Rumour: PS5 Redesign to Feature Detachable Disc Drive

I think it’s a cool idea. Interesting to see if an additional BD drive is also possible for the „older“ digital version of the console or this feature might be exclusive to the new model.
Guess we see a possible Pro variant in 2024 then.

I think this is essentially going to mask the price increase. The PS5 digital model will retail for the Disc Drive version. That one will be faded out alongside a new "detachable" disc drive version which Sony will be able to market at their new higher price for the console.

Can it play my music CDs Sony? You own like half the bloody music industry. Let me play em please

@romando Panasonic still has the patent for CD Lasers and Sony doesnt want to pay them lol. Also they supposedly have a Deal with Spotify

Launch same day as spider-man 2 and their whole holiday inventory is sold.

I wonder if the combined price of the digital ps5 and the disc drive will remain less than the disc ps5

This doesn't make any sense to me. They already have a disc and non-disc version. It's like they decided to blow R&D money... because.

I'm getting Sega mega drive with a 32x attachment vibes from this

I always expected this would be the route console manufacturers would eventually take as physical media becomes less popular. I didn't think it would happen until next gen though.

I have been waiting for the first major redesign to get a PS5, but I also still buy physical games, so I would keep the drive attached. I really hope this detachable design doesn't mean we will lose a USB port compared to the original models. If that's the case, I might try to pick up an original design model instead, provided the other improvements aren't that significant.

Imagine if it turned out to be a Discman and some velcro

Hm if they’re doing this then the version shipped without the disc drive should be same price as the digital edition surely?

@Gremio108 😂😂

Seems like a good idea to me. I have friends that initially opted for digital version but would like to upgrade now.

Hopefully they redesign their expandable storage solution along with it.

Makes sense for them to cut the cost of the hardware back to 400 euro and have disk drive as optional accessory.

My questions mainly comes about piracy, once ps5 will be cracked and it's getting there, it would mean you could probably just use this feature to further exploit the console. But Sony knows better what they want to do.

Also there is no way this disk drive would cost 50 euro on its own. We probably talking around 100. Which would in fact make it another cash cow.

I’m all digital now anyway so might pick one if the re-design looks good.

@xDD90x you won't lose any ports. The claim is it will use an additional USB C on the back, so they're adding one to match the C on the front. PSVR2 requires a USB C connection too, so two will be needed to accommodate people who buy physical and use VR.

@BartoxTharglod some people take convenience over savings. It sure takes away headache if putting in new disk just to get day one 20gb patch to download for another 1 hour. +installation waiting time.

Also having to switch disks is annoying somewhat and PS5's disk drive can get rather loud and in fact it is the loudest component in there.

Smart. It'd be pretty cool to have a modular console.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byDiILrNbM4&ab_channel=vidsforfark

@Uncharted2007 It actually makes more sense because going forward they will only have to manufacture one hardware model; the disc drive will be a separate product. They will then sell one SKU with the standalone console and another with the 2 bundled together. Additionally, they will only need 1 mold for the faceplates compared to the 2 different molds they currently require. There are further advantages to unifying the design, such as marketing and iconography.

I don't get it, why sell a digital ps5 bundled with the seperate disk drive, if they have a normal ps5 with a built in disk drive anyway.

I’d be pissed right now if I’d only been able to get the original digital model. Physical media is SO much cheaper.

@BartoxTharglod I save way more than 30% by buying digital, just waiting a while after release. Average about 75%-90% off.

Plus get to play on multiple consoles at once without buying multiple copies. So many advantages to digital over physical, as long as you don't want to sell the game.

Sounds plausible and encouraging people into a digital future, more easily.

I’m still a fan of Blu Rays and disc based games so owing the original PS5 Disc version made me happy

@UltimateOtaku91
So people can get the digital only one should it be all that’s available, thinking they’ll get the disc drive later, before suddenly realising they love the convenience of digital games and are willing to pay through the teeth for it?

@BartoxTharglod
Hadn’t thought about that. Takes me back to having the best (fat) ps3 at launch. God I’m sad that was stolen.

I bet this is intended to compete with the Switch Pro!

It sounds overcomplicated (between the base screw and the SSD install that's kind of normal for PS5 though?) but it's actually a good idea. A single base unit, and optional disc drive. Hopefully this is partly in tended to drive the cost of a PS5 somewhat DOWN (like the original invisible digital edition), but I'm going to bet that getting it with a disc drive will also drive the cost up. (A quiet push to digital.)

One console model greatly simplifies manufacturing for Sony, though doubt it will lead to savings for the customer.

But more pertinently, it will nudge more people into an all digital way of consuming games. Which is the end game for console manufacturers of course.

@BartoxTharglod ah i see, so going forward if I want a playstation to play disks I need two separate devices, a digital console and a separate disk drive, which will end up looking weird depending on how they do it, plus will it still work as good via a USB connection?

@BartoxTharglod most physical games either go up in price or stay high far longer than digital. Cyberpunk is a unique exception because of how disastrous it was that was delisted digitally.

For example Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash physical is double the price of digital, even without sales.

@Uncharted2007 My guess it's a mix of cutting manufacturing costs by no longer running two different production lines, inventory management queues, and wholesale catalog numbers to simplify operations and distribution as well, plus shrinking the size of the white whale to save on raw materials cost is expected to more than justify the R&D through both savings and increased output/supply chain efficiency.

Plus, if my above theory is true, it lets them quietly push digital-first by punishing disc drive purchase through a higher price tag and putting the discounted model out to more availability (which has been missing with the OG digital), and netting more revenue on digital game sales.

IDK if the numbers really will work out, but I can see the profitable theory involved. If nothing else it should get both models available to people and get their barrier to entry down, plus it allows physical users to replace DDs, which considering the pile of PS3s with dead disc drives I have in the corner.....there's a nice repair-ability factor for DD users here.

That's... pretty cool. So you can grab a digital-only console, but also have the option of buying a disc drive separately down the line? I like it.

