PlayStation 5 2024 Revision to Feature Detachable Optical Drive

[btarunr]

An upcoming hardware revision of the Sony PlayStation 5 (PS5) that's slated for 2024, reportedly unifies the two current models that the console comes in—one with a Blu-ray drive, and one without. The PS5 currently comes in a model with an optical drive that's popular in markets with slow Internet connections, and targets those who prefer physical copies of their games; while another model completely lacks an optical drive, and is available in markets with fast Internet access, and for those who keep digital libraries of the games they bought.

The 2024 revision would unify the two designs, and feature a modular form-factor, where the optical drive can be optionally purchased (or is part of bundles). This drive slots into the console's body, and connects to it via a 5 Gbps USB-C connection. This way, Sony saves on costs from having to do separate production runs for the two models, and earn some revenue on the ODD. The current digital-only PS5 model comes with a firmware-level restriction that prevents you from plugging in aftermarket USB Blu-ray drives, or even connecting one to its mainboard's SATA interface.



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[chrcoluk]

Good idea, I also always felt like the full ps5 looked odd in its design with the digital version more consistent on its shape profile. I expect the optical drive support was added late in development hence the weird shaping.

What both Sony and Microsoft need to do though is find a way for people to transition to digital whilst keeping ownership of their physical games. This was the only reason I got the full PS5, I own just too many physical PS4 games to write the costs off. On my Series S its starting to bite a little bit re-buying a few games, although I am still in clear profit vs buying an X.

Finally their online stores need to become competitive vs physical prices. This would encourage take up of the digital system.

 

[Lycanwolfen]

Good idea, I also always felt like the full ps5 looked odd in its design with the digital version more consistent on its shape profile. I expect the optical drive support was added late in development hence the weird shaping.

What both Sony and Microsoft need to do though is find a way for people to transition to digital whilst keeping ownership of their physical games. This was the only reason I got the full PS5, I own just too many physical PS4 games to write the costs off. On my Series S its starting to bite a little bit re-buying a few games, although I am still in clear profit vs buying an X.

Finally their online stores need to become competitive vs physical prices. This would encourage take up of the digital system.

Or make it a way so the ps5 can play all the older PS1 PS2 and PS3 games so finally I can dump my older consoles.

 

[Chaitanya]

While at it they should improve overall cooling as well.

 

[Deleted member 185088]

Reminds me of the HD DVD for the 360. The only issue I see is the prices of games, as far as I'm aware Sony controls the prices thus preventing competition.

 

[ir_cow]

I would say "here comes the hacked drives" but that was X360 days. No one waste money on burning BD discs. Though, I bet someone will replace it with a card reader

 

[Chomiq]

With price increase in EU and this on horizon I'm starting to not regret the fact that I bought my disc PS5 at the end of last year.

 

[BSim500]

What both Sony and Microsoft need to do though is find a way for people to transition to digital whilst keeping ownership of their physical games.

Finally their online stores need to become competitive vs physical prices. This would encourage take up of the digital system.

I think you'll find the push for digital only / streaming content is precisely all about gradually normalising de-ownership with "convenience" being more the excuse than the underlying reason. Killing off physical resale market competition also allows better price-fixing of digital content (bold above is exactly what publishers don't want). Hence why Skyrim for Xbox can be found for £3 on any day whilst "generous" discounts on Steam are rarely below £10. The number of people who fell for the "20% lower distribution costs of Internet vs physical discs means cheaper games!" is adorably quaint & naive. Same is also regularly seen with Kindle books often being more expensive than paperbacks, even factoring in postage costs. Nintendo have also shown digital-only console content can easily be scrapped at any time ("The ability to re-download WiiWare and Virtual Console games will also stop at some point..."). If you want 100% guaranteed long-term ownership of games, there's really no substitute for resellable console discs / PC and the options it brings (Ebay, GOG, emulators, etc) simply for not being tied to one online-only store that's built around transitory ecosystems.

 

[medi01]

While at it they should improve overall cooling as well.

Or better bump the process node.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

The simplest solution would be to allow external USB disk drives. These things are just computers, hell the xbox even runs windows! Just let me plug in a usb blu ray drive into a series S and call it a day.

