PlayStation 6 to feature Detachable Disk Drive at launch
It looks like the death of physical games has been delayed
It looks like Sony isn’t done with physical games. With PlayStation 6, Sony reportedly plans to launch the console with a detachable disk drive option, repeating what Sony has done with its refreshed range of PlayStation 5 consoles. This news comes from an exclusive report from Insider Gaming.
PS6 buyers will be able to purchase a PlayStation 6 as a “Digital Edition” console, or a console that’s bundled with a disk drive. This means that gamers will be allowed to continue using game disks, both for playing PlayStation 4/5 titles and new PlayStation 6 games.
Sony is also reportedly working on a new revision of its PlayStation 5 console. This revision aims to simplify the console’s design. Furthermore, the new console will reduce the system’s internal storage to 825GB from 1TB. Other design goals of the revision include reducing the console’s weight. With these changes, Sony wants to reduce the cost of their console, combating inflationary pressures.
Clearly, Sony does not want to abandon physical games. While digital games are becoming increasingly popular, many gamers have extensive libraries of disk-based games. For these users, a digital-only console would be seen as a bad move. Furthermore, if Xbox released their next-generation console with a disk drive and Sony didn’t, that would be a big PR disaster for Microsoft. Additionally, many retailers would likely be reluctant to stock a digital-only console. After all, if there were no disk-based games, these sellers would sell consoles and little else.
A PlayStation 6 Disk Drive is great news for game preservation
Having a disk drive would allow the PlayStation 6 to play PS4 and PS5 games. This gives the system two generations of backwards compatibility. If Sony can create a PS3 emulator for its more powerful PS6 console, the system could support three generations of backwards compatibility. It looks like the death of physical media has been delayed once again, at least for now.
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