@BartoxTharglod I can't speak for other countries, but PS5 games cost the same physically and digitally in the United States for new releases. It sounds like you're making wide generalizations based on pricing structures peculiar to the market of the country you live in.

@LN78 That's fine, but it's not a universally applicable principle or anything.

@BartoxTharglod I'm with you on the digital only stance, only reason I can afford to play the amount of games I do is because of physical games.

For starters new games physical cost £5-£10 cheaper in the UK than they do on the store, so if I buy an average of 20 games a year new I'm saving £100-£200 by getting them on disk.

Secondly, after I've completed a game I sell them on ebay getting atleast 60-70% of my money back, I recently sold made in abyss for £36, paid £40 for it. That money then goes towards another game. Repeat that cycle and I'm paying hardly anything for my gaming.

And finally, I also use a rental service which let's me rent 3 games at a time even new releases for £21.99 per month, I've been with them for 9 years and so far saved over £2000+

An all digital future would mean I buy way less games as I won't be able to afford it, especially owning all three consoles, and many others will be in the same situation, games sales overall would decline if digital was the only option.

@LN78 @BartoxTharglod As @Ralizah said, it's market dependent. There's no question OLDER games right now are cheaper physically, and something really has to be done (legislatively) about these monopoly digital stores, but in terms of launch games, it's extremely rare for a new game to be discounted in the US physically, owing in part to the fact that we have only 4 or 5 retailers including Amazon that sell them so there's little incentive to compete, though the margins may also be lower to begin with from the retailer angle. The last time we had launch discounts was when Amazon Prime and Best Buy Gamers Club were comparing with 20% off preorders. When one stopped, the other stopped, and nobody's really discounted again. The best we have is Gamestop with a monthly $5 coupon for members, but that applies to both physical and digital games (except on PlayStation because Sony so graciously removed the ability to buy digital game codes.)

Of course that kind of sums up the US retail market as a whole right now. There's 2-4 stores in every category now, we've "streamlined" so only the biggest players remain for anything, and every year more of even the big players go out of business so our shopping strips are generally empty holes, restaurants, and medical offices that we now call "retail" so the "retail" numbers look good. You basically get Amazon, Walmart, Target, and maybe one competitor in any other retail segment other than grocery or drugstore/convenience-store or you don't buy it. Specialty niches get a few mom and pops.

Even NYC has no stores left. The famous small stores couldn't afford rent so they closed, and only the big major corporations could afford it. Then they realized they're spending more than they're making so they closed, and the result is mostly empty storefronts everywhere plus Amazon.

(I neglected Costco which is huge, but is a membership based wholesale club. And Sam's Club, owned by Walmart, is a Costco competitor but they've actually closed the majority of stores, and it's technically still just Walmart.)

I didn't read all article... but could I use detached disk drive with current ps5 digital model? Not that o would, but options are always welcomed.

@NEStalgia I think buying older games is a big problem in terms of getting them digitally, for example borderlands 3 costs £60 on the store, or £8 on amazon new.

Games on the store need permanent price reductions after a certain time has passed.

@BartoxTharglod Demon's Souls is $0 digital (or a fraction of a cent if you want to include all Extra games in the sub price). In the US, Rift Apart's lowest ever digital price is less than the lowest ever physical price (by 10 cents). Besides, there's only so many AAA games, so many more will be those niche games.

@BartoxTharglod All digital user here, just preordered GOW Ragnorak for £38 by using a foreign psn store of which i have an account. Not everythings black n white son 😉

@NEStalgia You make some good points, but it's still stupid, a home console doesn't NEED a separate part, it's a HOME console. Just seems like Sony's way of getting rid of physical by PS6, this is the first step. How much smaller was the DE than the disc? Weren't they the same size? If the DE was the size of a deck of cards or a mm paperback, fine, but if it's still huge, it does NOTHING for the consumer. If they wanted digital that was already a thing. Now we'll probably need another power outlet, and who has an empty one of those? 🤷 (I suppose USB-C could power it but I'm going w/ no.)

@LN78 what's the price charting website? The one that only tracks physical sales that Push Square reports on?

I hope sony don't treat this as the start to move to an all digital future, having physical games available means you can take risks, if a game comes out and you don't like it or it's too buggy then you can sell it or trade it in, same with games you're not too sure about but you buy them anyway just to find out it wasn't for you, you can still sell it or trade it. Something you can't do with buying digitally. If you're buying digitally you need to be 100% sure you're going to like that game and get your moneys worth. An all digital figure would harm game sales, and even could effect smaller games such as indies, as I know if I've got to buy all my games at £60 - £70 with no potential returns then I've got nothing to spare for indie games.

@get2sammyb Hardware redesign or no it's still a home console, it has room for a disc drive unless it's smaller than a PS One, which was basically the size of a disc, so probably bigger than that. All this is is the first step towards PS6 being digital only. I know that's still 5 years away, but they're starting to get people used to the idea now.

I'm mostly digital these days, but not completely. Maybe in 5 years I will be, though more likely I'll just be too old too game. 😂

@UltimateOtaku91 the commenter above you made a valid point it makes more sense to sell the console this way.

My opinion I think it's a good idea with only needing one set of plates to make because of one console and can be replaced if it becomes broken.

This makes some sense but sounds very weird. Despite the rumor I'm picturing a little external optical drive sitting on top of the PS5, out of place. If this is true I hope it's an expansion bay like we had with older consoles.

@rjejr never too old to game, if my fingers and thumbs still work I will play till I am unable too 😆

@UltimateOtaku91 Totally agreed. I get why MSRP is what it is (wholesale and partner pricing), and I get why they keep it that way (because they can and people are paying), but something is really broken about the whole model of digital sales. And the fact that Sony removed digital game code sales to totally control resale price of digital content (and MS/Nintendo did in other countries except US) should really be raising red flags to look into how digital economics works (to say nothing of Apple.) I know there's the argument about "it's their platform and their store and they can charge whatever they want" but at some point the idea of a bunch of little digital economic fiefdoms with zero market competition really needs to be reeled in. The idea that ancient games list as full price which in no way reflects actual market pricing of the product is all that's available most of the time shows something is very broken.

