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Tom Henderson - PS5 redesign planned for 2023 with detachable disc drive

Beechos

Member
I’m actually a bit surprised MS haven’t made a disc reader for Series S yet. Kinda strange since they had the one for the X360 and champion the BC abilities of their boxes.
Yeah i remember they had the external hd-dvd player, we all know how that turned out.
 

Justin9mm

Member
Detachable disc drive is very interesting and makes sense business wise.

Don't have to make two separate consoles and they will know by sales of the detachable disc drive how the market is trending for the next generation. I really hope that means we may not see digital only next gen. I'm a huge fan of paying less for a physical disc, completing and on selling. This keeps my hobby a lot cheaper in the long run. I don't care for collecting games. I prefer digital out of convenience but not for the prices Sony charge in Australia for new release games. My digital library is full of PS Plus freebies and deep sale purchases.
 
Hearing about optional drive is interesting but also sad that it means digital system only is coming ever closer. As long as they offer a disc drive option then it's fine for now.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Detachable drive seems to indicate a new way to push digital format to players.

In this way, digital-only console will be the default standard console, while the physical solution will be relegated to a mere optional peripheral. All they need to do is to artificial supply the external disc drive, which sill prompt the remaining physical only Playstation gamers to switch to digital.
 

Corndog

Banned
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Sounds like the PS5 slim will launch Sept 2023 (same perf specs) as a digital console with an optional disc drive accessory that attaches via an extra USB-C port. Apparently the drive will still physically attach to the console instead of just being a traditional external drive.

He edited the article to correct a mistake. Says launch is planned for September 2023, not 2024. Make sense as PS4 slim launched September 2016. So Sony is following the same timeline for PS5 as they did for PS4.
Looks like it could potentially be a good idea. Simplifies to one form factor. With the added benefit of user replaceable Blu-ray drives.
 
I always thought they needed to make one sku. Making disc optional but available to everyone is a great idea. I can see myself buying one if for some reason I buy myself like a special edition of game that comes with a copy.
 

TLZ

Banned
Lovely. I love this. This is much better. One console. One price (the lower one like the digital version $399, hopefully less because slim). And if you want discs buy the attachment. And if the disc drive carked it for whatever reason (laser, broken internals, fed it cookies) buy another one. And if you don't want it anymore and gone all digital, sell it. And if you went digital first and one discs later buy one. Brilliant.
 
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AREYOUOKAY?

Member
MHIS9Dh.jpg


At last we are coming full circle.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
This is the idea Henderson reports.

1 PS5 model. Optional disc drive that attaches and uses USB-C for data.

7Zx9Scr.jpg

Hopefully they can shrink the size somewhat but this is very clever. I'm all for it.

I'll stick with my day one if its the same size, but if they shrink the foot print by a reasonable amount I might pick one up.

Saying that, if the pro launches the year after I'll probs just hold out.
 

ZehDon

Member
I suspect this type of approach will be standard for the PS6 and Xbox Series X 2, or whatever Uncle Phil calls it. Most players don't use their disc drives given the digital attach rate, so it makes sense to push it out as an accessory to help make the removal of the disc drive palatable.

The real question is: will this decrease the price of the PS5, or, will Sony pocket the difference and charge for the addon.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
I’m actually a bit surprised MS haven’t made a disc reader for Series S yet. Kinda strange since they had the one for the X360 and champion the BC abilities of their boxes.

Well, a disc drive could kinda defeat the purpose of these subsidised digital only models.

I thought the idea was to sell them at a loss and recoup the losses via digital purchases?
 
Good choice. That way they will streamline production, the PS5 will officially be 400€/$ overall and if you want a disc drive, you can optionally buy one. I'm sure bundles will happen as well.

Honestly the best option for Sony right now.

Why 400€ instead of 450€, the current MSRP in Europe, or even 500€ if they just release a single SKU?
 
Yes, I was thinking of that one. So yeah, it’s not exactly the same really but sorta related.

But that one was released to battle with blueray for movies and it couldnt fit inside the regular xbox. I think its pointless to have an external drive for a day one digital console. Thast why we have external SSD for storage.
 

nocsi

Member
It's smarter considering that the disc drive isn't even used most of the time. It's only used during the process of installing a game - games don't stream off the disc anymore.
 