Finally their online stores need to become competitive vs physical prices. This would encourage take up of the digital system.

LMFAO keep dreaming. That will never happen, not with the way gamerz consoom product and get excited for next product.

 

[defaultluser]

The simplest solution would be to allow external USB disk drives. These things are just computers, hell the xbox even runs windows! Just let me plug in a usb blu ray drive into a series S and call it a day.

that is what this is doing, except firmware-locked for ps5 only

no reason it couldn't also connect to a PC (an easy disposal outlet once you discontinue the console)

LMFAO keep dreaming. That will never happen, not with the way gamerz consoom product and get excited for next product.

such truth - Sony is a lot better than Nintendo's permanently-overpriced e-shop, but put to shame by more aggressive prices from Microsoft and Steam

 

[Jism]

A digital console only is'nt really what you think it is. Games you purchased might be killed in a few years and theres no way to play it because its no longer supported.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

A digital console only is'nt really what you think it is. Games you purchased might be killed in a few years and theres no way to play it because its no longer supported.

This is true of anything digital.

 

[trsttte]

A digital console only is'nt really what you think it is. Games you purchased might be killed in a few years and theres no way to play it because its no longer supported.

In terms of what's commonly recognized as a console absolutely and it sucks, but if you open the term a bit things like the steam deck show that it doesn't have to be that way. Now to convince companies like Nintendo of that lol...

 

[defaultluser]

In terms of what's commonly recognized as a console absolutely and it sucks, but if you open the term a bit things like the steam deck show that it doesn't have to be that way. Now to convince companies like Nintendo of that lol...

good luck making money pricing that other Steam Deck hardware at less than $600. and get used to huking around somthing that weighs half as much as a 13" ultra-portable laptop

Valve doesn't care abut profit, for the $400 unit, but everyone else has to!

 

[Mussels]

I just want them to support USB optical drives


Why can't people buy the lower spec Xbox series S, and slap any old USB DVD drive onto it?

 

[chrcoluk]

I think you'll find the push for digital only / streaming content is precisely all about gradually normalising de-ownership with "convenience" being more the excuse than the underlying reason. Killing off physical resale market competition also allows better price-fixing of digital content (bold above is exactly what publishers don't want). Hence why Skyrim for Xbox can be found for £3 on any day whilst "generous" discounts on Steam are rarely below £10. The number of people who fell for the "20% lower distribution costs of Internet vs physical discs means cheaper games!" is adorably quaint & naive. Same is also regularly seen with Kindle books often being more expensive than paperbacks, even factoring in postage costs. Nintendo have also shown digital-only console content can easily be scrapped at any time ("The ability to re-download WiiWare and Virtual Console games will also stop at some point..."). If you want 100% guaranteed long-term ownership of games, there's really no substitute for resellable console discs / PC and the options it brings (Ebay, GOG, emulators, etc) simply for not being tied to one online-only store that's built around transitory ecosystems.

True, but this problem hasnt really hit the PC market significantly, Steam has remained reasonably competitive and also often includes DLC as standard vs physical and console, and there is multiple key retailers, the console market seems to be going in a different direction though. £10 for a game is fine, it doesnt need to go as low as £3, but there is 10 year old games been sold for £50 on the console stores with no discounts for 18+ months.

My oldest digital content is on the Xbox360 and Steam, all of it is still available, Nintendo are the outlier not the example there as well. I have seen promotional DLC pulled for licensing reasons, but that of course was digital only content so would also apply to physical games.

 

[Mussels]

A digital console only is'nt really what you think it is. Games you purchased might be killed in a few years and theres no way to play it because its no longer supported.

That's my problem.