@BartoxTharglod Oh yeah, definitely. We've built our entire ecosystem around survival of the fittest, only the biggest thrive. I've expected it to collapse for 20 years now, and somehow not only does it not collapse but it keeps on reinforcing itself. I don't honestly understand how it all stays upright. It's depressing. "Shopping" now consists of "drive half an hour each way to some distant place that has the 10 remaining stores (split up across 5 parking lots each located 5 minutes + 6 minutes traffic apart from each other), or just buy it on Amazon. Which of course isn't much of a choice. Lots of drugstores/convenience stores and restaurants though. Far as the eye can see...... It's all that's left.

Yeah, "MSRP" here generally means "here's the price." and it's absolutely price fixing, through and through. Hard not to have price fixing when you have 4 vendors. Although, to the credit of the system here, part of that comes down to the fact that "discount retailing" really took over starting in the 70's and the "department store/dealer model" ended. By that, likely your MSRP is padded well above wholesale price allowing retailers to have a lot of pricing leeway. Here we expect product to be sold on razor thin margins, so retail price is very close to wholesale price and the large retailers make their money through sales volume despite thin margin (that's the Walmart model in a nutshell.) So for it to work, they can make very little per product sold, but by being a retail monopoly they sell enough volume to turn massive profits.

Now....that's the theory, and originally when discount retailing took over in the 60s through 80's and ended department stores and dealers, that's how it worked. Today with a bigbox quadropoly, does it really work that way? Of course not. But that's how the public perceives it. They're getting a "discount" through "every day low prices" that are close to the margin. Or so they still believe.

@BartoxTharglod I don't know how often it has happened, but the general understanding is that retailers that violate MSRP risk being cut off by the supplier of the product.

But then, a retailer like Wal-Mart regularly sells new Nintendo Switch games for $10 under MSRP in-store in the U.S., so maybe it's a toothless threat toward a big enough retailer. Still, you usually don't see games being sold for under MSRP at launch in the U.S.

Price drops for physical games usually happen faster down the line, however.

@hoffa007 My fingers and thumbs are doing ok, it's my brains inability to remember what buttons to push. I spend an hour or so every day on both Switch and PS5 and even that is a problem. FYI X is B and A is O, it's tough on the muscle memory. 😝

discs are much better value in UK currently, recently saints row is 50 digital, 35new on ebay. hfw can be got for sub 40, its far more on ps store. most titles on the store that are 45-50, are 10 cheaper on disc.

even the current ps sales are mostly more expensive currently.

i understand the ease from digital, but i dont swap discs enough for it to affect me. digital currently is inflating and keeps prices high, only worth it when vouchers are on offer.

What is the point in this if they release a digital model in the first place? 🤷‍♀️

@romando it's pretty much useless and will be heavily filled with DRM like their external storage use for ps4 games 😤 don't expect much, why are people getting hyped over this? 🤷‍♀️

@Ultrasmiles will remain more, bulk tax is something they profit from

@rjejr Of course it's a push to digital

But the existing AD is roughly the same size, but without the notable bumpout where the drive is (it's symmetrical and actually looks better, lol.)

The new one would certainly be smaller. And definitely draw power through USB-C, not a separate power cord (Even PSVR1 drew power from the system.)

@BartoxTharglod I think these companies keep shooting themselves int the foot by trying to push the whole shebang at once rather than in pieces, but in pieces it's eventually getting there. Sony tried the all digital PSPGo and it was panned. But years ahead of it's time. Then they tried Gaikai and it was laughed at...game streaming, as if! And now it's becoming more and more normal. Xbox tried pushing the digital future and it almost destroyed them...and yet most of what they tried is now normal on all platforms just one generation later. Sony's moving toward "optional" disc support. By PS6, a disc drive might be a "delayed" peripheral, and the idea might seem bizarre to the customer base coming of age.

Yeah, Walmart and Amazon can both get away with anything. Remember Walmart is the one that annihilated the PS5 launch by just breaking street date and opening up preorders a day early because they felt like it and other retailers had to rapidly catch up leading to a nightmare day. Guaranteed, Sony did jack squat about it. What can they do? Walmart moves a quarter or more of their product for them. Sony has the privilege of selling through Walmart, and any damage to that privilege means losing the primary/secondary retail channel in their biggest market, who would gladly promote XB or Nin heavily in retaliation.

Even in your market never underestimate the power of Walmart (and Amazon) Walmart has been known to tell mfrs what products they will sell, when they were update them, where they will make them at what total BOM, and at white price it will retail for. As a mfr, you make your product to Walmart's spec at Walmart's final price and margin, or you lose the ability to sell it in the only store most people will shop in. For global goods, that means goods everywhere are designed to Walmart's margins.

What's a "mall"? They mostly remortgaged in the 90's at too high a price, had to overcharge, all the retailers either merged into one big chain and closed most of the stores, the anchor stores went bankrupt, and/or couldn't afford rent and left (or as the 4 remaining department stores started closing, the co-tenancy contracts for smaller stores let them close and move elsewhere), and then the malls got torn town and replaced with "mixed use developments" which usually means a combination of very expensive luxury apartments, office buildings, restaurants/gyms/salons, a CVS drugstore, a bank ( or 3, although now they're all closing and going online only, too), and a few token minor retail stores. Luxury apartments, offices, restaurants/gyms/salons, drugstores, banks, medical (mostly screening/blood labs, and dentists)....that's everything now. Shopping is confined to centralized areas not close to anyone. They don't need to come to you because you have to go to them.

And then we can't figure out why Lord Bezos is our savior.... shrug

Apple did the same thing with their MacBook Pro in their quest to make a laptop that’s as thin as two 80gsm pieces of paper (and increase their profit margins of course).

I imagine the idea here is that they only make digital consoles going forward and the people that want a disc drive can buy it separately.

