A fan has tested the new PlayStation 5’s detachable disc drive, to interesting results.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, a fan swapped out the disc drive that was installed in one of the new slimmer PlayStation 5 consoles, and found that the PlayStation 5 accepted the new disc drive.
As we already know, if a disc-less PlayStation 5 gets a disc drive installed in it for the first time, Sony will require that it do a one-time login for the console to accept the drive. While preservation activists have cried foul of the DRM usage, others have pointed out that Sony has to follow consumer protection regulations from the EU. This online check-in comes from one of those regulations.
Based on these new revelations, it seems that the one-time login is not something the console does every time it gets turned on or is used. It is something the console does every time a new disc drive is installed, but it doesn’t check on that drive constantly.
Further testing has revealed that when the console goes offline, these drives stop accepting discs. That these new PlayStation 5 consoles do that should give consumers pause; that’s an additional hassle that does not exist on other models of the console.
If you’re a PlayStation 5 owner, the extra hassles that get added onto the modular PlayStation 5 SKU makes it a significantly less enjoyable console overall. It makes more sense to stick to the older PlayStation 5 consoles that some fans may already have. If you’re someone in the market for an entirely new console, you are definitely incentivized to buy the one that already has a disc drive inside it.
If you are someone worried about game preservation on a personal level; AKA, if you’re worried your consoles and games might not work one day, then you are also incentivized to buy a PlayStation 5 with a hard drive. On a systemic level, Sony will definitely point to the newer slimmer PlayStation 5 that already has a disc drive as the one that fits preservation.
But let’s not lose sight of why this is a thing in the first place. Sony is incentivized to push their customers towards buying their games digitally. Selling a digital PlayStation 5 can be very lucrative as there’s definitely a subset of PlayStation gamers who have embraced this now.
Without that incentive, digital consoles wouldn’t exist at all and there would definitely only be PlayStation 5s with disc drives.