At least with something like a PS2, we can mod them and sideload games once the consoles abandonded with zero chance of ever getting new content - the series S is basically a streaming app waiting for a killswitch day to arrive

 

[Vayra86]

Haha so this is their PS5 'slim' huh

I'm starting to get the feeling we're regressing in terms of hardware. Things had to get small, but now they're only going bigger. GPUs, consoles, chips, what's next? Smartphone gaming 2025 is back to this:

I think you'll find the push for digital only / streaming content is precisely all about gradually normalising de-ownership with "convenience" being more the excuse than the underlying reason. Killing off physical resale market competition also allows better price-fixing of digital content (bold above is exactly what publishers don't want). Hence why Skyrim for Xbox can be found for £3 on any day whilst "generous" discounts on Steam are rarely below £10. The number of people who fell for the "20% lower distribution costs of Internet vs physical discs means cheaper games!" is adorably quaint & naive. Same is also regularly seen with Kindle books often being more expensive than paperbacks, even factoring in postage costs. Nintendo have also shown digital-only console content can easily be scrapped at any time ("The ability to re-download WiiWare and Virtual Console games will also stop at some point..."). If you want 100% guaranteed long-term ownership of games, there's really no substitute for resellable console discs / PC and the options it brings (Ebay, GOG, emulators, etc) simply for not being tied to one online-only store that's built around transitory ecosystems.

Exactly this.

I'm on a total and complete ban wrt cloud based gaming. Not happening. I'll buy games left and right, and if needed I'll get them 'portable' in whatever way necessary. But I'll NEVER. EVER. Rely on cloud for any content I deem reasonably important. We can look at on-demand video for a quick look at what's bound to happen, and in fact it already happens in cloud gaming services too: you're a plaything of commerce, in the end its not cheaper, its not more convenient, and you don't control the content in any possible way. Not the what, not the how, not even the when - which is very ironic if you consider the on-demand nature of it. You don't even really control what you want to pay. If you're invested in a few games on the service, and suddenly it says you're paying 20% more next renewal, what will you do? Stop playing, or pay a price you never really asked for?

Its the same bottomless pit as renting a house. You're not building, you're just spending. Whereas if you buy one, you start 'building' even by just living your life. There isn't a single tenant in the world that can defend renting houses is somehow preferable unless they're totally lazy or bound to the bottom of the social ladder. So why would you rent anything else you can also buy, especially if you can buy it much more easily?

Also, consider all the accounts you have to your name. They represent value, make no mistake. In my gaming lifetime I've managed to make over 2K$ just by selling MMO accounts I stopped playing. I've played WoW for 2,5 years for free, as in, break even over the whole playtime/sub. And for a slew of other games, all those cash shop purchases got largely recouped, resulting in near free entertainment for thousands of hours. Allods Online: 600 EUR (complete P2W game... and I was winning, had a legendary infinite respec thingy that was worth 250 EUR alone, and level 8 runes or whatever, so near top end). Dungeons&Dragons Online: 350 EUR. The list goes on... All you gotta do is register email to the new owner

The same thing goes for your Steam, EGS, GoG accounts. No longer gaming? Worth selling. I know there are some here on TPU that hold several EGS accounts and snatched all the free games for that exact purpose.

 

[defaultluser]

I just want them to support USB optical drives
Why can't people buy the lower spec Xbox series S, and slap any old USB DVD drive onto it?

reliable USB Blu-ray drives are ALREADY AT-LEAST EIGHTY BUCKS ;now add in the fact that most of those drives are tiny slimline things designed for laptops, and you see the issue here!

portable 5.25" USB ultra hd drives are rare and expensive as hens teeth

 

[lexluthermiester]

As soon as I read that article title, I was instantly reminded...

They should have said "External Optical Drive", which directly implies it can be unplugged...

 

[NoneRain]

Good idea 2 late.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Good idea 2 late.

No it's not, it's terrible idea..

 

[trsttte]

I feel like they're trying to slowly boil us into the idea of fully digital consoles (i mean the writing has been on the wall for while now) , unfortunately for them fast internet to download 50+gb games is still not a thing in a lot of places, namely the US.

I don't mind the idea of a detachable pen... sorry, drive but I sure will mind it a lot when the only option is digital purchases and unfortunately this idea is just another step in the slow boil process, the optical drive can't cost them more than a couple dozen bucks, it's not that major a difference in the bom.

 

[Mussels]

I got myself a Quest 2 second hand, and immediately looked up how to sideload games, and how to run it off steamVR


It's a driveless console just like this PS5 and the series S, and i'm well aware of the damn stupid risk that when they abandon it, it'll be totally useless if i don't know how to add my own content to it