That doesn’t seem too bad now but when the next gen (or PS5 Pro) comes around, they can charge £450-500 for the digital only model (because that’s the only model available). Then charge an additional £100-150 on top for the disc drive.

This will make more people switch to digital, which is exactly what Sony want. Straight out of Apple’s playbook.

They need to have a standard disc console. Other options are just that.
I wouldn’t like the idea that disc is just optional only. It’s just a rumour that the media will sell you as fact so let’s wait and see instead of going all drama as is usually the case especially here.
Edit
Personally I think it’s just an option for the digital model. It wouldn’t make sense to use a usb for the standard model.

insider gaming? finally, a website designed for leaks so they seem more legitimate,
that way, it'll be considered "reports". cool.

They should give you my a replacement faceplate with the drive, in your chosen colour. Having the option to modularly add a Blu-ray drive to a digital only console would be good, but they need to also have the option to buy a disc version pre-installed.

Sony are nudging towards digital only. Don't let them.

Edit:

Instead of any price cuts in the future, they should be doubling the console storage, too. 600GB isn't enough. No where near. 1.2GB would be better. I have a 2TB NVMe drive in mine, which coupled with the internal storage, is keeping me going, but I can see me needing to manage the storage before the generation is over.

awesome! i am waiting here patiently for that day to come. this will likely be the FINAL console from sony with a disc drive. ps6 will be digital only in all liklihood, unless they make an exception for some territories. the problem lies in the physical media... will sony even want to press discs for the ps6? perhaps the print runs will be "limited" just for the collector and neglected internet infrastructure demographic (which might still be a lot of people).

So does that mean that if I currently own the digital only console I'll be able to buy this disc drive down the line to play physical media again? If so that's pretty cool.

@KaijuKaiser Bull digital is always more expensive even on day one if look around a little.

I'm physical as much as possible as there's a real advantage to it on the PS5 as opposed to the competition since Sony uses UHD discs and has the really good compression. Other than a day 1 patch, a lot of the games are able to be installed right off the disc, even ones around almost 100 GB like Horizon Forbidden West. It's a very nice convenience to be able to reinstall a game from the disc in 30 minutes or so rather than download the whole game again (especially for ones like me that have DSL).

With that said, as for a redesign, I doubt I'll bother since I already have a PS5. Yes, it would be cool to get one if it's a much better design. The PS5's look grew on me, but it's still really large. I'd only consider it if they finally made the effort to make it whisper quiet like it was supposed to be instead of being cheap with the fan's power supply and such. It's still better than the PS4 Pro in that regard of course, but the Series X is whisper quiet like Sony said the PS5 would be. I am interested to see what they do with it regardless though.

@Flaming_Kaiser you obviously haven't looked at the prices on the Turkey PSN store. Even day one digital there makes physical look laughably overpriced

How about we just get the ps5s in store first before pushing out a new model? 🤦‍♂️ Jim Ryan you are terrible. How about a smaller ps5 controller???????

@ATaco Curious about that myself. Can't find that discussed in article and if it's answered in comment section, I can't read through all of the flaming to find out.

@Slug_full_of_metal You got tiny hands?

A external blu-ray will cost more than the internal blu-ray. Chances are it will cost quite a bit more. My hope is the rumor is false.

Should've done that to begin with lol

the new system will be sold in two permutations: on its own, similar to the existing PS5 Digital Edition, "or bundled with the detachable disc drive".

Isn't that just the same as buying a PS5 that has a disc drive already built in, the disc drive version? What's the point in this?

Do you guys reckon that the PS6 will more than likely be all digital and no physical anymore?

It would be amazing if this update’s disc drive would somehow enable backwards compatibility with physical PS1/2/3 discs.
Don’t know how that would work or if that’s just a pipe dream but conceptually, it’d be cool for sure.

@jorel262 The article says it'll be fit in a bay, it won't be out of place.

@Snake_V5 there's a huge important difference: the fact that people won't be scared to buy an all-digital console with the thought of never ever having the choice to get a disc drive. Because people's mind CHANGE, so there's no buyer's remorse.

@Gamer_Guy I know people who do this (purchase games from the Turkish store). Is it not a possibility that Sony could block this if they wanted to and you lose access to all of your purchased games?

It worked well for the 360 optional HD-DVD drive, look at how HD-DVD is thriving...

In all seriousness though, if this turns out to be true (a big if, imo) then you'll likely still have the same levels of attachment rates of disc & digital versions, but via an add-on rather than built-in. While it would necessitate the R&D and production costs of the drive/attachment method, on the other hand it could streamline their manufacturing and every system manufactured would be sold (ie the less popular model sitting on shelves).

If it was the same size/model disc drive, it shouldn't have an impact performance wise, in speed or noise. We would still be limited by the UHD drives read speeds, which even USB 3.0 connection would be far beyond (possibly even USB 2.0 would be enough). It would also give digital only owners the option to pick one up later and in the future if the drive develops a fault, it would be easier to replace, especially for an average consumer. Connect a new drive and you'd be back to being able to use discs.

@BartoxTharglod so been following the discussion. and I'm just wondering, is there any place in your life where you take the more expensive option out of convenience? Don't worry this isn't a pretext for stirring things up but I'm just kinda curious really.

@Gamer_Guy Maybe buy if buy something i want to really own it not if something goes to ***** that i cant get to my games.

But then again F digital i only go digital if its really not possible and with Limited Run Games and other sites thats not even a issue anymore.

@BartoxTharglod that's nonsense that you're allowed to consider physical rentals as a benefit for physical, but for some reason digital rentals aren't a benefit for digital.

@Snake_V5 Its a lot easier to fix stuff thats for sure.

Yo people really be gassed in the comments over physical vs digital. Buy your games how you want fam.

@TheArt Well you either buy one or the other don't you. I got my PS5 with disc drive because I know I don't want all digital, it doesn't make sense to me. It's the same as the PS5 now with disc drive only it's not built in.