Crayon

Member
I was thinking they should have done an add-on drive for the digital right from the start. Turns out to be moot because two years later they are still holding out on the digitals until the regular one slows down.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Don’t be surprised if PS6 disc games cost more than digital (“collector’s edition”) and/or are only produced in limited quantities.

In a few years, 90+% of PS5 games sold will be digital. It’s already around 80%.

Could see this happening. Steam has more than 130 million monthly users even though its almost full digital.
 
This is definetly a sign of things to come. I Haven't bought a single physical game disk in about 10 years so I really couldn't care less about the industry's inevitable move to all digital.

“Fuck consumer rights! As long as I can continue to Consoom that is all that matters!” You should have more respect for yourself.
 
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THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Sounds like a good idea to me, though I bet they secretly hope many consumers will plan to buy it but then just start buying digital.
Should help slim down the unit and only have to carry one console sku.
 
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Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
I wish there sony/Microsoft implemented a way were you could trade and sell digital games, they could take like 15% on every transaction or something. I guess it wont happen because publishers would get screwed or make less.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
1. reduce component size for the PS5, good for Sony on resource management to manufacture more PS5.
2. Gamers can pick the detachable disk drive if prefer physical games, and remove it if prefer for aesthetic purpose and digital games, only 1 model available in the market, less headache for whiners
3. Jimbo is a fucking genius.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
My only hope, and one I think Sony will cover is that it doesn't have some unsightly clips or something exposed when the drive isn't attached to the unit. Apart from that I think it's genius.

Crazy to think Sony were all against digital start of last gen and pushed the "you own your disks can lend to a friend" narrative and they will be the first to strip a disk drive from all of their systems. It was inevitable I guess.
 

kyliethicc

Member
My only hope, and one I think Sony will cover is that it doesn't have some unsightly clips or something exposed when the drive isn't attached to the unit. Apart from that I think it's genius.

Crazy to think Sony were all against digital start of last gen and pushed the "you own your disks can lend to a friend" narrative and they will be the first to strip a disk drive from all of their systems. It was inevitable I guess.
Sony was never against selling digital games.
 
Crazy to think Sony were all against digital start of last gen and pushed the "you own your disks can lend to a friend" narrative and they will be the first to strip a disk drive from all of their systems. It was inevitable I guess.
One thing doesn't invalidate the other. They weren't against digital just because they were okay with people keeping, renting, lending their owned games
 
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Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Oh absolutely, they were never against it but definitely championed the ownership is with you and your disk, you can lend to friends etc. Thats all I was implying.
I really cannot fathom how much anything Sony does or is rumoured to do is taken in the worse than worst possible way to imply something even worse (who is saying they are moving their consoles to digital only? You are basically taking leaps of negativity in order to imply something which would make them guilty of doublespeak with their pre PS4 launch PR) and yet take Good Guy Phil constant speaking out of both sides of his mouth as it if were nothing 😂.
 

hemo memo

Gold Member
My only hope, and one I think Sony will cover is that it doesn't have some unsightly clips or something exposed when the drive isn't attached to the unit. Apart from that I think it's genius.

Crazy to think Sony were all against digital start of last gen and pushed the "you own your disks can lend to a friend" narrative and they will be the first to strip a disk drive from all of their systems. It was inevitable I guess.
Didn’t reports say PS5 original design is the digital one and disc drive was added later? I mean why would they be against digital when with physical they get less profit from sales and physical games going down in prices very quickly? They’ll absolutely celebrate if physical games die tomorrow as they limit you to their ridiculously price store.
 

TLZ

Banned
While you're at it, release a separate disc drive that would emulate PS1/2/3 games 😀

We retro lovers will all instantly buy it and shut up about it 😀
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
Bet that PS6 games are sold digital only and the disc drive accessory will only be for PS4/5 back compat for disc owners.
PS6 games will not be sold digital only since retailers will refuse to carry consoles if that’s the case + some places have still terrible internet with monthly data transfer limits.
 

