Sony has a large amount of tech releasing this holiday season, which now includes the upgraded PlayStation 5 slim versions of both their physical and digital consoles. In addition to their Digital Version of the platform costing 50 dollars more than their current digital console, it will feature the ability to upgrade to a disk version through an 80-dollar Blu-ray disk drive sold separately.
An upcoming ad for a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III PS5 Console Bundle brought this back into the limelight, featuring the updated hardware and stating that “Internet connection required to pair Disc Drive and PS5 console upon setup.” Naturally, the internet glumped onto this, criticizing the need for an internet connection to synch the add-on device to the console, in particular, this has caused issue with preservationists who argue the servers needed to synch the drive might eventually be taken down which will ultimately render the device useless.
While Sony has not offered a reason for this requirement, the obvious one is for legal reasons. According to multiple sources, this requirement is being kept in accordance with Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which is meant as an anti-piracy measure. For Sony’s own benefit, this is also most likely a measure taken to prevent modifications to the drive or after-market modding. It is a single-time internet check, meaning that after you connect once you should be good to go for the duration of using it on at least that console.
While there is a fair argument to be made against the disk drive potentially becoming an 80-dollar paperweight (though that will not be for years), much of the other criticism of this feels largely like manufactured outrage. The digital console is specifically for gamers who intend to buy their games digitally, which already requires access to an internet connection they have confidence in. The purchase of both the console and disk drive also costs more than just buying the disk drive console, meaning this really shouldn’t be a thought gamers are having at purchase, but rather one they decide to make later when they decide they do have a benefit for owning disks.
Ultimately, the bigger takeaway here is that Sony is offering multiple ways for gamers to tailor their experiences. This is further compounded by the PlayStation Portal streaming device and the PlayStation Access Controller, meant for handicapped players, both releasing in November. In a PlayStation Blog post, this seems to be the attitude, stating:
To address the evolving needs of players, our engineering and design teams collaborated on a new form factor that provides greater choice and flexibility.
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