@BartoxTharglod the rental comments go back to @UltimateOtaku91's post, one of the very few people supporting your stance that physical is always cheaper, where he mentioned rentals saving him lots of money. Nobody jumped on him saying renting is bad, so it must be accepted. But by disregarding that very valid way to play games cheaper, you're hurting your own position as well.

Specifically for criminals, I'd say physical is markedly worse than digital. The benefit to physical would be playing online games without risking your jailbroken console getting banned. But the risk of retaliation from law enforcement is so much higher. If you have to steal your games, digital only is probably much safer, if you don't connect your console to online.

I’m pretty excited for this actually. I’ve put off buying a PS5 for several reasons. One, they’re just very difficult to find, but I also thought the initial design was terrible. By the time this launches next year, there should also be a few more exclusives available, and I should be able to pick up a couple of the older ones, like Returnal, for pretty cheap

How much crap nonsense they invent this days. Money money money!!! So y: always making players open they wallets.

@NEStalgia I forgot about PSVR using the PS4 for power considering all the wires I had to hook up. 😝

Seems like all the blu-ray drives on Amazon are USB powered, and some of those are even writers, which I'm guessing this won't be b/c piracy, so no problem. PS version will be so overpriced tho.🤑

I always find it amusing how angry disc lovers get in these comments about people who for whatever reason prefer digital games.

Enjoy your discs. Don't burst any more blood vessels on something that doesn't affect your lives, just because some people won't agree with you.

@xDD90x it did say additional USB C port in the back

@BartoxTharglod I just bought a Ps5 in mid July. I bought a bunch of games, only to see them go on sale both physically and digitally. Generally, you are right, but you can get digital games pretty inexpensively too if you are patient.

@Uncharted2007 Creating one standard console will simplify their production pipeline in the long run, as they phase out the launch version. The add-on disk drive will be simple to make and will not have the same expenses associated with producing a second console with the disk drive built in.

@BartoxTharglod these days with gamepass and PS Premium I've actually saved money by being able to play games I wanted to buy but ended up on one of those services. Many have been indie titles I have wishlisted on the switch waiting for a sale. Now I have been able to play the game without paying for it. If I didnt like the game then oh well. Those services have paid for themselves for me.

Also I understand people's desire for physical. It's why older consoles are great to get into cause you get the full game on a physical media. But these days devs dont ship complete games anymore and you need those day 1 patches for the game (yet somehow it went gold) or you need to download the rest of the game. Without good backup options (like steam has but I'm not for sure if you still need an internet connection to steam servers to play that game if steam ever went away) it def does suck but physical media has been dead for years now and it's only viable if you have the full game on disc. Especially when the console just uses the disc to install the game to the system and then uses it for authentication.

I wish we could go back but we ain't heading that way. It's not just Sony pushing this. We as gamers have accepted that devs do it with games like Dead Cells constantly getting updated and changed. It's not even the same game it was when it came out. I don't think there is a physical for that game now that has everything on it.

Physical media is great and I want it to come back in force but sadly it won't cause it's been dying a slow death for years.

@BartoxTharglod understand that! I'm fortunate even to own all consoles (not the series x but I go the S) this generation for the first time and have a decent gaming laptop. I play where I feel a game would be best at or cheapest at. Some times I'll get the switch port of a game just for the portability.

@BartoxTharglod fair enough. And yeah we'd call it a convenience store but I'm the same. I'd rather starve then pick something up there. Or vending machines. I go to work with people who get something out of those basically every day and in my head I'm like "what are you doing?!"

So I share your miserly ways for most things. But I've slowly become a sucker for digital. It mostly started when I figured out I could buy one game and play at the same time with my son while he's on a separate console. Made stuff like Borderlands (which we enjoyed together) so much easier than split screen. Things kinda grew from there. It does definitely bother me that digital locks you into one store when it comes to PlayStation, not gonna lie.

Never thought about the region thing. Pretty secure in the idea I'll never leave the states as much as I'd love to so that's not a concern but I can see how having that flexibility would be good.

Well anyway, like I said, just wondering.

@BartoxTharglod it's depressing... That's largely already true . They were going to film a sequel to that actually... And the mall they were going to use for torn down and replaced with mixed use office/apartment/dining before they could .......

The moment a realized how bad retail became was when I learned they now count dining and outpatient medical and consulting work as "retail"now. And that dining is more than half.

@Snake_V5 @Porco I'm betting ps6 is digital only they make the USB external drive for ps6 as a $100 accessory...... But only for bc.

Either that or the way ps is going it's a vaio with a custom ui 😂

@rjejr a PS5 bd writer. Now there's a very Sony idea💡 lol

@LightningLeader I've found the opposite true, you can get second hand physical copies really cheap. No such thing as a used digital copy for sale. They really want to kill the used game market.

price will be interesting

@BartoxTharglod I guess our only hope in an all digital future is that someone challenges Sony on their policies, legally speaking. Like Epic with Apple.

@rjejr I understand. I don't blame you game till you cannot no more.

I really hope the new ps5 will use horizontal design like older playstation.

@BartoxTharglod @BartoxAbrasiveness

It really does depend on where you're based. In the UK the rrp of both physical and digital first party is £69.99. We have a site here called Shopto who are the official partner to Sony for top up cards. Two £35 cards costs £61.70, and it's been that way since launch.

I agree that physical is almost always cheaper, and it's predominantly how I shop, but I understand the convenience others find in a digital option. GOW Ragnarok for example, the cheapest I can currently pre-order that physically for is £59.85, and I have to wait for it to be delivered, wait for it to install and patch, f**k around swapping disks when I want to play something else, or, for £1.85 more I can have all that done automatically while I'm sleeping and it's ready to play when I wake up on launch day.

I completely understand if this isn't an option for you in your market, I'm just giving some perspective from another on why digital isn't so bad when it comes to cost.

Are you reading this Nintendo? 30 years later Sony actually makes an optical disc attachment for a console

@Ralizah It's the same i Norway, always more expensive on PS store then physical

So we're getting a modular console? Wondering if this means you'll end up with fewer USB ports than the current PS5 physical.

