PS5 with detachable disc drive rumors. Genius idea or dumb marketing gimmick? Would current Digital Edition PS5 models be compatible?
A couple weeks ago, gaming website insider-gaming revealed rumors that Sony have been working on a new iteration of the PS5, with a detachable disc drive. The model would sit in between the digital and physical editions of the console, and could help address some availability issues of the PS5, in particular the physical edition.
Now that the dust has settled on this announce, do we believe such a hardware revision of the PS5 would be a good idea?
insider-gaming report:
The console, currently named the D chassis PlayStation 5, will have almost identical hardware to the existing consoles already on the market.[…]
It’s understood that this new PlayStation 5 console will be sold on its own, or, in a bundle with the detachable disc drive. It’s also understood that the disc drives can also be purchased separately.[…]
Sources have implied that although the new detachable disc drive is portable, it will not ruin the aesthetics of the console and will attach to it without looking external, presumably meaning the new PlayStation 5 will look similar to the existing model.
PS5 Does not really support external disc drives currently
The PS5 does not support external blu-ray disc drives at the moment. Although people have confirmed that the drivers are in place, and discs are recognized, the console will basically refuse to do anything with them. (typically returning error code CE-110552-4)
PS5 recognizes external blu-ray drives but will refuse to do anything with them. Source SimplyPops on Youtube
In an ideal world with no supply issues, everybody should be able to choose the PS5 model they prefer. Although, given sufficient funds, I’m assuming all of us would prefer a disc-based version, for the obvious reason of have more options for games, and the less obvious reasons of possible PS5 hacking. But in practice, the PS5 has been exceptionally hard to find since its launch a couple years ago, and in particular the physical edition.
In this world, selling digital units that are compatible with an external disc drive sounds like the best of both worlds, in my opinion.
PS5 Digital Edition retro compatible with future external drive?
Another question remains, whether existing digital edition PS5s will be compatible with the external disc drive. The jury’s still out on this one. First of all, insider-gaming state that this new model will ship with an additional usb-c port, to plug the disc drive. This could be so that the PS5 D Chassis doesn’t feel like a “sub par” model with a missing port, or it could accommodate for specific hardware related to the disc drive.
The existing usb-A ports on the PS5 are usb 3.1 and could very easily handle the requirements for blu-ray. The usb-a port on the other hand is usb2, which is more than enough for blu-ray specs, but Sony might enforce different rules here. In theory, nothing would prevent the existing PS5s (digital or physical) from supporting an external blu-ray disc drive.
PS5 usb specifications. Source https://www.playstation.com/en-us/support/hardware/ps5-usb-ports-guide/
Of course, it’s extremely likely a firmware update would be required for older models to support this new accessory, meaning the existing BD-JB exploits remain useless for current-gen PS5 Digital edition.
Talk about a** backwards. You rip the drive out because you claim digital is the future, only to make it a clunky external addon now. XD My god….
if they truly believed digital was the future they wouldn’t have released a disc version just like apple did when they removed the aux port from their phones. this was a planned marketing move and a good one from a business standpoint.
Hmm… Maybe it’s for, like, people who had to get the digital-only version of the PS5, for whatever reason, but want a disc drive?
Not a horrible idea, IMO. If this is actually a thing, they should definitely make it compatible with all digital-only PS5s.aube an update to make it usable, or something
They’ve patented this repeatedly since, what, PS3? I still don’t see it actually happening.
The difference being supply issues this time, which might motivate them in offering this as a good alternative for buyers who didn’t get the physical edition…
I hope it is obvious for everyone that if this rumor is true, we wouldn’t be allow to attach any BD drive but special one – simply because special fw is needed to read hidden area of the disc where decryption keys for the rest data is stored (the same like in PS3 and PS4 case). Eventually they will go the UHD BD road, which means standard ODD supported but keys downloaded in real time from Sony network.
Yes!
It’s not Genius or Dumb…It’s obvious. I’m moreso surprised that SONY would be keen to introduce this accessory, but it streamlines production in a digital/disc SKU world. It would instead be an option later down the line, which seems pretty neat if it keeps the footprint smaller and the cost to jump in less.
The reality is that PCs have long since been utilizing external drives as an option for those that want them. You can still have your internal drives on Desktops, but for laptops its become pretty standard to not include them. Consoles pulling them similarly for form factor makes plenty of sense, and then get the disc drive later for your 4KBD+PS4/PS5 DISCs.
@Nick Crowe And for people with dead ODD. Example PS4 Slims often blowing fuses, making ODD dead meat and by that even unable to update console firmware. So this could be not only for digital crippled versions but also broken by design versions or just with broken internal ODD alone. 😉
I wonder if this could lead to someone making an ODE, similar to what xbox 360 had? IDK what the security would be like on the external attachment.
With that said, this could be a way for them to add the much desired backwards compatibility for some older games.
Just release a DVD/CD external drive!
…I’d laugh if something like swap magic still worked though.
(duplicate comment? no?)