RCU005

Member
Sometimes when I see the prices of physical games I regret going with the digital edition despite being very pleased with the look of the system itself compared to its disc based counterpart
I’ve seen much better deals on the PS Store than any physical in my country. That’s why I went digital, but there’s one or two games that do get cheaper physical and it would be nice to be able to just connect an add on.

Ironically, in my country is the Switch games that get much better discounts for physical games.
 

kyliethicc

Member
PS6 games will not be sold digital only since retailers will refuse to carry consoles if that’s the case + some places have still terrible internet with monthly data transfer limits.
Just like how retailers refuse to sell iPhones because the App Store is digital only… wait

Just like how retailers refuse to sell Android phones because the Google Play store is digital only… wait

Just like how retailers refuse to sell PC hardware because PC gaming is digital only… wait
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
Just like how retailers refuse to sell iPhones because the App Store is digital only… wait

Just like how retailers refuse to sell Android phones because the Google Play store is digital only… wait

Just like how retailers refuse to sell PC hardware because PC gaming is digital only… wait
Completely different situations and you are missing the point.

iPhone - subsidised by carriers

Android - same thing

PC - PC gaming rigs do not have important store presence in majority of Western countries , also believe it or not in CEE large number of games are still sold in boxes
 

kyliethicc

Member
Completely different situations and you are missing the point.

iPhone - subsidised by carriers

Android - same thing

PC - PC gaming rigs do not have important store presence in majority of Western countries , also believe it or not in CEE large number of games are still sold in boxes
Amazon sells iPhones…
Walmart sells iPhones…
Target sells iPhones…

You have no idea WTF you’re talking about.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Amazon sells iPhones…
Walmart sells iPhones…
Target sells iPhones…

You have no idea WTF you’re talking about.
Phones are built with profit in mind. Hence their overpriced price tags.

PC parts too have a higher margin for retailer profit.

Consoles are usually sold at a loss, or just breaking even shortly after launch, with slim to no profit margins for the retailers, since the traditional promise is software sales and peripheral cuts. Now whether cards purchased to load into PSN/XBL accounts, etc, will offset physical sales, will remain to be seen. But I suspect that is still very low compared to people who just pop in their credit card or paypal accounts.

DEs are still only at a 10-15% clip of supply vs disc versions according to most estimates. If this redesign rumor is true, then I suspect we will see a bigger shift.

For the record, I have the DE version.
 
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kyliethicc

Member
Phones are built with profit in mind. Hence their overpriced price tags.

PC parts too have a higher margin for retailer profit.

Consoles are usually sold at a loss, or just breaking even shortly after launch, with slim to no profit margins for the retailers, since the traditional promise is software sales and peripheral cuts. Now whether cards purchased to load into PSN/XBL accounts, etc, will offset physical sales, will remain to be seen. But I suspect that is still very low compared to people who just pop in their credit card or paypal accounts.

DEs are still only at a 10-15% clip of supply vs disc versions according to most estimates. If this redesign rumor is true, then I suspect we will see a bigger shift.

For the record, I have the DE version.
Yeah I kinda doubt consoles in the longterm future will be sold for a loss. Small and only briefly, if at all. I could easily see a $600 PS6, especially since Nvidia just launched a $1200 4080 that used to be a $600-700 xx80 card. But who knows. I still think if PS6 games are sold physically it will be in limited quantities for higher prices than the “standard edition” or whatever.

PS5 DE gang
symmetrical gang
 

NickFire

Member
I can understand making it an option for a digital model, but I still find it hard to believe they stop making a version with integrated disc drive. An extra 100 for a disc drive must make the integrated machine the most profitable I think.
 

BlackTron

Member
Smart idea in my opinion. Worth it to have one sku. Those who want to the disk drive can go get it, but it's not even totally necessary on day one. With a PS5 DE you committed to be locked out of physical forever, this lowers the barrier to entry without having to do that.
 

kyliethicc

Member
Smart idea in my opinion. Worth it to have one sku. Those who want to the disk drive can go get it, but it's not even totally necessary on day one. With a PS5 DE you committed to be locked out of physical forever, this lowers the barrier to entry without having to do that.
Exactly and because it’s digital by default not digital only, more people will buy it and realize they don’t even want the disc drive. Being given the option allows everyone to just buy the console and plenty will never bother buying the extra bit they hardly or never even use.
 
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