@BartoxTharglod what meltdown? If anyone's had a meltdown here, that'd be you (did you ever block that guy?). You claimed physical was always cheaper than digital, multiple people have shown that's not the case. You've just picked and choosed what counts as access to a game to suit your argument when challenged, ultimately walking back your statement to include only new releases (which even that you've disproven yourself).

@BartoxAbrasiveness I like whatever is cheaper, which in most cases is digital because I don't buy games at launch since I already have plenty. People who refuse to buy digital will miss out on a lot of great deals. I actually checked a bunch of random PS4 games just now, and the only one I found with a historically lowest price (USD) for physical (ignoring any rental prices) was actually Cyberpunk.

Let's hope that the redesign is less fugly...

Thing is that PS5 is huge.... They try to slim it down. Removing disc drive is their solution. Well hope its more succesful than PSP go

@tselliot yes

@romando
I’m more concerned about the software to play 3D blu rays in VR. Big deal for PSVR2 owners.

@BartoxAbrasiveness it's not though. Waiting and renting are both better ways to save way more money. You can try to change the parameters all you like to justify your purchases, in the end you're paying more for physical in order to play at launch. Of you want, using your own words "anyone seeing that and still choosing [to pay more] is ****ing crazy."

@commentlife Yeah they should have a hot swappable drive slot so we don't have to fuss about opening the console and what's the deal with only one USB port supporting external drives?.

@themightyant Why do it in an elegant way? The OG PS5 looks like they stuffed a disc drive inside a perfectly good digital model and melted the plastic so it can fit....

@JJ2 I think it makes a lot of sense from a manufacturing and distribution perspective. Right now the digital model is practically non-existent, defeating it's whole point as a cheaper entry model. Manufacturing and distribution has been a huge bottleneck for them with two production lines going. A move like this would both let them simplify manufacturing and distribution, reducing costs, and increasing relative output and supply with less core console SKUs, allowing "bundle" modles to be bundled at point of import, allowing full containers of DDs to be shipped to destinations as well, and have a standard box that has an inset allowing the DD to be packed in. It definitely makes all kinds of sense from a cost reduction and supply chain perspective, especially when that's been a key bottleneck.

And (on the cynical side) encourage digital adoption, and paves the road for a possible digital-only (or digital-primary) PS6. A subtle nudge-to-strong-push in advance by getting people used to disc drives as an optional accessory rather than part of the machine and gives them the ability to "encourage" digital strongly by controlling available supply of disc drives and limiting them over time.

It wouldn't be the first console with an external disc drive, sort of. X360 had that external HD-DVD drive to compete with PS3's BD drive for a while, though it wasn't the game playing drive, it was just for movies. Sega CD was of course a CD add-on to the Mega Drive/Genesis, albeit it was it's own "console." N64 had an external floppy drive add-on in Japan only. Famicom (Japan only) had an external tape drive. It's not really that odd or unique a concept, we just haven't seen it in a while.

If only this had been a feature on PS3! I had so many disc drive problems on that. Would've been great to just swap it out.

@BartoxAbrasiveness it's always been about in general, you just change the parameters every time you're proven wrong (and are still wrong based on your own evidence and others who buy PSN credits at discount). My stance has remained the same. It's totally fine that you choose to pay more. Personally, I wait to buy games cheaper so I can play more (like 100+ games per year), would never be able to afford that with the meager savings you're bragging about.

@KaijuKaiser @Milktastrophe yep. there's little worse than someone who insists that different points of view are simply 'wrong' if they differ from their own.

I hope this leak is false...

I wanted a PS5 redesign, but not like this.

Base digital unit with stick-on physical drive sounds very clunky.

In normal consoles, drive is slotted neatly above or below other hardware.

This sounds like my PS4 Pro and Wii U sitting next to each other, only as one system.

@NEStalgia Re: post #170

The separate disc drive would be nice if Sony was going for a hybrid like Switch. Switch dock always should have supported external HDD. Probably no need for blue ray drives as no one is using their Switch to watch those, but external storage would be nice for people like me who play only docked. So for a PS5 Portable it makes sense. Let's Sony keep selling games on disc b/c 160GB isn't fitting on a Switch cart. But for a home console, leave it in.

If Switch 2 goes 4k I wonder if Nintendo will need larger, and more expensive, carts? NL hasn't had an article about cart prices and sizes in years, used to be a regular occurrence. 🤷

It would certainly make replacement of a busted disk drive a lot simpler.

@rjejr Portable PS5 + INZONE G.1 Gaming Power Station (kerosene generator) only $1989.95? (2129.95 outside US)

It does amaze me that Switch is the only console that doesn't support external HDDs after WiiU DID support them (and XCX strongly encouraged buying one.) I thought maybe they were worried about the issue of undocking the storage while a game was playing, but that's the same if you remove the SD card, too, but I guess they figure people removing SD while the game is running would be a rare thing done by the curious, while undocking with a game running from HDD would be a thing that happens all the time to everyone and would cause chaos. Which is true, I could see myself undocking with games runing from HDD all the time without thinking.

The most portable PS5 could get is adding a handle and painting it purple selling purple faceplates.

It still makes sense though. They WANT to push digital first. They WANT to get rid of physical as bad as Matrick did. They have an impossible time producing digital consoles. And now with their price hike they're more expensive than the competition in most of the world (and way more expensive than XSS for the lower market.) This bundled idea lets them push digital as the primary, save costs on manufacturing and distribution, advertise "PS5 Starting at $449.99" and become the "cheaper console" again which was always their strength (I baked the next price increase into that already for digital), AND since the disc drive is now external and more expensive to make, they can upcharge for it and punish physical use. 1-2 punch, they become the value console rather than the expensive console, save in mfr and distro, punish physical, and give big push to the digital only life trapped in their overpriced store, by making digital seem normal, and physical seem strange and awkward.

Why WOULDN'T they do this idea?

