drive.
That same disc drive is designed to work with the PS5 Pro, but there’s no bundle pricing to sweeten the deal. PS5 Pro owners will need to cough up the full $79.99 for the disc drive if they want to add it to their top-tier console.
Sony might be betting on the PS5 Pro audience being “dedicated” enough that coughing up for a full-price disc drive is no big deal. But at the same time, the company is sending the message that the best PlayStation doesn’tneeda disc drive, which suggests that future consoles don’t either.
Mandating extra steps and charging more money in order to access physical game copies builds an even greater wall between console owners and physical games. This is particularly bad news if you have previous-generation discs that you want to enjoy on newer hardware.
Even the Optional Disc Drive Has Its Issues
Though it’s good that Sony sells an optional bolt-on drive for the PS5 Slim and PS5 Pro consoles, there’s one big issue with the peripheral from a game preservation standpoint.
When you add an optical drive to your PS5 Slim or PS5 Pro console, it needs to be activated. This registers the drive to your console, which is (fortunately) something you can do multiple times. You can move these drives between different consoles, which is great news if your PS5 Slim dies or you want to upgrade to a PS5 Pro at a later date.
Unfortunately, this activation process relies on an online connection. Your console must connect to an activation server, check the drive, and pair it with your console. This means that the drive won’t work if the activation server is shut down, which is an inevitability at some point in the future.
Imagine if vintage consoles required an online check in order to accept original cartridges. Sony may intend to support activations for the indefinite future, but there’s no guarantee that this server will still be active in 15 or 50 years. And that’s a big problem.
Shortly after launch of the PS5 Slim it wasdiscoveredthat the PS5 Slim “forgets” the paired drive whenever the console is reset. That is to say, if you format your PS5’s storage using the built-in menu option your optical drive will need to be paired again (this doesn’t even require a factory reset).
Every time you pair, you need to rely on that activation server being online.
The Problem With an All-Digital Console Future
Making disc drives optional was the first step to an all-digital PlayStation future, but the PS5 Pro’s pricing structure seems hell-bent on welcoming it. Though you’re able to make an argument thatthe PS5 Pro’s $700 price point is still a bargain, charging nearly $800 for the pleasure of using physical games is likely to have a chilling effect.
The last two hardware revisions, the Slim and the Pro, have both had optional disc drives. This makes it increasingly unlikely thatSony’s next-generation PlayStation 6will ship with a built-in disc drive.
Some will be quick to point out that the PC market has been all-digital for years (decades, even). But there is a big difference between an all-digital closed platform like the PlayStation and an all-digital open platform like the PC.
On a PC, you can decide where you buy your games. You can install multiple storefronts and shop around for the best deals. You can choose to wait forDRM-freeversions of games to be made available. While playingold games on modern versions of Windowsisn’t a walk in the park, you can hold on to era-appropriate hardware orbuild a retro PC using salvaged parts and archived drivers.
That’s not the case on the PlayStation, a tightly controlled platform where Sony runs the only store in town. If it’s not available on the PlayStation Store, it’s not available. If it’s removed or delisted, there’s no way of getting it back. You can’t mod your way out of the problem like you can on PC.
It’s not only collectors that need to worry about physical games disappearing. The end of consumer games would negatively impact consumer choice in a big way. As it stands, physical releases are still consistently cheaper than their digital counterparts.
Right now, you may opt to stay at home and download the latest release or you can venture out to a brick-and-mortar establishment and pick up a physical copy. The fact that more than one retailer sells those physical copies means there is greater competition in the marketplace.
You’re more likely to save money on a physical copy because retailers have to compete. Some even offer price matching, so you can go to your favorite store and still get the best deal in town.
Day one patcheshave put an end to the magical days of slapping a disc in your console and starting to play immediately, but they’re still (usually) smaller downloads than the entire contents of a disc. Not everyone has a solid internet connection, even in 2024.
And that’s to say nothing of the used market and the ability to share games. Let’s not forget how Sony’s famousOfficial PlayStation Used Game Instructional Videoprovided a significant boost for the PS4 whileMicrosoft’s was busy fumbling the ball with the Xbox One.
The Xbox Could Follow Suit
It’s unclear what’s happening at Microsoft, though the company has confirmed it is working on a new Xbox. Thiscould be a Microsoft handheld, or it could be anARM-powered living room PC.
But Microsoft is also loosening its grip on physical media. The cheaper Series S console is only available in an all-digital version, with an all-digital white Xbox Series X launching inOctober 2024. Despite this, Microsoft is also releasing a 2TB version of the Series X that still includes a disc drive.
We’ll have to seewhat Nintendo does with the upcoming Switch 2, but it seems unlikely that the Japanese giant will be abandoning cartridges any time soon.
