The PlayStation 5 Disc Drive became a hot commodity after the reveal of the PS5 Pro, but when it comes to the value offered by the peripheral, there is definitely room for debate. The disc drive makes it possible to play physical games on certain PS5 editions, including the upcoming PS5 Pro which is set to serve as a mid-generation refresh for the console. It doesn’t come cheap, though, and whether the investment is worthwhile can depend heavily on how someone plans to use it.
The PS5 was Sony’s first home console to launch with an all-digital option, and the split release model priced the version of the console with a disc drive higher than the version without. When the revised Slim version was released, the disk drive became an external attachment rather than something built into the hardware design, making it possible to buy one separately or opt for a package. The PS5 Pro has removed the bundle option entirely, so buying the PS5 Disc Drive as an add-on will be the only way to play physical games on the system.
The PS5 disc drive is a substantial investment
Playing physical games is not cheap
There’s no getting around the fact that the PS5 Disc Drive isn’t cheap, either An asking price of $79.99 outdoes the $50 difference in price between the digital and disc drive editions of the PS5 Slim. Taken in the context of 4K Blu-ray players, this is not an unreasonable demand, and standalone players can cost much more than that. While digital and physical games generally provide identical in-game experiences, 4K Blu-ray outdoes 4K streaming quality by a wide margin, so its use for multimedia purposes is worth considering.
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When it comes to the PS5 Pro, there is no bundle option on the tableWhich is frustrating for fans of physical games who would like to get something out of a deal. The digital console costs a whopping $699.99, which goes up to almost $780 after adding on a disc drive. Anyone who already has a slim model with a disc drive can always swap it out for the PS5 Pro, although this may decrease the resale value of the slim slightly.
As far as the PS5 Pro goes, the fact that it does not come with the PS5 Disc Drive should be taken into account when evaluating the investment. Even for those planning to go digital, $700 is a high asking price for a console without a disc driveEspecially considering the inevitable appearance of a PS6 in a few more years. The lack of the disc drive indicates Sony’s push towards digital, so the PS6 may not come with a pre-installed disc drive either, but it will at least have compatibility with the next generation of games.
The PS5 Disc Drive is worth it for physical fans
It is a reasonable long-term decision
Despite the price, Investing $79.99 in a disk drive can be worth it in some cases. It is possible to save money on buying physical games which may recoup the investment. Physical sales are sometimes steeper than digital ones, especially considering second-hand offers, and buying physical copies also opens up the opportunity to resell games after playing them and make back a decent chunk of the purchase cost.
There is also a question of longevity to consider, as physical games make a better bid for permanence than digital ones. Although patches make an Internet connection useful for modern games, there is little need to worry about a future where servers go down or licenses are revoked about the basic capacity to play digital games. The awkward caveat here is that the PS5 Disc Drive requires Internet activation to first set up, a frustrating requirement that doesn’t apply to the original PS5 model.
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For those who plan to buy mostly digital games, it’s probably not worth it to get a PS5 Disc Drive for some physical games.. That money could easily go to another new AAA game or multiple cheaper titles instead. Anyone who has been using a discless version of the PS5 up to this point without complaints can comfortably ignore the surge in interest around PS5 disc drives, because nothing has changed apart from the announcement of the disc drives. PlayStation 5 Pro.