I don't see Switch 2 going anywhere near 4k still. Remember, PS4 Pro only sorta kinda did 4k compared to X1X and the current gen. And no mobile chipset is going to approach PS4 Pro yet. It might do a DLSS thing though considering how tight nVidia is in it's design, so close enough, but, then still no need for insane texture sizes. I'm guessing Switch 2 gets built in HDR though. Nintendo exploring the things you can do with it game design wise is probably the only gimmick thing a modern mobile device can supply. You know there'd be a Luigi's Mansion launch game based on HDR...

I do wonder how Ninty will handle physical. It's making less and less sense for them as a portable devices, but they still have the biggest physical market of the 3.

@NEStalgia "Why WOULDN'T they do this idea?"

B/c it LOOKS stupid for a home console. 😝

I have/had an external HDD on my Wii U. Think I unplugged it b/c I ran out of outlets. The undocking thing is probably a legitimate reason not letting games RUN from an external
HDD but it still would have been nice for storage. Dock could probably provide enough power for a cheap small external SSD. Quicker than downloading and reinstalling.

"And no mobile chipset is going to approach PS4 Pro yet."

That's depressing to read. I guess they CAN'T make a Switch 2 then b/c every Switch 2 game would be able to run, or slowly creep along, on Switch, so Switch Pro kind of makes sense.

I have a 4k TV w/ HDR and honestly I haven't noticed much w/ HDR. It isn't OLED, I couldn't afford $2,000, but it has several HDR formats, but nothing I can't obtain by just adjusting the brightness sup. I'm not even sure if Splatoon 3 DX would benefit much by adding just HDR. Even my wife is impressed by how it looks now, they've done a great job w/ the ink. So while some Switch Pro/2 games may support HDR, I'm not sold.

@rjejr Since when is Sony concerned with a console looking stupid?

Yeah, I mean PS4 was weak for what it is but it's still leagues of power above what is reasonable for mobile, especially with reasonable weight and power consumption in mind, to be able to do. Yeah, they could do the eGPU thing in the dock, but, they won't, because Japan doesn't care, the West that is their market doesn't care a lot, and the costs would be stupid, because they don't build tech to impress, they just build tech that runs their games with the features they want.

It depends on how the HDR is handled, and obviously HDR is "best" on OLED, but it still should be making a big difference even on a traditional screen. If you saw side by side you'd notice how washed out things look comparatively in a light scene, or how excessively dark it is on a dark screen etc. Except games like RDR2 where HDR is poorly implemented to the point it actaully looks WORSE than SDR.

HDR matters most on scenes with BRIGHT light sources, or DARK shadows. For SDR the whole screen has to just have the brightness raised, washing it out, to get the shadow detail up, or the whole screen has to have the brightness submerged into shadow and faded out to get the white source to show bright, or everything is just kind of averaged down the middle and neither very bright nor very dark making it look flat. Some HDR implementations are better than others, but all of them should make everything look much more evenly saturated despite the light or dark portions of the screen without losing so much detail.

A game like Splatoon probably would not benefit at all, it's pretty evenly lit, and mostly has to remain evenly lit (though it's Nintendo they could add light/dark mechanics to take advantage of the HDR gimmick. Under-ink battle!) But a game like Luigi's Mansion could take a lot of advantage of the flashlight (bright) and shadowy areas in HDR. Zelda could have a light-dark oriented theme that utilizes it, etc. The thing is HDR mostly takes advantage of interesting lighting, and most Nintendo graphics don't do much with lighting. But it would be Nintendo-like to utilize it specifically as a gameplay element rather than just "prettier gfx." The thing that is a problem for that though is the dock. Not everyone will have HDR on their TV for a while still, so the games can't really depend on it.

@NEStalgia "If you saw side by side"

That's the problem though isn't it, nobody plays that way, we just see it on 1 tv at a time, so while it may look cool for a few minutes, after that it doesn't matter enough to be noticeable. At least not on anything I've watched the past 18 months. Can't think of a single game, movie or show where I felt like HDR made a difference. There were a couple of YT vids of space, paint, ink etc that go all in on the blackness and bright colors, which is where I think Splatoon could literally shine, but nothing practical.

Not "everyone" will have HDR tvs, but I'm betting it's much higher among gamers than the general public. If you're spending $500 on an Xboxen or PS or Switch 2, you're spending the money on the tv too.

People are buying Digital just because there is not enough Disc versions on shelves...

@rjejr Yeah, but, it's then also true that if you're playing Switch and not watching a game on a PS5, it's just fine, and the gfx aren't important in the same sense. It's the story of all graphics, really, which is why Nintendo does what they do and still own the market...and why there's no Switch Pro

I think people look to be "wowed" by tech and most modern tech refines rather than wowed. I remember Sony saying that HDR was the most significant leap for gaming since the introduction of 3D when they added it to PS4 which was just hysterical hyperbole. It doesn't really wow. Neither does the HD Rumble or whatever Sony calls theirs. It's more a thing when you get used to it and go back to not having it you're just kind of passively let down that it doesn't seem as nice looking/feeling.

IDK, everybody and their dog has a Switch and a PS4, but most of them probably don't have an HDR TV still....

@NEStalgia 4k tvs are in nearly HALF of US households. Id' guess it's a bit more than that among gamers and families as probably the least likely people to NOT have 4k tvs are people over 60, of which there are still a lot.

This 44% number is 18 months old, I'm guessing more were sold since then over the holiday. Hard NOT to buy a 4k tv these days.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1247334/4k-ultra-hdtv-us-household-penetration/#:~:text=As%20of%20March%202021%2C%20around,to%2031%20percent%20in%202019.

I don't know the HDR numbers but likely most of those 4k tvs have HDR. Though all the cheap Walmart Black Friday tvs have HDR so bad you can't see it. I did a lot of research before buying ours last year. Switch 2 should do HDR and checkerboard 4k like the PS4 Pro in a couple of years, maybe next holiday.

@rjejr IDK, I'm a hardcore gamer, tecchie, and I have a rear projection 1080p HDMI 1.1 TV from when the PS3 launched Probably won't replace it for another 10 years. But I play on a monitor and finally upgraded it to 4k when I got PS5/XSX...

But yeah, 4k vs HDR vs HDR that actually works and isn't spec-sheet HDR that actually doesn't qualify for the benefits of HDR is a whole other thing.....

I still can't see 4k on a Switch Pro. I CAN see DLSS that makes it not matter, but native checkerboard? I just don't see it. Not from Nintendo.

@NEStalgia "still can't see 4k on a Switch Pro"

Well certainly not on handheld, that can probably stay at 720p unless it's cheaper in 2023 to buy 1080p displays. But I do say it should say something like "Supports 4k tvs*" on the box w/ the fine print saying "Games not running at native 4k, only outputting at 4k for compatible tvs".

I'm going to go look up DLSS now, I'll write back once I figure it out. I thought it was Nvidia's version of checkerboard but now you have me thinking it's something else.

Edit: OK. so DLSS looks liek ti's geared towards more frames per second, which is always needed on Nintnedo hardware, but it also includes outputting higher resolution, so I was half right.

"DLSS Super Resolution
Boosts performance for all GeForce RTX GPUs by using AI to output higher resolution frames from a lower resolution input. DLSS samples multiple lower resolution images and uses motion data and feedback from prior frames to reconstruct native quality images."

And now I'm starting to think that Nvida's AI is the beginning of Skynet. Which the way humanity is going will be an improvement.

@rjejr PS4 and X1S "supports 4k tvs" buy outputting a 720p or less game at 4k resolution at the output Of course it will do that.

The TL;DR on DLSS is it's an AI-based dynamic reconstruction/upscaling engine based on their "AI Cloud" setup that can very impressively reconstruct a 4k final image from a much lower res image. DF and others has done some DLSS comparisons (PC) to native 4k and the results can be pretty darned impressive. It's nVidia proprietary, and since Switch is deeply tied to nVidia, it makes a ton of sense the tech would be used in the next Switch to get much higher quality graphics out of comparatively much lower powered hardware. The "con" to it is that each game needs to be processed individually into the system to work, it's not a generic engine, it needs to specifically "learn" the output patterns of a particular game.

@rjejr nVidia tech is actually pretty scary with real world applications. They showcased, years ago, meaning it's way better now, an AI based image reconstruction - the example was a picture of traffic at an intersection. And the AI could realistically remake the scene to be daytime, night time, dusk, change summer to winter, to fall, change the weather to snow, to rain to sunshine.

They have another tech that is based on using all the pictures of people on the internet to create fake people that don't exist but look real, or transpose real people to other people that seems beyond the usually visibly bad fakes that have been on the internet in the past.

Imagine the use of this tech by media, governments, corporations, criminals, corrupt courts, to have photographic and videographic "evidence" of people that were never in a particular place at a particular time suddenly, provably, beyond a doubt, there, or to have actions committed at times an action never happened by people that never actually existed to begin with.

Everything we consider "real" and "proof" can now be invented out of whole cloth, and any situation we can see to be true could be a fabrication by changing everything about the existing proof. The guy seen on video to be at a place during an event in the rain in December could really be another guy that was at that place in a sunny day in June. Whatever we want it to be we can invent the proof, indisputably, and nvida has the tech to do it.

"The past can always be changed. The past has never been changed."

@NEStalgia That seems like a big con.

So, you're the AI then, just the right amount of negativity and skepticism to pass as human. Too smart maybe for your typical "Murican. 😉

Humans are the disease, AI is the cure. Yeah, I'm that done.

@rjejr I chose the AI ending for Deus Ex 1......

But I second guess that now. The problem with AI is it's AI built by humans to learn like humans, and to learn from interpreting prior human actions. In the end, it'll just be a human that faster, cleverer, and more cunning than other humans.

My new chosen path for Deus Ex is the dark ages path. It's the only viable option. I'm cool with candle light.

@NEStalgia AI can learn from humans, humans have knowledge, but they also have emotions, and I'm not sure those can be taught. AI shouldn't live by the need to feed the 7 deadly sins.

Even if AI gets emotional, it won't have hormones, so no Incel robots. Humans must never give robots sexual desire and we must hope they don't give it to themselves. No procreation, no need for recreation. They can rule over us intelligently. Humans have intelligence, but we're driven and ruled by emotions.

I'm all about that Vulcan life.🖖

@rjejr Humans rationalize emotions into logic (I mean, we're on Push Square, did that even need to be reminded lol? )....logic the AI will follow and expand on. And sufficiently logical and self realizing robots would of course create the need to manufacture replacements and/or increase numbers (AND/OR) decrease numbers) And their input data to pattern on is....us....just.....more efficient.

And more terrifying is that the darkest acts in history are driven by intelligent rule. Emotions are what ended it. In every situation where a larger or more technologically advanced group has use of land, the LOGICAL action is simply to exterminate the inefficient and replace it with the efficient. The sick shouldn't be cared for, efficient resource management dictates their disposal. Old crotchety New Yorkers are simply inefficient in production. They're a drain on resources and cause a distraction that could be better put to productivity. They should be dispatched and their resources reallocated to more efficient use.

The reality is "helping people", "saving people", "free society" are constructs of emotion. A logical, efficient leadership would keep all units under tight operating parameters in their most efficient functions, and dispose of them when their performance levels cease to be optimal. Additional units can be produced as needed on a 15 year cycle, and their life cycle can be managed to an optimum range. Attachment to "life" would not be logical. Organic units are consumable, wear out, and self replicate to easily replenish inventory.

We do not want the AI ruled world I thought that 20 years ago....not so much anymore

@NEStalgia I think you just explained the plotline of Xenoblade Chronicles 3. 😂

I'm also a big Logan's Run fan though so...

@rjejr I thought it was something a bit meatier?

@NEStalgia "I thought it was something a bit meatier?"

That should be a Soylent Green joke. 😂